Brahma Sutras (Nimbarka commentary)

by Roma Bose | 1940 | 290,526 words

English translation of the Brahma-sutra 3.2.18, 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 3.2.18

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English of translation of Brahmasutra 3.2.18 by Roma Bose:

“And for that very reason, (there is) the simile, like the sun and water and so on.”

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

Brahman, though all-pervading, is indeed faultless, possessing as He does two-fold characteristics. “For that very reason,” texts like: “Likewise,^[1] verily, the one soul abides within many, like the sun within water-receptacles” (Yājñavalkya-smṛti 3.144^[2]) and so on, take the help of “the simile of the sun and water and so on” for establishing Brahman’s faultlessness.

Śrīnivāsa’s commentary (Vedānta-kaustubha)

Brahman, though abiding in many places, is not subject to even an odour of imperfections arising out of those places. “For that very reason”, in Scripture the following “simile” is employed: Just as the sun and the rest, though reflected on water and the like, are not touched by their imperfections, so the Supreme Brahman too, though abiding in the sentient and the non-sentient, is not touched by their respective imperfections. The texts to that effect are as follows: “But just as the one ether becomes divided in the pots and the rest, so verily, the one soul abides within many, like the sun within water-receptacles” (Yājñavalkya-smṛti 3.144), “For the soul of beings, which is one only, is installed in each separate being, and is seen as one-fold and many-fold, like the moon reflected on water” (Brahmab. 6.12^[3]).

Comparative views of Śaṅkara and Bhāskara:

The same simile of the sun and water is interpreted differently by them, viz. Just as the same sun appears to be many when reflected on many sheets of water, so the one Brahman appears to be many through being connected with Upādhis or limiting adjuncts.^[4] However, Śaṅkara and Bhāskara understand the term ‘Upādhi’ in two different senses, as already noted.

Comparative views of Baladeva:

He begins a new adhikaraṇa here (one sūtra), concerned with showing that the worshipper (i.e. the individual soul) is different from the object worshipped (viz. the Lord). Hence the sūtra: “And for that very reason, (i.e. because the individual soul is different from Brahman), the simile, like the sun and water and so on, (is appropriate)”. That is, in Scripture we meet with the similes of the sun reflected on water and so on, and such similes simply show that just as the sun (or the bimba) is different from its image (or the pratibimba), so the Lord is different from the individual soul.^[5]