The teaching of the Vedânta-texts is not inappropriate, since there are
instances of good and bad qualities being separate in the case of one
thing connected with two different states. The 'but' in the Sûtra
indicates the impossibility of Brahman being connected with even a
shadow of what is evil. The meaning is as follows. As Brahman has all
sentient and non-sentient things for its body, and constitutes the Self
of that body, there is nothing contrary to reason in Brahman being
connected with two states, a causal and an effected one, the essential
characteristics of which are expansion on the one hand and contraction
on the other; for this expansion and contraction belong (not to Brahman
itself, but) to the sentient and non-sentient beings. The imperfections
adhering to the body do not affect Brahman, and the good qualities
belonging to the Self do not extend to the body; in the same way as
youth, childhood, and old age, which are attributes of embodied beings,
such as gods or men, belong to the body only, not to the embodied Self;
while knowledge, pleasure and so on belong to the conscious Self only,
not to the body. On this understanding there is no objection to
expressions such as 'he is born as a god or as a man' and 'the same
person is a child, and then a youth, and then an old man' That the
character of a god or man belongs to the individual soul only in so far
as it has a body, will be shown under III, 1, 1.
The assertion made by the Pûrvapakshin as to the impossibility of the
world, comprising matter and souls and being either in its subtle or its
gross condition, standing to Brahman in the relation of a body, we
declare to be the vain outcome of altogether vicious reasoning springing
from the idle fancies of persons who have never fully considered the
meaning of the whole body of Vedânta-texts as supported by legitimate
argumentation. For as a matter of fact all Vedânta-texts distinctly
declare that the entire world, subtle or gross, material or spiritual,
stands to the highest Self in the relation of a body. Compare e.g.the
antaryâmin-brâhmana, in the Kânva as well as the Mâdhyandina-text, where
it is said first of non-sentient things ('he who dwells within the earth,
whose body the earth is' &c.), and afterwards separately of the
intelligent soul ('he who dwells in understanding,' according to the
Kânvas; 'he who dwells within the Self,' according to the Mâdhyandinas)
that they constitute the body of the highest Self. Similarly the Subâla-
Upanishad declares that matter and souls in all their states constitute
the body of the highest Self ('He who dwells within the earth' &c.), and
concludes by saying that that Self is the soul of all those beings ('He
is the inner Self of all' &c.). Similarly Smriti, 'The whole world is
thy body'; 'Water is the body of Vishnu'; 'All this is the body of Hari';
'All these things are his body'; 'He having reflected sent forth from
his body'--where the 'body' means the elements in their subtle state. In
ordinary language the word 'body' is not, like words such as _jar_,
limited in its denotation to things of one definite make or character,
but is observed to be applied directly (not only secondarily or
metaphorically) to things of altogether different make and
characteristics--such as worms, insects, moths, snakes, men, four-footed
animals, and so on. We must therefore aim at giving a definition of the
word that is in agreement with general use. The definitions given by the
Pûrvapakshin--'a body is that which causes the enjoyment of the fruit of
actions' &c.--do not fulfil this requirement; for they do not take in
such things as earth and the like which the texts declare to be the body
of the Lord. And further they do not take in those bodily forms which
the Lord assumes according to his wish, nor the bodily forms released
souls may assume, according to 'He is one' &c. (Ch. Up. VII, 36, 2); for
none of those embodiments subserve the fruition of the results of
actions. And further, the bodily forms which the Supreme Person assumes
at wish are not special combinations of earth and the other elements;
for Smriti says, 'The body of that highest Self is not made from a
combination of the elements.' It thus appears that it is also too narrow
a definition to say that a body is a combination of the different
elements. Again, to say that a body is that, the life of which depends
on the vital breath with its five modifications is also too narrow, viz
in respect of plants; for although vital air is present in plants, it
does not in them support the body by appearing in five special forms.
Nor again does it answer to define a body as either the abode of the
sense-organs or as the cause of pleasure and pain; for neither of these
definitions takes in the bodies of stone or wood which were bestowed on
Ahalyâ and other persons in accordance with their deeds. We are thus led
to adopt the following definition--Any substance which a sentient soul
is capable of completely controlling and supporting for its own purposes,
and which stands to the soul in an entirely subordinate relation, is the
body of that soul. In the case of bodies injured, paralysed, &c.,
control and so on are not actually perceived because the power of
control, although existing, is obstructed; in the same way as, owing to
some obstruction, the powers of fire, heat, and so on may not be actually
perceived. A dead body again begins to decay at the very moment in which
the soul departs from it, and is actually dissolved shortly after; it
(thus strictly speaking is not a body at all but) is spoken of as a body
because it is a part of the aggregate of matter which previously
constituted a body. In this sense, then, all sentient and non-sentient
beings together constitute the body of the Supreme Person, for they are
completely controlled and supported by him for his own ends, and are
absolutely subordinate to him. Texts which speak of the highest Self as
'bodiless among bodies' (e.g. Ka. Up. I. 2, 22), only mean to deny of
the Self a body due to karman; for as we have seen, Scripture declares
that the Universe is his body. This point will be fully established in
subsequent adhikaranas also. The two preceding Sûtras (8 and 9) merely
suggest the matter proved in the adhikarana beginning with II, 1, 21.