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 ...
III, 4, 36
36. But also (persons standing) between (are qualified for knowledge); for that is seen (in scripture).
A doubt arises whether persons in want who do not possess means, &c., and therefore are not able to enter one or the other of the āśramas., standing between as it were, are qualified for knowledge or not.--They are not qualified, the pūrvapakṣin maintains. For we have ascertained that the works incumbent on the āśramas are the cause of knowledge, and those persons have no opportunity to perform those works.--To this the Sūtrakāra replies. 'But also between.' Even a person who because he does not belong to an āśrama stands between, as it were, is qualified for knowledge. 'For that is seen.' For we meet with scriptural passages declaring that persons of that class--such as Raikva and the daughter of Vacaknu--possessed the knowledge of Brahman (Ch. Up. IV, 1; Bṛ. Up. III, 6, 8).