Brahma-Sūtra 3.3.56

English of translation of Brahmasutra 3.3.56 by Roma Bose:

“(The vidyās are) diverse, on account of the difference of words and so on.”

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

There is diversity among the Śāṇḍilya-vidyā and the rest. Why? “On account of the difference of words and so on” regarding them.

Śrīnivāsa’s commentary (Vedānta-kaustubha)

Now, by showing^[1] that in spite of Brahman, the object to be meditated on, being one and the same, there are diverse meditations as there are different texts about them and so on, (the author) is after that removing the following doubt: It has been pointed out immediately above that in spite of there being injunctive texts regarding the meditations on the separate parts, the meditation on the Whole is the best of all, as the object meditated on is everywhere the same. Similarly, in spite of there being injunctive texts regarding different kinds of meditations on Brahman, such as the Śāṇḍilya-vidyā and the rest, all these meditations must be one and the same, as the object meditated on is everywhere the same (viz. Brahman).

The doubt is as to whether all the meditations on Brahman which result in final emancipation, consisting in the attainment of Brahman, viz. the Śāṇḍilya-vidyā^[2], the Bhūma-vidyā^[3], the Sad-vidyā^[4], the Dahara-vidyā^[5], the Upakosala-vidyā^[6], the Vaiśvānara-vidyā^[7], the Ānandamaya-vidyā^[8], the Akṣara-vidyā^[9], and so on, as well as the Prāṇa-vidyā^[10] and the rest which have a special object and a special result, are to be undertaken collectively or separately. The prima facie view is that though there are injunctions with regard to each of the meditations, yet as the object to be meditated on is everywhere the same, they are to be undertaken collectively.

With regard to it, we reply: “Diverse”. The meditations are diverse. Why? “On account of the difference of words and so on,” i.e. as there are different texts about them like: ‘Knows’, ‘Let one meditate’, ‘Let one form a resolution’ (Chāndogya-upaniṣad 3.14.1), “But let one desire to enquire into the Plenty” (Chāndogya-upaniṣad 7.2.3, 1), “Let one meditate on Truth” (Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad 4.1.4) and so on. The sense is this: Though the object to be meditated on is the same, yet these meditations are not exactly identical, since the object to be meditated on has different forms, as (variously) qualified by the special attributes mentioned in the texts designating those special meditations. By the words “and so on” other grounds, besides texts, for taking sacrificial acts as different, as demonstrated in the section concerned with that topic^[11], viz. repetition, number, name, attribute and context, are to be understood. These establish that the meditations are different here too.

Here ends the section entitled “Difference of words” (24).

Comparative views of Baladeva:

This is sūtra 60 in his commentary. He too takes it to be forming an adhikaraṇa by itself, but interprets it in a sectarian manner thus: “(The meditations on the different forms of the Lord are) different, on account of the difference of words and so on. That is, the meditation on Kṛṣṇa, e.g., is different from the meditation on Nṛsiṃha, because the two words ‘Kṛṣṇa’ and ‘Nṛsiṃha’ are different, their forms are different and their mantras too are different.^[12]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Here the śatṛ-suffix implies reason.

[2]:

Vide Brahma-sūtra 3.3.31.

[3]:

Bhūma-vidyā or the doctrine of the Plenty taught by Sanatkumāra to Nārada. Vide Chāndogya-upaniṣad 7.13. Vide also Vedānta-kaustubha 1.3.8.

[4]:

Vide Brahma-sūtra 3.3.35.

[5]:

Vide Brahma-sūtra 3.3.31.

[6]:

Op. cit.

[7]:

Op. cit.

[8]:

Ānandamaya-vidyā or the doctrine of the Self consisting of bliss. Vide Taittirīya-upaniṣad 2.

[9]:

Akṣara-vidyā or the doctrine of the Imperishable taught to Gārgī by Yājñavalkya. Vide Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad 3.8. Vide also Vedānta-kaustubha 3.3.33.

[10]:

Prāṇa-vidyā or the doctrine of the primacy of the vital-breath. Vide Bṛhadāraṇyaka-upaniṣad 6.1; Praśna 2; Kauṣītaki-upaniṣad 3. Vide also Vedānta-kaustubha 3.3.10.

[11]:

Vide Pūrva-mīmāṃsā-sūtra 2.2.1ff.

[12]:

Govinda-bhāṣya 3.3.60, p. 225, Chap. 3.