Brahma Sutras (Shankara Bhashya)
by Swami Vireshwarananda | 1936 | 124,571 words | ISBN-10: 8175050063
This is the English translation of the Brahma-sutras including the commentary (Bhashya) of Shankara. The Brahma-sutra (or, Vedanta-sutra) is one of the three canonical texts of the Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy and represents an early exposition the Vedantic interpretation of the Upanishads. This edition has the original Sanskrit text, the r...
Chapter III, Section II, Adhikarana IV
Adhikarana summary: The nature of a swoon
Brahma-Sutra 3.2.10: Sanskrit text and English translation.
मुग्धेऽर्धसंपत्तिः, परिशेषात् ॥ १० ॥
mugdhe’rdhasaṃpattiḥ, pariśeṣāt || 10 ||
mugdhe—In a swoon; ardhasaṃpattiḥ—partial attainment of the state of deep sleep; pariśeṣāt—as only alternative left.
10. In a swoon (there is the) partial attainment of the state of deep sleep, as that is the only alternative left.
The question of swoon is taken up for discussion. There are only three states of a soul while living in the body—waking, dream, and deep sleep. Its fourth state is death. The condition of swoon cannot come in as a fifth state, as no such state is known. So what is it ? Is it a separate state of the soul, or is it but one of these states ? It cannot be waking or dream, for there is no consciousness or experience of anything. It is not deep sleep, for that gives happiness, which swoon does not. Nor is it death, for the soul returns to life. So the only alterative left is that in a swoon the soul partially attains the state of deep sleep, inasmuch as there is no consciousness in that state and it Returns to life, and partially that of death, as is seen from the soul’s experience of misery and pain in that state resulting in distorted face and limbs. It is a separate state, though it happens occasionally, and the reason why it is not considered a fifth state is because it is a mixture of the other two states.