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 ...
IV, 2, 5
5. To the elements (the soul, with prāṇa, goes), on account of the subsequent scriptural clause.
The soul joined by the prāṇa takes up its abode within the subtle elements which accompany heat and form the seed of the (gross) body. This we conclude from the clause, 'Breath in heat.'--But this passage declares, not that the soul together with the prāṇa takes up its abode in heat, but only that the prāṇa takes up its abode!--No matter, we reply; since the preceding Sūtra intercalates the soul in the interval (between prāṇa and tejas). Of a man who first travels from--Śrughna to Mathurā and then from Mathurā to Pāṭaliputra, we may say shortly that he travels from--Śrughna to Pāṭaliputra. The passage under discussion therefore means that the soul together with the prāṇa abides in the elements associated with heat.--But how are you entitled to draw in the other elements also, while the text only speaks of heat?--To this question the next Sūtra replies.