1. The abode of heaven, earth, and so on (is Brahman), on account of the
term 'own,' i.e. Self.
We read (Mu. Up. II, 2, 5), 'He in whom the heaven, the earth, and the
sky are woven, the mind also with all the vital airs, know him alone as
the Self, and leave off other words! He is the bridge of the
Immortal.'--Here the doubt arises whether the abode which is intimated
by the statement of the heaven and so on being woven in it is the
highest Brahman or something else.
The pûrvapakshin maintains that the abode is something else, on account
of the expression, 'It is the bridge of the Immortal.' For, he says, it
is known from every-day experience that a bridge presupposes some
further bank to which it leads, while it is impossible to assume
something further beyond the highest Brahman, which in Scripture is
called 'endless, without a further shore' (B/ri/. Up. II, 4, 12). Now if
the abode is supposed to be something different from Brahman, it must be
supposed to be either the pradhâna known from Sm/ri/ti, which, as being
the (general) cause, may be called the (general) abode; or the air known
from /S/ruti, of which it is said (B/ri/. Up. III, 7, 2, 'Air is that
thread, O Gautama. By air as by a thread, O Gautama, this world and the
other world and all beings are strung together'), that it supports all
things; or else the embodied soul which, as being the enjoyer, may be
considered as an abode with reference to the objects of its fruition.
Against this view we argue with the sûtrakâra as follows:--'Of the world
consisting of heaven, earth, and so on, which in the quoted passage is
spoken of as woven (upon something), the highest Brahman must be the
abode.'--Why?--On account of the word 'own,' i.e. on account of the word
'Self.' For we meet with the word 'Self' in the passage, 'Know him alone
as the Self.' This term 'Self' is thoroughly appropriate only if we
understand the highest Self and not anything else.--(To propound another
interpretation of the phrase 'sva/s/abdât' employed in the Sûtra.)
Sometimes also Brahman is spoken of in /S/ruti as the general abode by
its own terms (i.e. by terms properly designating Brahman), as, for
instance (Ch. Up. VI. 8, 4), 'All these creatures, my dear, have their
root in the being, their abode in the being, their rest in the
being[164].'--(Or else we have to explain 'sva/s/abdena' as follows), In
the passages preceding and following the passage under discussion
Brahman is glorified with its own names[165]; cp. Mu. Up. II, 1, 10,
'The Person is all this, sacrifice, penance, Brahman, the highest
Immortal,' and II, 2, 11, 'That immortal Brahman is before, is behind,
Brahman is to the right and left.' Here, on account of mention being
made of an abode and that which abides, and on account of the
co-ordination expressed in the passage, 'Brahman is all' (Mu. Up. II, 2,
11), a suspicion might arise that Brahman is of a manifold variegated
nature, just as in the case of a tree consisting of different parts we
distinguish branches, stem, and root. In order to remove this suspicion
the text declares (in the passage under discussion), 'Know him alone as
the Self.' The sense of which is: The Self is not to be known as
manifold, qualified by the universe of effects; you are rather to
dissolve by true knowledge the universe of effects, which is the mere
product of Nescience, and to know that one Self, which is the general
abode, as uniform. Just as when somebody says, 'Bring that on which
Devadatta sits,' the person addressed brings the chair only (the abode
of Devadatta), not Devadatta himself; so the passage, 'Know him alone as
the Self,' teaches that the object to be known is the one uniform Self
which constitutes the general abode. Similarly another scriptural
passage reproves him who believes in the unreal world of effects, 'From
death to death goes he who sees any difference here' (Ka. Up. II, 4,
11). The statement of co-ordination made in the clause 'All is Brahman'
aims at dissolving (the wrong conception of the reality of) the world,
and not in any way at intimating that Brahman is multiform in
nature[166]; for the uniformity (of Brahman's nature) is expressly
stated in other passages such as the following one, 'As a mass of salt
has neither inside nor outside, but is altogether a mass of taste, thus
indeed has that Self neither inside nor outside, but is altogether a
mass of knowledge' (B/ri/. Up. IV, 5, 13).--For all these reasons the
abode of heaven, earth, &c. is the highest Brahman.--Against the
objection that on account of the text speaking of a 'bridge,' and a
bridge requiring a further bank, we have to understand by the abode of
heaven and earth something different from Brahman, we remark that the
word 'bridge' is meant to intimate only that that which is called a
bridge supports, not that it has a further bank. We need not assume by
any means that the bridge meant is like an ordinary bridge made of clay
and wood. For as the word setu (bridge) is derived from the root si,
which means 'to bind,' the idea of holding together, supporting is
rather implied in it than the idea of being connected with something
beyond (a further bank).
According to the opinion of another (commentator) the word 'bridge' does
not glorify the abode of heaven, earth, &c., but rather the knowledge of
the Self which is glorified in the preceding clause, 'Know him alone as
the Self,' and the abandonment of speech advised in the clause, 'leave
off other words;' to them, as being the means of obtaining immortality,
the expression 'the bridge of the immortal' applies[167]. On that
account we have to set aside the assertion that, on account of the word
'bridge,' something different from Brahman is to be understood by the
abode of heaven, earth, and so on.
2. And on account of its being designated as that to which the Released
have to resort.
By the abode of heaven, earth, and so on, we have to understand the
highest Brahman for that reason also that we find it denoted as that to
which the Released have to resort.--The conception that the body and
other things contained in the sphere of the Not-self are our Self,
constitutes Nescience; from it there spring desires with regard to
whatever promotes the well-being of the body and so on, and aversions
with regard to whatever tends to injure it; there further arise fear and
confusion when we observe anything threatening to destroy it. All this
constitutes an endless series of the most manifold evils with which we
all are acquainted. Regarding those on the other hand who have freed
themselves from the stains of Nescience desire aversion and so on, it is
said that they have to resort to that, viz. the abode of heaven, earth,
&c. which forms the topic of discussion. For the text, after having
said, 'The fetter of the heart is broken, all doubts are solved, all his
works perish when He has been beheld who is the higher and the lower'
(Mu. Up. II, 2, 8), later on remarks, 'The wise man freed from name and
form goes to the divine Person who is greater than the great' (Mu. Up.
III, 2, 8). That Brahman is that which is to be resorted to by the
released, is known from other scriptural passages, such as 'When all
desires which once entered his heart are undone then does the mortal
become immortal, then he obtains Brahman' (B/ri/. Up. IV, 4, 7). Of the
pradhâna and similar entities, on the other hand, it is not known from
any source that they are to be resorted to by the released. Moreover,
the text (in the passage, 'Know him alone as the Self and leave off
other words') declares that the knowledge of the abode of heaven and
earth, &c. is connected with the leaving off of all speech; a condition
which, according to another scriptural passage, attaches to (the
knowledge of) Brahman; cp. B/ri/. Up. IV, 4, 21, 'Let a wise Brâhma/n/a,
after he has discovered him, practise wisdom. Let him not seek after
many words, for that is mere weariness of the tongue.'--For that reason
also the abode of heaven, earth, and so on, is the highest Brahman.
3. Not (i.e. the abode of heaven, earth, &c. cannot be) that which is
inferred, (i.e. the pradhâna), on account of the terms not denoting it.
While there has been shown a special reason in favour of Brahman (being
the abode), there is no such special reason in favour of anything else.
Hence he (the sûtrakâra) says that that which is inferred, i.e. the
pradhâna assumed by the Sâ@nkhya-sm/ri/ti, is not to be accepted as the
abode of heaven, earth, &c.--Why?--On account of the terms not denoting
it. For the sacred text does not contain any term intimating the
non-intelligent pradhâna, on the ground of which we might understand the
latter to be the general cause or abode; while such terms as 'he who
perceives all and knows all' (Mu. Up. I, 1, 9) intimate an intelligent
being opposed to the pradhâna in nature.--For the same reason the air
also cannot be accepted as the abode of heaven, earth, and so on.