Brahma-Sūtra 2.3.14

English of translation of Brahmasutra 2.3.14 by Roma Bose:

“But the order (of dissolution) (is) reverse to that, and (this) fits in.”

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

The order of dissolution is reverse “to that”, i.e. to the order of creation”, in accordance with the scriptural text: ‘The earth merged in water’ (Subāla 2.4^[1]). “And” this “fits in” on the principle of salt and water.

Śrīnivāsa’s commentary (Vedānta-kaustubha)

Thus, the order of the origin of elements has been determined in brief. Now, incidentally, their order of dissolution is being determined.

On the doubt as to whether the order of dissolution is the same as the order of creation, or reverse, the suggestion being: Since even when the prior created object is destroyed, the posterior one is possible, (dissolution takes place) through the same order as that of origination alone.—

(The author) states the correct conclusion: “But the order is reverse to that”. The order of dissolution must be understood to be the “reverse” “to that”, i.e. to the order of the origination of objects, which is mentioned in Scripture in the text: ‘From this soul, verily, the ether originated, from the ether the air, from the air the fire, from the fire water, from water the earth’ (Taittirīya-upaniṣad 2.1), ‘“What was, then, existent?” He said, to them: “Neither being, nor non-being, nor being and non-being. From him darkness arises, from darkness bhūtādi,^[2] from bhūtādi the ether, from the ether the air, from the air the fire, from the fire water, from water the earth. That egg arose”’ (Subāla 1.1-3); and which is established by a thousand Smṛti passages, viz. ‘The divinity is without beginning and without end, likewise, indivisible, ageless, immortal; celebrated to be unmanifest, constant, likewise undecaying, and immortal; sprung up from whom beings are born and die. That divinity first created what is called mahat from name, the great ahaṃkāra as well. Mahat created ahaṃkāra. Then the Lord, the Master, who is the support of all elements, (created) what is celebrated to be the ether. From the ether originated water, from water fire and air, then from the conjunction of fire and air the earth originated’, and so on. And tills “fits in” on the ground of the scriptural text: ‘The earth merges in water, water merges in the fire, the fire merges in the air, the air merges in the ether, the ether into the sense-organs, the sense-organs in the subtle essences, the subtle essences in bhūtādi, bhūtādi in mahat, mahat in the unmanifest’ (Suhāla 2.4); on the ground of the following Smṛti passage, viz. ‘The earth, the support of the world, merges, divine sage, in water, water merges in the fire, the fire merges in the air’; and on the ground of observing salt, ice and the like to be dissolved into water. What is not mentioned, by the text about creation, in the order of the origination of prakṛti, mahat, ahaṃkāra, the ether and so on, is to be supplied from the text about dissolution; i.e. the construction is: ‘The ether (merges in) the sense-organs, the sense-organs in the subtle essences, the subtle essences in bhūtādi’. The ether merges in the subtle essences, the subtle essences merge in bhūtādi, i.e. in tāmasa ahaṃkāra, the sense-organs in sense-organs, i.e. in the rājasa ahaṃkāra,—since here by the word ‘sense-organ’ ahaṃkāra is understood there being non-difference between cause and effect. The plural number, viz. ‘subtle essences’ is meant for showing that the dissolution of the earth and the rest takes place through the subtle essences of smell and the rest. On account of the three-foldness of ahaṃkāra, the plural number, viz. ‘In the sense-organs’, has been used. Thus, it is established that dissolution, taking place in the above inverted order, is not contradicted by anything whatsoever.

Here ends the section entitled “The reverse” (5).

Comparative views of Rāmānuja and Baladeva:

This is sūtra 15 in Rāmānuja’s commentary. He does not begin a new adhikaraṇa here, concerned with the order of dissolution, but continues the topic of the order of evolution. Thus the sūtra means according to him: And the order (of the origination of the vital-breath and the rest), on the contrary, (stated) in a reverse order (to the real order of succession) fits in (only if there be the origination of all effects directly) from thence (i.e. Brahman).

That is, in Scripture we have many passages which designate the vital-breath and the rest as rising directly from Brahman, in opposition to the real order of evolution, viz. prakṛti, mahat, and so on; and these texts are explicable only on the supposition that everything really arises from Brahman directly.^[3]

This is sūtra 13 in Baladeva’s commentary, who follows Rāmānuja exactly with the difference that he takes this sūtra as constituting an adhikaraṇa by itself.^[4]

Comparative views of Śrīkaṇṭha:

This is sūtra, 15 in his commentary, reading different, viz. substitutes “pāraṃparyeṇa”, in place of “viparyyayeṇa [viparyayeṇa]”. Interpretation too different, viz. he begins a new adhikaraṇa here, ending with the next sūtra, and concerned with the question of the origin of sense-organs, mind and the like,—-which according to Nimbārka begins with the next sūtra.^[5]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

P. 465.

[2]:

Or the tāmasa ahaṃkāra. Vide Vedānta-ratnamañjūṣā, p. 25.

[3]:

Śrī-bhāṣya (Madras edition) 2.3.15, pp. 131, Part 2.

[4]:

Govinda-bhāṣya 2.3.13, p. 177, Chap. 2.

[5]:

Brahma-sūtras (Śrīkaṇṭha’s commentary) 2.3.15, pp. 135-36, Parts 7 and 8.