'The internal organ called Pradyumna originates from Sankarshana,' i. e.
the internal organ originates from the individual soul which is the
agent. But this is inadmissible, since the text 'from him there is
produced breath, mind, and all sense-organs' (Mu. Up. II, 1, 3) declares
that the mind also springs from none else but the highest Brahman. As
the Bhâgavata doctrine thus teaches things opposed to Scripture, its
authoritativeness cannot be admitted.--Against these objections the next
Sûtra declares itself.
42. Or, if they are of the nature of that which is knowledge and so on,
there is no contradiction to that (i.e. the Bhâgavata doctrine).
The 'or' sets aside the view previously maintained. By 'that which is
knowledge and so on' [FOOTNOTE 524:1] we have to understand the highest
Brahman. If Sankarshana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha are of the nature of
the highest Brahman, then truly there can be no objection to a body of
doctrine which sets forth this relation. The criticism that the
Bhâgavatas teach an inadmissible origination of the individual soul, is
made by people who do not understand that system. What it teaches is
that the highest Brahman, there called Vâsudeva, from kindness to those
devoted to it, voluntarily abides in a fourfold form, so as to render
itself accessible to its devotees. Thus it is said in the Paushkara-
samhitâ, 'That which enjoins that Brahmanas have to worship, under its
proper names, the fourfold nature of the Self; that is the authoritative
doctrine.' That this worship of that which is of a fourfold nature means
worship of the highest Brahman, called Vâsudeva, is declared in the
Sâtvata-samhitâ, 'This is the supreme sâstra, the great Brahmopanishad,
which imparts true discrimination to Brahmawas worshipping the real
Brahman under the name of Vâsudeva.' That highest Brahman, called
Vâsudeva, having for its body the complete aggregate of the six
qualities, divides itself in so far as it is either the 'Subtle'
(sûkshma), or 'division' (vyûha), or 'manifestation' (vibhava), and is
attained in its fulness by the devotees who, according to their
qualifications, do worship to it by means of works guided by knowledge.
'From the worship of the vibhava-aspect one attains to the vyûha, and
from the worship of the vyûha one attains to the "Subtile" called
Vâsudeva, i.e. the highest Brahman'--such is their doctrine. By the
'vibhava' we have to understand the aggregate of beings, such as Rama,
Krishna, &c., in whom the highest Being becomes manifest; by the 'vyûha'
the fourfold arrangement or division of the highest Reality, as Vâsudeva,
Sankarshana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha; by the 'Subtle' the highest
Brahman itself, in so far as it has for its body the mere aggregate of
the six qualities--as which it is called 'Vâsudeva.' Compare on this
point the Paushkara, 'That body of doctrine through which, by means of
works based on knowledge, one fully attains to the imperishable highest
Brahman, called Vâsudeva,' and so on, Sankarshana, Pradyumna, and
Aniruddha are thus mere bodily forms which the highest Brahman
voluntarily assumes. Scripture already declares, 'Not born he is born in
many ways,' and it is this birth--consisting in the voluntary assumption
of bodily form, due to tenderness towards its devotees--which the
Bhâgavata system teaches; hence there lies no valid objection to the
authoritativeness of that system. And as Sankarshana. Pradyumna, and
Aniruddha are the beings ruling over the individual souls, internal
organs and organs of egoity, there can be no objection to their being
themselves denoted by those latter terms, viz. individual soul, and so
on. The case is analogous to that of Brahman being designated, in some
texts, by terms such as ether, breath, and the like.
[FOOTNOTE 524:1. Or 'by that which is knowledge and cause.']