Brahma Sutras (Shankaracharya)
by George Thibaut | 1890 | 203,611 words
English translation of the Brahma sutras (aka. Vedanta Sutras) with commentary by Shankaracharya (Shankara Bhashya): One of the three canonical texts of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy. The Brahma sutra is the exposition of the philosophy of the Upanishads. It is an attempt to systematise the various strands of the Upanishads which form the ...
I, 4, 7
7. And (the case of the term avyakta) is like that of the term mahat.
While the Sāṅkhyas employ the term 'the Great one,' to denote the first-born entity, which is mere existence[1](? viz. the intellect), the term has a different meaning in Vedic use. This we see from its being connected with the Self, &c. in such passages as the following, 'The great Self is beyond the Intellect' (Ka. Up. I, 3, 10); 'The great omnipresent Self (Ka. Up. I, 2, 23); 'I know that great person' (Śve. Up. III, 8). We thence conclude that the word avyakta also, where it occurs in the Veda, cannot denote the pradhāna.--The pradhāna is therefore a mere thing of inference, and not vouched for by Scripture.
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
The commentators give different explanations of the Sattāmātra of the text.--Sattāmātre sattvapradhānaprakṛter ādyapariṇāme. Go. Ān.--Bhogāpavargapuruṣārthasya mahacchabditabuddhikāryatvāt puruṣāpekṣitaphalakāraṇaṃ sad ucyate tatra bhāvapratyayo'pi svarūpārtho na sāmānyavācī kāryānumeyaṃ mahan na pratyakṣam iti mātraśabdaḥ. Ānanda Giri.