Chapter I, Section IV, Adhikarana III

Adhikarana summary: The fivefold five people of Brih. 4. 4. 17 are not the twenty-five Sankhyan categories

Brahma-Sutra 1.4.11: Sanskrit text and English translation.

न संख्योपसंग्रहादपि, नानाभावादतिरेकाच्च ॥ ११ ॥

na saṃkhyopasaṃgrahādapi, nānābhāvādatirekācca || 11 ||

na—not; saṃkhyopasaṃgrahādapi—even from the statement of the number; nānābhāvāt—on account of the differences; atirekāt—on account of the excess; ca—and.

11. Even from the statement of the number (fivefold five, i.e. twenty-five categories, by the Sruti, it is) not (to be presumed that the Sruti refers to the Pradhana) on account of the differences (in the categories) and the excess (over the number of the Sankhyan categories).

“That in which the five groups of five and the (subtle) ether are placed, that very Atman” etc.
(Brih. 4. 4. 17).

Now five times five makes twenty-five, which is exactly the number of the Sankhyan categories. So the Sankhyas say that here is the scriptural authority for their philosophy. This Sutra refutes such an assumption. For the Sankhyan categories cannot be divided into groups of five on any basis of similarity, for all the twenty-five categories differ from each other. Secondly, the mention of the ether in tiie text as a separate category would make the number twenty-six in all, contrary to the Sankhyan theory.

 

Brahma-Sutra 1.4.12: Sanskrit text and English translation.

प्राणादयो वाक्यशेषात् ॥ १२ ॥

prāṇādayo vākyaśeṣāt || 12 ||

prāṇādayaḥ—The vital force etc.; vākyaśeṣāt—because of the complementary passage.

12. (The five people referred to are) the vital force etc., because (we- find it to be so) from the complementary passage.

“They who know the vital force of the vital force, the eye of the eye, the ear of the ear, the food of the food, the mind of the mind,” etc. (Brih. Madhy. 4. 4. 21).

The ‘five people’ refer to this vital force and the other four of the text, which are cited to describe Brahman.

 

Brahma-Sutra 1.4.13: Sanskrit text and English translation.

ज्योतिषैकेषामसत्यन्ने ॥ १३ ॥

jyotiṣaikeṣāmasatyanne || 13 ||

jyotiā—By light; ekeṣām—of some; asati anne—food not being mentioned.

13. (In the text) of some (the Kanva recension) food not being mentioned (in the complementary passage referred to in the previous Sutra) (the number is made up) by ‘light’ (mentioned in the previous verse).

“That immortal Light of lights the gods worship as longevity” (Brih. 4. 4. 16).

Though food is not mentioned in the text cited in the last Sutra according to the Kanva recension of the Satapatha Brahmana, yet the four of that verse, together with ‘light’ mentioned in the text cited above, would make the ‘five people’.