Brahma-Sūtra 1.2.17

English of translation of Brahmasutra 1.2.17 by Roma Bose:

“Also on account of the mention of the path of one who has heard the Upaniṣad.”

Nimbārka’s commentary (Vedānta-pārijāta-saurabha):

“The path”, called ‘the path of gods’, “of one who has heard the Upaniṣad” is celebrated in another scriptural text, viz. ‘Now those who seek the soul by austerity, chastity, faith and knowledge, win the sun by the northern path. That, verily, is the abode of the vital-breaths, that is immortal, that is fearless, that is the highest goal. From that they do not return’ (Praśna 1.10^[1]). “On account also of the mention” of that very “path” here in the text: ‘They pass over to light’ (Chāndogya-upaniṣad 4.15.5^[2]), the Person within the eye is none but the Highest Person.^[3]

Śrīnivāsa’s commentary (Vedānta-kaustubha)

For this reason, too, the person within the eye is the Supreme Soul,—so says the reverend author of the aphorisms.

That through which bondage is broken is Upaniṣad, the knowledge of the Supreme Soul; or that which leads one to attain the Supreme Soul is Upaniṣad, the knowledge of the Supreme Soul. The treatise relating to that is also Upaniṣad. “Śrutopaniṣatka” is one by whom the Upaniṣad has been directly heard from a teacher; he is a knower of Brahman, the Mysterious. “The path” which, as celebrated in another Scripture and in the Smṛtis, belongs to him, i.e. is his way to attaining Brahman who is established in the Upaniṣads,—that very path is mentioned here too as belonging to one who knows the person within the eye. For this reason too, i.e. “on account of the mention of the path of one who has heard the Upaniṣad”, the person within the sun is the Supreme Self,—this is the sense.

Thus, the path, which is said to be followed by a knower,—so that he may attain Brahman,—in another scriptural text, viz. ‘Now, those who seek the soul by austerity, chastity, faith and knowledge, win the sun by the northern path. That, verily, is the abode of the vital-breaths, that is immortal, that is fearless, that is the highest goal. From that they do not return’ (Praśna 1.10), as well as in the Smṛti passage, viz. ‘Fire, light, day, the bright fortnight, the six months of the sun’s northern progress,—through these do the knowers of Brahman go to Brahman on departing’ (Gītā 8.24),—that very path is said to belong to one who knows the person within the eye, in the following passage: ‘Now, whether they perform obsequies in the ease of such a person, or not, (the dead) pass over to light, from light to the day, from the day to the waxing fortnight, from the waxing fortnight to the six months during which the sun moves northwards, from the months to the year, from the year to the sun, from the sun to the moon, from the moon to lightning. Then there is a non-human Person. He leads them to Brahman. This is the path of the gods, the path to Brahman. Those who go by it do not return to this human whirlpool,—they return not’ (Chāndogya-upaniṣad 4.15.5-6). Hence, the person within the sun is none but the Supreme Soul.

The meaning of the text (viz. Praśna 1.10) is as follows:—‘Now’, i.e. after the fall of the body, they ‘win’, i.e. attain the sun, ‘by the northern path’, i.e. through the path beginning with light and so on. Then, through the moon and the rest, in the order to be designated hereafter,^[4] they attain the nature of Brahman. By doing what? Through the three kinds of ‘austerity’, mentioned by the Lord,^[5] or else through the ‘austerity’ which is the special duty of a Vānaprastha^[6] and a Saṃnyāsin,^[7] both being primarily given to austerity; ‘through faith’, i.e. through vidyā, which is a mental disposition given to the worship of the feet of the teacher, i.e. through meditation, arising from the hearing and the thinking of the Vedānta, and mentioned in the text: ‘The self should be meditated on’ (Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad 2.4.5; 4.5.6),—one should, seeking the self, meditate on it,—this is the grammatical construction. By the phrase: ‘through chastity’, the text shows the particular stage of life which is congenial to the hearing, the thinking and the rest of the Vedānta. By chastity and the like, not only the duties, incumbent on special stages of life, are to be understood. That those who are destitute of any devotion for Brahman, but merely belong to one or other of the stages of life and are devoted to the duties, incumbent thereon, return once more and attain the world, is declared by the reverend Parāśara in a passage, which begins: ‘The Prājāpatya is for the Brāhmaṇas’ and ends: ‘The Brāhma is declared in Smṛti to be for the Saṃnyāsins’. That those who, among these, are devoted to the Supreme Brahman, attain His world, is mentioned in the passage: ‘Those ascetics who are devoted to Brahman alone, who ever meditate on Brahman, to them belong that supreme place, which, verily, the wise see’. Hence, the Vāna-prastha and the rest should he understood as implying devotion to the Supreme Brahman, (and not as mere duties incumbent on different stages of life). By ‘chastity’ is meant here the religious duties pursued by the Naiṣṭhikas,^[8] who lead a life of chastity and are absolutely free from all desires for enjoyment, here or hereafter. The sense is that the search for Brahman should properly be made through such a permanent vow,^[9] of ‘chastity’.

The sacred duty called ‘chastity’ is stated by the all-knowing ‘Law of Salvation’,^[10] under the section called ‘Vārṣṇeya-adhyātma’, thus: ‘This unbroken chastity which is the form of Brahman is higher than all religious practices. By it, (people) reach the highest goal’ (Mahābhārata (Asiatic Society edition) 12.7770,^[11]). Under the section treating of instruction, it is said: ‘Listen, O Father Yudhiṣṭhira, to the merits of chastity. He who leads a life of chastity from birth to death, and practises the “Great Vow”, there is nothing, know, O King, that is unattainable by him. Many millions of Vṛṣis dwell in the world of Brahman, those who are truthful, ever self-controlled, leading a life of chastity. Chastity is a supreme duty, honoured in all stages of life, and if resorted to, chastity burns, O King, all sins’, and so on. In accordance with the scriptural text, viz.: ‘Desiring which people practice chastity, that word I tell you in brief’ (Kaṭha 2.15), as well as in accordance with the statement by the Lord, viz.: ‘“Desiring which people practise chastity, that word I will tell you in brief”’ (Gītā 8.11), chastity alone is the chief means to the supreme region. The repetition of the means, to be mentioned hereafter in the aphorism: ‘Repetition, more than once, because of teaching’ (Brahma-sūtra 4.1.1), may also be resorted to by a Naiṣṭhika.

The text ‘This verily’ (last portion of Praśna 1.10) and so on indicates Brahman, who is to be attained through the path which begins with light, and to be enquired into.

(The meaning of the text—Chāndogya-upaniṣad 4.15.5-6—is as follows:) ‘Now’, i.e. when he is dead, whether people perform proper funeral ceremonies or do not perform them, in either case, the wise, unobstructed in their progress, and wishing to attain the nature of the Lord, attain the presiding deity of light, through that the day; after that, they successively attain, the presiding deities of fortnight, the six months of the northern progress of the sun, the year, the wind or the world of gods, the sun, the moon, lightning the worlds of the king of water (i.e. Varuṇa) and Indra, then the world of Prajāpati. After that, breaking through the sphere of prakṛti, they attain the Virajā, the best of rivers and forming the boundary of the supreme place. After having crossed that river and having entered the world of Viṣṇu,—called ‘supreme void’, ‘supreme place’, ‘world of Brahman’ and so on, having the stated marks,^[12] and unapproachable by those who are averse to the Lord,—they roam about, attaining the nature of Brahman,—this is the resulting meaning. This we shall expound in details in the fourth chapter.^[13] ‘This is the path of Gods’, because it is characterized by having Gods as the conductors. It is the ‘path to Brahman because it is the way to Brahman, the object to be enquired into and the object to be attained. ‘Those who go by it’ ‘do not return’, i.e. do not enter any more, through the influence of karmas, into ‘this human whirlpool’, i.e. the material world, figuratively implied by the creation of mankind, and subject to recurrence (which is indicated by the term ‘whirlpool’),—as declared by the Lord Himself in the passage: ‘“The worlds, beginning from the world of Brahma, come and go, O Arjuna. But, on attaining me, O son of Kunti, there is no rebirth”’ (Gītā 8.16). The difference of the world of Brahman from the sphere of matter is stated in the Mokṣa-dharma under the dialogue between Jaigiṣa and Vyāsita in the passage which begins: ‘“A man of what nature, of what conduct, of what learning, of what valour does attain the place of Brahman which is higher than prakṛti, and eternal” and ends ‘“He attains the place of Brahman which is higher than prakṛti, and eternal”’ (Mahābhārata (Asiatic Society edition) 12.9968-9969^[14]).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Quoted by Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja and Bhāskara.

[2]:

Quoted by Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, Bhāskara and Baladeva.

[3]:

That is, the worshipper of the person within the eye follows the same path followed by the worshipper of Brahman. This proves that the person within the eye is Brahman.

[4]:

See below, p. 119. Vide also Vedānta-kaustubha 4.3.5.

[5]:

Vide Gītā 17.14-16, where three kinds of austerity (tapas) are spoken of, viz. Śārīra, Vāṅ-maya and Mānasa, These, again, may he of three kinds, viz. sāttvika, rājasa and tāmasa. Vide 17.16-22.

[6]:

A Brahmin in the third stage of life, who has passed through the stages of a student and house-holder and has abandoned bis life and family for an ascetic life in the forest.

[7]:

A Brahmin in the fourth stage of life, a religious mendicant, who has given up all earthly concerns.

[8]:

A Naiṣṭhika is a perpetual religious student, who observes the vow of chastity. Monier-Williams, p. 570, Col. 1.

[9]:

I.e. ‘Brahma-cārya’ (= chastity) in the ordinary sense of the term means temporary chastity, which a student has to observe so long as he has not entered the stage of a house-holder. But here the term means permanent chastity which a Naiṣṭhika, e.g. practises.

[10]:

Mokṣa-dharma.

[11]:

P. 640, line 40, vol. 3, Asiatic Society ed.

[12]:

Vide Vedānta-kaustubha 1.1.1.

[13]:

Vide Vedānta-kaustubha 4.3.5.

[14]:

P. 716, lines 22-23, vol. 3. For full quotation see under Vedānta-kaustubha 1.3.13.