Brahma-Sūtra 1.2.27

English of translation of Brahmasutra 1.2.27 by Roma Bose:

“If it be objected that (Vaiśvānara is the gastric fire) on account of word and the rest, on account of abiding within, not (the highest self), (we reply:) no, on account of teaching the vision (of the lord) thus, on account of impossibility, and (because) they read him also as a person.”^[1]

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

If it be objected that since the word ‘Vaiśvānara’ conventionally denotes the gastric fire, since there is the designation of a triad of fires, since it is mentioned as the abode of the offering to the vital-breaths, and since it is declared by Scripture to be abiding within, Vaiśvānara is not the Highest Self, but the gastric fire,—

(We reply:) “No”, “as” the Supreme Lord is “taught to be viewed” “thus”, i.e. in the gastric fire; “for” if the Supreme Lord be not understood here, then having the heaven as the head and the rest ‘is not possible’; and it is declared by Scripture to be a person,—so Vaiśvānara is none but the Highest Self.

Śrīnivāsa’s commentary (Vedānta-kaustubha)

If it be objected: The Highest Self cannot be denoted by the word ‘Vaiśvānara’ here, but the gastric fire. Why? “On account of words and the rest,” i.e, the reasons which begin with ‘word’ are ‘reasons beginning with word’,^[2]—‘on account of those’.^[3] Those reasons are as follows: First, the ‘word’ here is ‘Vaiśvānara’, and that conventionally denotes the gastric fire, and when a literal meaning is possible, it is improper to suppose any other meaning. Secondly, there is the word ‘fire’, i.e. there is a co-ordination between Vaiśvānara and the word ‘fire’ in the Vājasaneyaka-text, viz. ‘This is the Vaiśvānara fire’ (Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa 10.6.1.11^[4]). Thirdly, a triad of fires is designated in the text; ‘The heart is the Gārhapatya fire, the mind the Ānvāhārya’ (Chāndogya-upaniṣad 5.18.2) and so on. Fourthly, Vaiśvānara is declared by Scripture to be the support of the offering to the vital-breaths in, the passage: ‘Therefore, the first food which one may come across should be offered’ (Chāndogya-upaniṣad 5.19.1). And, finally, Vaiśvānara abides “within”, which, more particularly, is a characteristic mark of the gastric fire,—the Vājasaneyins declare that Vaiśvānara abides within in the passage: ‘For he who knows this Vaiśvānara fire to be like a man, abiding within a man’ (Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa 10.6.1.11). On account of such reasons like “words and the rest”, and “on account of abiding within”, the Highest Self cannot be understood,—(We reply:) “No”, “on account of teaching the vision (of the Lord) thus”, i.e. since such an object (viz. the gastric fire) is taught to be meditated on under the aspect of the Lord, i.e. since the Supreme Lord is enjoined to be meditated on as qualified by the gastric fire, i.e. since the above-mentioned Supreme Soul, who is Vaiśvānara (or the universal soul) being the soul of all, is taught to be in the gastric fire and the rest as their soul. If it be objected: In that case, let gastric fire itself be Vaiśvānara primarily,—we reply: no, “because that is impossible”, i.e. because having the heaven as the head and the rest is impossible on the part of the gastric fire. This means, it is possible on the part of the Highest Self alone, who is the soul of all, and not on the part of any one else. “And also”, the Vājasaneyins “read” “him”, i.e. Vaiśvānara, “as a person” in the passage: ‘That Vaiśvānara fire is the person’ (Śatapatha-brāhmaṇa 10.6.1.11). It is possible for the Highest Self to be a Person, He being the soul of all, hut this is not possible if the mere gastric fire be understood here. The word “and”^[5] denotes that this is universally known, i.e. that the Highest Self is a Person is well-known from scriptural texts like: ‘The Person, verily, is all this’ (Śvetāśvatara-upaniṣad 3.15), ‘There is nothing higher than the Person’ (Kaṭha 3.11) and so on.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The [Chowkhamba Sanskrit Series] ed. omits ‘iti cen na’, p. II.

[2]:

Śabdādayaḥ.

[3]:

This explains the compound ‘śabdādibhyaḥ’.

[4]:

P. 805, line 17.

[5]:

‘Ca’ in the sūtra.