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 ...

25. And as in the case of (physical) light and the like, there is non-distinction (of the two Selfs), the light (i.e. the intelligent Self) (being divided) by its activity; according to the repeated declarations of scripture.

As light, ether, the sun and so on appear differentiated as it were through their objects such as fingers, vessels, water and so on which constitute limiting adjuncts[1], while in reality they preserve their essential non-differentiatedness; so the distinction of different Selfs is due to limiting adjuncts only, while the unity of all Selfs is natural and original. For on the doctrine of the non-difference of the individual soul and the highest Self the Vedānta-texts insist again and again.[2]

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Light is differentiated as it were by the various objects on which it shines; the all-pervading ether is divided into parts as it were by hollow bodies; the sun is multiplied as it were by its reflections in the water.

[2]:

It certainly looks here as if the Bhāṣyakāra did not know what to do with the words of the Sūtra. The 'karmaṇi,' which is p. 173 as good as passed over by him, is explained by Go. Ān. as 'dhyānādikarmaṇy upādhau.' Ān. Gi. says, 'ātmāprakāśaśabdito&'2365;jñānatatkārye karmaṇy upādhau saviśeṣas' &c.

Like what you read? Consider supporting this website: