Brahma-Sūtra 2.4.6

English of translation of Brahmasutra 2.4.6 by Roma Bose:

“But (there are) hands and the rest, (these additional sense-organs) being established, therefore (that) is not so.”

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

The correct conclusion is as follows: It being definitely ascertained from the passage: ‘The hand, verily, is an organ of sense’ (Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad 3.2.8^[1]) and so on, that there are more than seven, it is not to be thought there are only seven sense-organs. In accordance with the scriptural passage: ‘There are ten sense-organs in a person, the soul is the eleventh’ (Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad 3.9.4^[2]), there are eleven sense-organs.

Vedānta-kaustubha The author states the right conclusion.

The term “but” intimates the blindness of the prima facie opponent. In the scriptural text: ‘The hand, verily, is an organ of sense. It is seized hy action as an over-sense-organ, for by the hands one performs action’ (Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad 3.2.8), “the hands and the rest”, over and above the seven, are mentioned. “Therefore” the hands and the rest, over and above the seven, “being established”, and in the passage: ‘All the sense-organs go out’ (Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad 4.4.2) the going out of all the sense-organs being not specified, it cannot be thought that there are only seven of them. But the fact is that there are eleven sense-organs in accordance with the scriptural and Smṛti texts: ‘There are ten sense-organs in a person, the soul is the eleventh’ (Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad 3.2.8), ‘The sense-organs are ten and one’ (Gītā 15.5). Among these, five are organs of knowledge, viz. ear, skin, eye, tongue and nose. They have five objects, viz. sound and the rest. Five are organs of action, viz. speech, hands, feet, organ of elimination and organ of generation. They have five objects like word and the rest. The internal organ is the mind, the cause of resolution and the rest. In this way it is established that there are altogether eleven sense-organs.

Here ends the section entitled “The going of the seven” (2).

Comparative views of Rāmānuja, Śrīkaṇṭha and Baladeva:

This is sūtra 5 in the commentaries of the first two, but sūtra 6 in the commentary of the last. Interpretation of the word “sthite” different, viz. “because of abiding (in the body and assisting the soul).^[3]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Quoted by Śaṅkara, Bhāskara, Baladeva

[2]:

Op. cit.

[3]:

Śrī-bhāṣya (Madras edition) 2.4.5, p. 173, Part 2; Brahma-sūtras (Śrīkaṇṭha’s commentary) 2.4.5, p. 169, Parts 7 and 8; Govinda-bhāṣya 2.4.6.