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 IV, Section II, Adhikarana X
Adhikarana summary: The soul of a knower of the Saguna Brahman follows the rays of the sun after death and goes to Brahmaloka
Brahma-Sutra 4.2.18: Sanskrit text and English translation.
रश्म्यनुसारी ॥ १८ ॥
raśmyanusārī || 18 ||
raśmi-anusārī—Following the rays.
18. (The soul of a knower of the Saguna Brahman when he dies) follows the rays (of the sun).
In the Chhandogya Upanishad we have, “... so do these rays of the sun go to both the worlds, this as well as the other. They proceed from the sun and enter into these nerves” (8. 6. 2); again, “When he thus departs from this body, then along these very rays he proceeds upwards” etc. (8. 6. 5). In these texts we learn that the soul of the knower of the Saguna Brahman, after departing from the body along the Sushumna, follows the rays of the sun. A doubt arises whether the soul of one who passes away in the night also follows the rays. The Sutra says that the soul, whether it departs in the night or during the day, follows the rays.
Brahma-Sutra 4.2.19: Sanskrit text and English translation.
निशि न इति चेत्, न, सम्बन्धस्य यावद्देहभावित्वाद्, दर्शयति च ॥ १९ ॥
niśi na iti cet, na, sambandhasya yāvaddehabhāvitvād, darśayati ca || 19 ||
niśi—In the night; na—not; iti cet—if it be said; na—not; sambandhasya yāvat-deha-bhāvitvād—because the connection continues as long as the body lasts; darśayati— (the Sruti) declares; ca—also.
19. If it be said (that the soul does) not (follow the rays) in the night, (we say) not so, because the connection (of the nerves and the rays) continues as long as the body lasts; (the Sruti) also declares (this).
The text quoted in the last Sutra, Chh. 8. 6. 2, shows that the connection between the rays and the nerves lasts as long as the body lasts. So it is immaterial whether the soul passes out by day or by night. Moreover, the sun’s rays continue even during the night, though we do not feel their presence owing to the fact that at night their number is limited. The Sruti ako says, “Even by night the sun sheds his rays.” The result of knowledge cannot be made to depend on the accident of death by day or night