Brahma Sutras (Nimbarka commentary)
by Roma Bose | 1940 | 290,526 words
English translation of the Brahma-sutra 2.3.25, including the commentary of Nimbarka and sub-commentary of Srinivasa known as Vedanta-parijata-saurabha and Vedanta-kaustubha resepctively. Also included are the comparative views of important philosophies, viz., from Shankara, Ramanuja, Shrikantha, Bhaskara and Baladeva.
Brahma-Sūtra 2.3.25
English of translation of Brahmasutra 2.3.25 by Roma Bose:
“Or through attribute, like light.”
Nimbārka’s commentary (Vedānta-pārijāta-saurabha):
The illumination of the body takes place only through the attribute of the soul, like the light of a lamp and the like in a room.
Śrīnivāsa’s commentary (Vedānta-kaustubha)
To the objection, viz. the doctrine that there is a relation of attribute and substratum (between knowledge and the soul) is not proper, since our purpose is served by the very nature only (of the soul),—(the author) replies:
The term “or” is for disposing of the objection. The sense is that the experience of the pleasure and the like, pertaining to the entire body, by the atomic soul, occupying one part of the body, is possible through its attribute of knowledge which is all-pervading “As in ordinary life.” In ordinary life, a gem, the sun, a light and so on, though occupying one place, illuminate many places, as the case may be, through their attribute alone. Or else, (the combination) may be disjoined as: “as in the case of light”, i.e. like the light of gems and the rest. The doctrine of an attributeless soul, as admitted by the Sāṃkhyas, has been disposed of above.[1]
Comparative views:
Śaṅkara reads “lokavat”, all others “ālokavat”.