Brahma-Sūtra 2.3.22

English of translation of Brahmasutra 2.3.22 by Roma Bose:

“And on account of the word itself and of measure.”

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

“On account of the word itself (viz. ‘atomic’) and of measure,” mentioned (respectively) in the texts: ‘This atomic soul’ (Muṇḍaka-upaniṣad 3.1.9^[1]), ‘An individual soul is a part of the hundredth part of the tip of a hair, divided a hundredfold’ (Śvetāśvatara-upaniṣad 5.9^[2]), the individual soul is atomic.

Śrīnivāsa’s commentary (Vedānta-kaustubha)

The phrase: “the word itself” means the word which is denotative of its own atomicity. The word “measure” means the measure which is separated from^[3] all gross measures, i.e. an intensely minute measure. On account of these two, the individual soul is atomic. The word itself is mentioned in the text: ‘This atomic soul in which the five-fold vital-breath has entered is to be known by means of thought’ (Muṇḍaka-upaniṣad 3.1.9). The measure is mentioned in the text: ‘An individual soul is a part of the hundredth part of the tip of a hair, divided a hundredfold’ (Śvetāśvatara-upaniṣad 5.9) ‘For the lower one is seen to be like the point of the spoke of a wheel only’ (Śvetāśvatara-upaniṣad 5.8).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Quoted by Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, Baladeva, Śrīkaṇṭha, Baladeva.

[2]:

Quoted by Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, Bhāskara, Baladeva.

[3]:

Uddhṛtya mānam = Unmānam.