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 ...

1. (On the soul's) having entered (into the highest light), there is manifestation (of its own nature); (as we infer) from the word 'own.'

'Thus does that serene being, having risen out of this body and entered into the highest light, manifest itself by its own nature' (Ch. Up. VII, 12, 3). Regarding this text a doubt arises whether the Self[1] manifests itself through some adventitious distinction--as the Self (of him who possesses the lower knowledge only) does in the world of the gods and other abodes of enjoyment--or only through its own Self.--The pūrvapakṣin maintains that, as in other places, here also the manifestation takes place through some adventitious characteristic; because release also is a fruit (like other fruits, e.g. svarga), and because 'manifestation' means as much as origination. If the manifestation took place only through the Self's own nature, it would already appear in the Self's former states: for a thing's own nature is never absent from it. The Self therefore manifests itself by means of some adventitious distinction.

To this we make the following reply. It manifests itself through its Self only, not through any other attribute.--Why so?--On account of the word 'own' in the clause 'by its own nature.' For on the other view the qualification conveyed by 'own' would be unmeaning.--But may not the term 'own' merely indicate that that form belongs to that which manifests itself?--Not so, we reply. This is a point which would not require to be stated. For as in whatever form a thing manifests itself that form necessarily belongs to it, the qualification 'own' would be devoid of purport. It has a meaning, on the other hand, if it denotes the Self, the sense conveyed then being that the manifestation takes place only through the nature of the Self, not through any other, adventitious, nature.--But, as a thing cannot be without its own nature, what difference is there between the Self's former states and its present state (after the manifestation)?--To this question the next Sūtra replies.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Saṃprati caturthe pāde paravidyāphalaikadeśo brahmabhāvāvirbhāvāḥ, saguṇavidyāphalaṃ ca sarveśvaratulyabhogatvam avadhārayiṣyate, tatrāparavidyāprāpyam uktvā paravidyāprāpyam āha saṃpadyeti. Ān. Gi.

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