Brahma-Sūtra 1.2.26

English of translation of Brahmasutra 1.2.26 by Roma Bose:

“That which is stated by Smṛti must be an indication, thus.”

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

The form, stated in Smṛti as well, in the passage: ‘Of whom, fire is the mouth, the heaven the head’ (Mahābhārata (Asiatic Society edition) 12.1656.6^[1]), “must” be a decisive factor in proving that Vaiśvānara is the Highest Self.

Śrīnivāsa’s commentary (Vedānta-kaustubha)

The word “thus” implies the reason. For this reason, too, Vaiśvānara is the Highest Self alone,—because “that which is stated by Smṛti must be an indication” of the fact that the word ‘Vaiśvānara’ denotes the Highest Self. The phrase “That which is stated by Smṛti” means that the form, characterized by having the heaven for the head and the rest, denoted by the scriptural text: ‘The head, indeed, is the brightly shining (heaven)’ (Chāndogya-upaniṣad 5.18.2) and so on, is mentioned also by a Smṛti which follows Scripture. That very thing must be “an indication”, i.e. a decisive factor here,—this is the sense. The Smṛti-passages are the following: ‘Of whom fire is the mouth, the heaven the head, the sky the navel, the earth the feet, the sun the eye, the regions the ear,'—obeisance to Him, the Soul of the world’ (Mahābhārata (Asiatic Society edition) 12.1656b-1657a^[2]), ‘Of whom the heaven is the head, the wise declare, the sky, verily, the navel, the sun and the moon the eyes, the regions the ear, the earth the feet,—He is the inconceivable Soul, the maker of all beings’. For this very reason, it has been said: ‘Scripture and Smṛti are celebrated to be the two eyes of the wise. Deprived of one, one is said to be “one-eyed”; deprived of both “blind”

Or, (an alternative explanation of the sūtra:) the phrase: “That which is stated by Smṛti” means as follows: (The form) which is recognized in the following manner thus: What is celebrated in another scriptural text, viz. ‘Fire is his head, the eyes the sun and the moon’ (Muṇḍaka-upaniṣad 2.1.4), and so on, as well as in the stated Smṛti-passages as the form of the Highest Self, that alone, is stated here (in Chāndogya-upaniṣad 5.18.2),—that form must be an indication, i.e. a sign, that Vaiśvānara is the Highest Self.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Quoted by Śaṃkara and Rāmānuja.

[2]:

P. 424, lines 2-3, vol. 3.