It is wrong to maintain that the designation of Brahman by means of
terms denoting the individual soul is intended to prove the truth of the
declaration that through the knowledge of one thing everything is known,
in so far namely as the soul is an effect of Brahman and hence one with
it. For scriptural texts such as 'the knowing Self is not born, it dies
not' (Ka. Up. I, 2, 18), declare the soul not to have originated, and it
moreover is admitted that the world is each time created to the end of
the souls undergoing experiences retributive of their former deeds;
otherwise the inequalities of the different parts of the creation would
be inexplicable. If moreover the soul were a mere effect of Brahman, its
Release would consist in a mere return into the substance of Brahman,--
analogous to the refunding into Brahman of the material elements, and
that would mean that the injunction and performance of acts leading to
such Release would be purportless. Release, understood in that sense,
moreover would not be anything beneficial to man; for to be refunded
into Brahman as an earthen vessel is refunded into its own causal
substance, i.e. clay, means nothing else but complete annihilation. How,
under these circumstances, certain texts can speak of the origination
and reabsorption of the individual soul will be set forth later on.--
According to the opinion of the teacher Audulomi, the highest Selfs
being denoted by terms directly denoting the individual soul is due to
the soul's becoming Brahman when departing from the body. This is in
agreement with texts such as the following, 'This serene being having
risen from this body and approached the highest light appears in its
true form' (Kh. Up. VIII, 3, 4); 'As the flowing rivers disappear in the
sea, losing their name and form, thus a wise man freed from name and
form goes to the divine Person who is higher than the high' (Mu. Up. III,
2, 8).
22. On account of (Brahman's) abiding (within the individual soul); thus
Kâsakritsna (holds).
We must object likewise to the view set forth in the preceding Sûtra,
viz. that Brahman is denoted by terms denoting the individual soul
because that soul when departing becomes one with Brahman. For that view
cannot stand the test of being submitted to definite alternatives.--Is
the soul's not being such, i.e. not being Brahman, previously to its
departure from the body, due to its own essential nature or to a
limiting adjunct, and is it in the latter case real or unreal? In the
first case the soul can never become one with Brahman, for if its
separation from Brahman is due to its own essential nature, that
separation can never vanish as long as the essential nature persists.
And should it be said that its essential nature comes to an end together
with its distinction from Brahman, we reply that in that case it
perishes utterly and does not therefore become Brahman. The latter view,
moreover, precludes itself as in no way beneficial to man, and so on.--
If, in the next place, the difference of the soul from Brahman depends
on the presence of real limiting adjuncts, the soul is Brahman even
before its departure from the body, and we therefore cannot reasonably
accept the distinction implied in saying that the soul becomes Brahman
only when it departs. For on this view there exists nothing but Brahman
and its limiting adjuncts, and as those adjuncts cannot introduce
difference into Brahman which is without parts and hence incapable of
difference, the difference resides altogether in the adjuncts, and hence
the soul is Brahman even before its departure from the body.--If, on the
other hand, the difference due to the adjuncts is not real, we ask--what
is it then that becomes Brahman on the departure of the soul?--Brahman
itself whose true nature had previously been obscured by Nescience, its
limiting adjunct!--Not so, we reply. Of Brahman whose true nature
consists in eternal, free, self-luminous intelligence, the true nature
cannot possibly be hidden by Nescience. For by 'hiding' or 'obscuring'
we understand the cessation of the light that belongs to the essential
nature of a thing. Where, therefore, light itself and alone constitutes
the essential nature of a thing, there can either be no obscuration at
all, or if there is such it means complete annihilation of the thing.
Hence Brahman's essential nature being manifest at all times, there
exists no difference on account of which it could be said to _become_
Brahman at the time of the soul's departure; and the distinction
introduced in the last Sûtra ('when departing') thus has no meaning. The
text on which Audulomi relies, 'Having risen from this body,' &c., does
not declare that that which previously was not Brahman becomes such at
the time of departure, but rather that the true nature of the soul which
had previously existed already becomes manifest at the time of departure.
This will be explained under IV, 4, 1.
The theories stated in the two preceding Sûtras thus having been found
untenable, the teacher Kâsakritsna states his own view, to the effect
that words denoting the jîva are applied to Brahman because Brahman
abides as its Self within the individual soul which thus constitutes
Brahman's body. This theory rests on a number of well-known texts,
'Entering into them with this living (individual) soul let me evolve
names and forms' (Ch. Up. VI, 3, 2); 'He who dwelling within the Self,
&c., whose body the Self is,' &c. (Bri. Up. III, 7, 22); 'He who moves
within the Imperishable, of whom the Imperishable is the body,' &c;
'Entered within, the ruler of beings, the Self of all.' That the term
'jîva' denotes not only the jîva itself, but extends in its denotation
up to the highest Self, we have explained before when discussing the
text, 'Let me evolve names and forms.' On this view of the identity of
the individual and the highest Self consisting in their being related to
each other as body and soul, we can accept in their full and unmutilated
meaning all scriptural texts whatever--whether they proclaim the
perfection and omniscience of the highest Brahman, or teach how the
individual soul steeped in ignorance and misery is to be saved through
meditation on Brahman, or describe the origination and reabsorption of
the world, or aim at showing how the world is identical with Brahman.
For this reason the author of the Sûtras, rejecting other views, accepts
the theory of Kâsakritsna. Returning to the Maitreyî-brâhmana we proceed
to explain the general sense, from the passage previously discussed
onwards. Being questioned by Maitreyî as to the means of immortality,
Yâjñavalkya teaches her that this means is given in meditation on the
highest Self ('The Self is to be seen,' &c.). He next indicates in a
general way the nature of the object of meditation ('When the Self is
seen,' &c.), and--availing himself of the similes of the drum, &c.--of
the government over the organs, mind, and so on, which are instrumental
towards meditation. He then explains in detail that the object of
meditation, i.e. the highest Brahman, is the sole cause of the entire
world; and the ruler of the aggregate of organs on which there depends
all activity with regard to the objects of the senses ('As clouds of
smoke proceed,' &c.; 'As the ocean is the home of all the waters'). He,
next, in order to stimulate the effort which leads to immortality, shows
how the highest Self abiding in the form of the individual Self, is of
one uniform character, viz. that of limitless intelligence ('As a lump
of salt,' &c.), and how that same Self characterised by homogeneous
limitless intelligence connects itself in the Samsâra state with the
products of the elements ('a mass of knowledge, it rises from those
elements and again vanishes into them'). He then adds, 'When he has
departed, there is no more knowledge'; meaning that in the state of
Release, where the soul's unlimited essential intelligence is not
contracted in any way, there is none of those specific cognitions by
which the Self identifying itself with the body, the sense-organs, &c.,
views itself as a man or a god, and so on. Next--in the passage, 'For
where there is duality as it were'--he, holding that the view of a
plurality of things not having their Self in Brahman is due to ignorance,
shows that for him who has freed himself from the shackles of ignorance
and recognises this whole world as animated by Brahman, the view of
plurality is dispelled by the recognition of the absence of any
existence apart from Brahman. He then proceeds, 'He by whom he knows all
this, by what means should he know Him?' This means--He, i.e. the
highest Self, which abiding within the individual soul as its true Self
bestows on it the power of knowledge so that the soul knows all this
through the highest Self; by what means should the soul know Him? In
other words, there is no such means of knowledge: the highest Self
cannot be fully understood by the individual soul. 'That Self,' he
continues, 'is to be expressed as--not so, not so!' That means--He, the
highest Lord, different in nature from everything else, whether sentient
or non-sentient, abides within all beings as their Self, and hence is
not touched by the imperfections of what constitutes his body merely. He
then concludes, 'Whereby should he know the Knower? Thus, O Maitreyî,
thou hast been instructed. Thus far goes Immortality'; the purport of
these words being--By what means, apart from the meditation described,
should man know Him who is different in nature from all other beings,
who is the sole cause of the entire world, who is the Knower of all, Him
the Supreme Person? It is meditation on Him only which shows the road to
Immortality. It thus appears that the Maitreyî-brâhmana is concerned
with the highest Brahman only; and this confirms the conclusion that
Brahman only, and with it Prakriti as ruled by Brahman, is the cause of
the world.--Here terminates the adhikarana of 'the connexion of
sentences.'
23. (Brahman is) the material cause on account of this not being in
conflict with the promissory statements and the illustrative instances.
The claims raised by the atheistic Sânkhya having thus been disposed of,
the theistic Sânkhya comes forward as an opponent. It must indeed be
admitted, he says, that the Vedânta-texts teach the cause of the world
to be an all-knowing Lord; for they attribute to that cause thought and
similar characteristics. But at the same time we learn from those same
texts that the material cause of the world is none other than the
Pradhâna; with an all-knowing, unchanging superintending Lord they
connect a Pradhâna, ruled by him, which is non-intelligent and undergoes
changes, and the two together only they represent as the cause of the
world. This view is conveyed by the following texts, 'who is without
parts, without actions, tranquil, without fault, without taint' (Svet.
Up. VI, 18); 'This great unborn Self, undecaying, undying' (Bri. Up. IV,
4, 25); 'He knows her who produces all effects, the non-knowing one, the
unborn one, wearing eight forms, the firm one. Ruled by him she is
spread out, and incited and guided by him gives birth to the world for
the benefit of the souls. A cow she is without beginning and end, a
mother producing all beings' (see above, p. 363). That the Lord creates
this world in so far only as guiding Prakriti, the material cause, we
learn from the following text, 'From that the Lord of Mâya creates all
this. Know Mâya to be Prakriti and the Lord of Mâya the great Lord'
(Svet. Up. IV, 9, 10). And similarly Smriti, 'with me as supervisor
Prakriti brings forth the Universe of the movable and the immovable'
(Bha. GÎ. IX, 10). Although, therefore, the Pradhâna is not expressly
stated by Scripture to be the material cause, we must assume that there
is such a Pradhâna and that, superintended by the Lord, it constitutes
the material cause, because otherwise the texts declaring Brahman to be
the cause of the world would not be fully intelligible. For ordinary
experience shows us on all sides that the operative cause and the
material cause are quite distinct: we invariably have on the one side
clay, gold, and other material substances which form the material causes
of pots, ornaments, and so on, and on the other hand, distinct from them,
potters, goldsmiths, and so on, who act as operative causes. And we
further observe that the production of effects invariably requires
several instrumental agencies. The Vedânta-texts therefore cannot
possess the strength to convince us, in open defiance of the two
invariable rules, that the one Brahman is at the same time the material
and the operative cause of the world; and hence we maintain that Brahman
is only the operative but not the material cause, while the material
cause is the Pradhâna guided by Brahman.
This primâ facie view the Sûtra combats. Prakriti, i.e. the material
cause, not only the operative cause, is Brahman only; this view being in
harmony with the promissory declaration and the illustrative instances.
The promissory declaration is the one referring to the knowledge of all
things through the knowledge of one, 'Did you ever ask for that
instruction by which that which is not heard becomes heard?' &c. (Ch, Up.
VI, 1, 3). And the illustrative instances are those which set forth the
knowledge of the effect as resulting from the knowledge of the cause,
'As by one lump of clay there is made known all that is made of clay; as
by one nugget of gold, &c.; as by one instrument for paring the nails,'
&c. (Ch. Up. VI, 1, 4). If Brahman were merely the operative cause of the
world, the knowledge of the entire world would not result from the
knowledge of Brahman; not any more than we know the pot when we know the
potter. And thus scriptural declaration and illustrative instances would
be stultified. But if Brahman is the general material cause, then the
knowledge of Brahman implies the knowledge of its effect, i.e. the world,
in the same way as the knowledge of such special material causes as a
lump of clay, a nugget of gold, an instrument for paring the nails,
implies the knowledge of all things made of clay, gold or iron--such as
pots, bracelets, diadems, hatchets, and so on. For an effect is not a
substance different from its cause, but the cause itself which has
passed into a different state. The initial declaration thus being
confirmed by the instances of clay and its products, &c., which stand in
the relation of cause and effect, we conclude that Brahman only is the
material cause of the world. That Scripture teaches the operative and
the material causes to be separate, is not true; it rather teaches the
unity of the two. For in the text, 'Have you asked for that âdesa (above,
and generally, understood to mean "instruction"), by which that which is
not heard becomes heard?' the word 'âdesa' has to be taken to mean _ruler_,
in agreement with the text, 'by the command--or rule--of that
Imperishable sun and moon stand apart' (Bri. Up. III, 8, 9), so that the
passage means, 'Have you asked for that Ruler by whom, when heard and
known, even that which is not heard and known, becomes heard and known?'
This clearly shows the unity of the operative (ruling or supervising)
cause and the material cause; taken in conjunction with the subsequent
declaration of the unity of the cause previous to creation, 'Being only,
this was in the beginning, one only,' and the denial of a further
operative cause implied in the further qualification 'advitîyam,' i.e.
'without a second.'--But how then have we to understand texts such as
the one quoted above (from the Kûlika-Upanishad) which declare Prakriti
to be eternal and the material cause of the world?--Prakriti, we reply,
in such passages denotes Brahman in its causal phase when names and
forms are not yet distinguished. For a principle independent of Brahman
does not exist, as we know from texts such as 'Everything abandons him
who views anything as apart from the Self; and 'But where for him the
Self has become all, whereby should he see whom?' (Bri. Up. II, 4, 6;
15). Consider also the texts, 'All this is Brahman' (Ch. Up. III, 14, 1);
and 'All this has its Self in that' (Ch. Up. VI, 8, 7); which declare
that the world whether in its causal or its effected condition has
Brahman for its Self. The relation of the world to Brahman has to be
conceived in agreement with scriptural texts such as 'He who moves
within the earth,' &c., up to 'He who moves within the Imperishable';
and 'He who dwells within the earth,' &c., up to 'He who dwells within
the Self (Bri. Up. III, 7, 3-23). The highest Brahman, having the whole
aggregate of non-sentient and sentient beings for its body, ever is the
Self of all. Sometimes, however, names and forms are not evolved, not
distinguished in Brahman; at other times they are evolved, distinct. In
the latter state Brahman is called an effect and manifold; in the former
it is called one, without a second, the cause. This causal state of
Brahman is meant where the text quoted above speaks of the cow without
beginning and end, giving birth to effects, and so on.--But, the text,
'The great one is merged in the Unevolved, the Unevolved is merged in
the Imperishable,' intimates that the Unevolved originates and again
passes away; and similarly the Mahâbhârata says, 'from that there sprung
the Non-evolved comprising the three gunas; the Non-evolved is merged in
the indivisible Person.'--These texts, we reply, present no real
difficulty. For Brahman having non-sentient matter for its body, that
state which consists of the three gunas and is denoted by the term
'Unevolved' is something effected. And the text, 'When there was
darkness, neither day nor night,' states that also in a total pralaya
non-sentient matter having Brahman for its Self continues to exist in a
highly subtle condition. This highly subtle matter stands to Brahman the
cause of the world in the relation of a mode (prakâra), and it is
Brahman viewed as having such a mode that the text from the Kûl.
Upanishad refers to. For this reason also the text, 'the Imperishable is
merged in darkness, darkness becomes one with the highest God,' declares
not that darkness is completely merged and lost in the Divinity but only
that it becomes one with it; what the text wants to intimate is that
state of Brahman in which, having for its mode extremely subtle matter
here called 'Darkness,' it abides without evolving names and forms. The
mantra, 'There was darkness, hidden in darkness,' &c. (Ri. Samh. X, 129,
3), sets forth the same view; and so does Manu (I, 5), 'This universe
existed in the shape of Darkness, unperceived, destitute of distinctive
marks, unattainable by reasoning, unknowable, wholly immersed as it were
in deep sleep.' And, as to the text, 'from that the Lord of Mâya creates
everything,' we shall prove later on the unchangeableness of Brahman,
and explain the scriptural texts asserting it.
As to the contention raised by the Pûrvapakshin that on the basis of
invariable experience it must be held that one and the same principle
cannot be both material and operative cause, and that effects cannot be
brought about by one agency, and that hence the Vedânta-texts can no
more establish the view of Brahman being the sole cause than the command
'sprinkle with fire' will convince us that fire may perform the office
of water; we simply remark that the highest Brahman which totally
differs in nature from all other beings, which is omnipotent and
omniscient, can by itself accomplish everything. The invariable rule of
experience holds good, on the other hand, with regard to clay and
similar materials which are destitute of intelligence and hence
incapable of guiding and supervising; and with regard to potters and
similar agents who do not possess the power of transforming themselves
into manifold products, and cannot directly realise their intentions.--
The conclusion therefore remains that Brahman alone is the material as
well as the operative cause of the Universe.