Brahma-Sūtra 2.4.8

English of translation of Brahmasutra 2.4.8 by Roma Bose:

“And the best.”

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

“The best,” i.e. the chief vital-breath, mentioned in the scriptural text: ‘The vital-breath, verily, is the oldest and the best’ (Chāndogya-upaniṣad 5.1.1^[1]), originates like the great elements. Why? In conformity with the same scriptural text, viz. ‘From him arise the vital-breath’ (Muṇḍaka-upaniṣad 2.1.3).

Śrīnivāsa’s commentary (Vedānta-kaustubha)

Now, incidentally, the origin of the chief vital-breath is being considered.

On the doubt, viz. whether the chief vital-breath, the cause of the subsistence of body and mentioned in the scriptural text, viz.: ‘The vital-breath, verily, is the oldest and the best’ (Chāndogya-upaniṣad 5.1.1), originates like the great elements,—if it be suggested: It does not originate. Why? Because in the text: ‘There was neither death, nor the immortal, nor then a sign of night or day. That one breathed without wind by its self-power. There was, verily, nothing whatsoever other than it, or higher’ (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā 10.129.2^[2]), by the words ‘was breathing’, meaning ‘He existed breathing’, the motion of the vital-breath at the time of the universal dissolution is designated.

We reply: “The chief too”, i.e. the chief vital-breath, too, originates like the elements and the rest, since in the scriptural text: ‘From him arise the vital-breath, the mind and all the sense-organs, the ether, the air’ (Muṇḍaka-upaniṣad 2.1.3), like the origin of the great elements and the rest, the origin of the chief vital-breath, too, is mentioned; and since it is known that prior to creation there was unity alone and no diversity.

The meaning of the text: ‘There was neither death’ (Ṛgveda-saṃhitā 10.129.2), on the other hand, is as follows: ‘Then’, i.e. at the time of the universal dissolution, ‘there was no death’, the killer. There was ‘no immortal with self-power’, i.e. there was no food of the gods (amṛta) together with the food of fathers (svadhā). There was neither the moon, the sign of the night, nor the sun, the sign of the day. ‘That one,’ i.e. Brahman alone, the seed of the universe, ‘breathed’, i.e. existed. Of what nature was He? ‘Breathless,’ i.e. without effects like the air and the rest, viz. in His causal state. There was nothing other than Him, i.e. Brahman.

Hence it is established that like the ether and the rest, the chief vital-breath too originates from Brahman.

Here ends the section entitled “The origin of the chief vital-breath” (4).

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Quoted by Śaṃkara

[2]:

P. 387, lines 21-23.