Attributes, such as having the power of immediately realising one's
purposes, and so on, which are not by other means known to constitute
attributes of Brahman, and are in the two texts under discussion, as
well as in other texts, emphatically declared to be attributes of
Brahman, as constituting the object of meditations undertaken with a
view to final release, cannot be omitted from those meditations, but
must be comprised within them. In the Chândogya. the passage, 'Those who
depart from hence, after having cognised the Self and those self-
realising desires, move about at will in all those worlds,' enjoins the
knowledge of Brahman as distinguished by the power of realising its
desires and similar qualities, while the text, 'Those who depart from
here not having cognised the Self, &c., do _not_ move about at will,' &c.,
finds fault with the absence of such knowledge, and in this way
emphasises the importance of the possession of it. In the same way the
repeated declarations as to Brahman's ruling power ('the lord of all,
the king of all beings,' &c.) show that stress is to be laid upon the
quality indicated. It truly cannot be held that Scripture, which in
tender regard to man's welfare is superior to a thousand of parents,
should, deceitfully, give emphatic instruction as to certain qualities--
not known through any other means of knowledge--which fundamentally
would be unreal and hence utterly to be disregarded, and thus throw men
desirous of release, who as it is are utterly confused by the
revolutions of the wheel of Samsâra, into even deeper confusion and
distress. That the text, 'there is not any diversity here; as one only
is to be seen that eternal being,' teaches a unitary view of the world
in so far as everything is an effect of Brahman and thus has Brahman for
its Self, and negatives the view of plurality--established antecedently
to Vedic teaching--as excluding Brahman's being the universal Self, we
have explained before. In the clause 'not so, not so' the so refers back
to the world as established by other means of proof, and the clause thus
declares that Brahman who is the Self of all is different in nature from
the world. This is confirmed by the subsequent passage, 'He is
incomprehensible, for he is not comprehended, he is undecaying,' &c.;
which means--as he is different in nature from what is comprehended by
the other means of proof he is not grasped by those means; as he is
different from what suffers decay he does not decay, and so on. And
analogously, in the Chandogya, the text 'by the old age of the body he
does not age' &c. first establishes Brahman's being different in nature
from everything else, and then declares it to be satyakâma, and so on.--
But, an objection is raised, the text, 'Those who depart from hence,
having cognised the Self and those true desires, move about at will in
all worlds. Thus he who desires the world of the fathers,' &c., really
declares that the knowledge of Brahman as possessing the power of
immediately realising its wishes has for its fruit something lying
within the sphere of transmigratory existence, and from this we infer
that for him who is desirous of release and of reaching Brahman the
object of meditation is not to be found in Brahman in so far as
possessing qualities. The fruit of the highest knowledge is rather
indicated in the passage, 'Having approached the highest light it
manifests itself in its own form'; and hence the power of realising its
wishes and the rest are not to be included in the meditation of him who
wishes to attain to Brahman.--To this objection the next Sûtra replies.
40. In the case of him who has approached (Brahman); just on that
account, this being declared by the text.
When the soul, released from all bonds and manifesting itself in its
true nature, has approached, i.e. attained to Brahman; then just on that
account, i.e. on account of such approach, the text declares it to
possess the power of moving about at will in all worlds. 'Having
approached the highest light he manifests himself in his true form. He
is the highest Person. He moves about there laughing, playing,' &c. This
point will be proved in greater detail in the fourth adhyâya. Meanwhile
the conclusion is that such qualities as satyakâmatva have to be
included in the meditation of him also who is desirous of release; for
the possession of those qualities forms part of the experience of the
released soul itself.--Here terminates the adhikarana of 'wishes and the
rest'
41. There is non-restriction of determination, because this is seen; for
there is a separate fruit, viz. non-obstruction.
There are certain meditations connected with elements of sacrificial
actions; as e.g. 'Let a man meditate on the syllable Om as udgîtha.'
These meditations are subordinate elements of the sacrificial acts with
which they connect themselves through the udgîtha and so on, in the same
way as the quality of being made of parna wood connects itself with the
sacrifice through the ladle (made of parna wood), and are to be
undertaken on that very account. Moreover the statement referring to
these meditations, viz. 'whatever he does with knowledge, with faith,
with the Upanishad, that becomes more vigorous,' does not allow the
assumption of a special fruit for these meditations (apart from the
fruit of the sacrificial performance); while in the case of the ladle
being made of parna wood the text mentions a special fruit ('he whose
ladle is made of parna wood does not hear an evil sound'). The
meditations in question are therefore necessarily to be connected with
the particular sacrificial performances to which they belong.--This view
the Sûtra refutes, 'There is non-restriction with regard to the
determinations.' By 'determination' we have here to understand the
definite settling of the mind in a certain direction, in other words,
meditation. The meditations on the udgîtha and so on are not definitely
connected with the sacrificial performances; 'since that is seen,' i.e.
since the texts themselves declare that there is no such necessary
connexion; cp. the text, 'therefore both perform the sacrificial work,
he who thus knows it (i. e. who possesses the knowledge implied in the
meditations on the sacrifice), as well as he who does not know'--which
declares that he also who does not know the meditations may perform the
work. Were these meditations auxiliary elements of the works, there
could be no such absence of necessary connexion (as declared in this
text). It thus being determined that they are not auxiliary elements, a
special result must be assigned to the injunction of meditation, and
this we find in the greater strength which is imparted to the sacrifice
by the meditation, and which is a result different from the result of
the sacrifice itself. The _greater strength_ of the performance consists
herein, that its result is not impeded, as it might be impeded, by the
result of some other performance of greater force. This result, viz.
absence of obstruction, is something apart from the general result of
the action, such as the reaching of the heavenly world, and so on. This
the Sûtra means when saying, 'for separate is non-obstruction.' As thus
those meditations also which refer to auxiliary members of sacrifices
have their own results, they may or may not be combined with the
sacrifices, according to wish. Their case is like that of the godohana
vessel which, with the view of obtaining a certain special result, may
be used instead of the kamasa.--Here terminates the adhikarana of 'non-
restriction of determination.'