The highest Self constitutes the subject-matter (of the entire chapter),
as we see from the passage, 'Sir, what is that through which, when it is
known, everything else becomes known?' (Mu. Up. I, 1, 3) in which the
knowledge of everything is declared to be dependent on the knowledge of
one thing. For all this (i.e. the entire world) becomes known if Brahman
the Self of all is known, not if only the individual soul is
known.--Another reason against the individual soul follows.
7. And on account of the two conditions of standing and eating (of which
the former is characteristic of the highest Lord, the latter of the
individual soul).
With reference to that which is the abode of heaven, earth, and so on,
the text says, 'Two birds, inseparable friends,' &c. (Mu. Up. III, 1,
1). This passage describes the two states of mere standing, i.e. mere
presence, and of eating, the clause, 'One of them eats the sweet fruit,'
referring to the eating, i.e. the fruition of the results of works, and
the clause, 'The other one looks on without eating,' describing the
condition of mere inactive presence. The two states described, viz. of
mere presence on the one hand and of enjoyment on the other hand, show
that the Lord and the individual soul are referred to. Now there is room
for this statement which represents the Lord as separate from the
individual soul, only if the passage about the abode of heaven and earth
likewise refers to the Lord; for in that case only there exists a
continuity of topic. On any other supposition the second passage would
contain a statement about something not connected with the general
topic, and would therefore be entirely uncalled for.--But, it may be
objected, on your interpretation also the second passage makes an
uncalled-for statement, viz. in so far as it represents the individual
soul as separate from the Lord.--Not so, we reply. It is nowhere the
purpose of Scripture to make statements regarding the individual soul.
From ordinary experience the individual soul, which in the different
individual bodies is joined to the internal organs and other limiting
adjuncts, is known to every one as agent and enjoyer, and we therefore
must not assume that it is that which Scripture aims at setting forth.
The Lord, on the other hand, about whom ordinary experience tells us
nothing, is to be considered as the special topic of all scriptural
passages, and we therefore cannot assume that any passage should refer
to him merely casually[170].--That the mantra 'two birds,' &c. speaks of
the Lord--and the individual soul we have already shown under I, 2,
11.--And if, according to the interpretation given in the
Pai@ngi-upanishad (and quoted under I, 2, 11), the verse is understood
to refer to the internal organ (sattva) and the individual soul (not to
the individual soul and the Lord), even then there is no contradiction
(between that interpretation and our present averment that the
individual soul is not the abode of heaven and earth).--How so?--Here
(i.e. in the present Sûtra and the Sûtras immediately preceding) it is
denied that the individual soul which, owing to its imagined connexion
with the internal organ and other limiting adjuncts, has a separate
existence in separate bodies--its division being analogous to the
division of universal space into limited spaces such as the spaces
within jars and the like--is that which is called the abode of heaven
and earth. That same soul, on the other hand, which exists in all
bodies, if considered apart from the limiting adjuncts, is nothing else
but the highest Self. Just as the spaces within jars, if considered
apart from their limiting conditions, are merged in universal space, so
the individual soul also is incontestably that which is denoted as the
abode of heaven and earth, since it (the soul) cannot really be separate
from the highest Self. That it is not the abode of heaven and earth, is
therefore said of the individual soul in so far only as it imagines
itself to be connected with the internal organ and so on. Hence it
follows that the highest Self is the abode of heaven, earth, and so
on.--The same conclusion has already been arrived at under I, 2, 21; for
in the passage concerning the source of all beings (which passage is
discussed under the Sûtra quoted) we meet with the clause, 'In which
heaven and earth and the sky are woven.' In the present adhikara/n/a the
subject is resumed for the sake of further elucidation.
8. The bhûman (is Brahman), as the instruction about it is additional to
that about the state of deep sleep (i.e. the vital air which remains
awake even in the state of deep sleep).
We read (Ch. Up. VII, 23; 24), 'That which is much (bhûman) we must
desire to understand.--Sir, I desire to understand it.--Where one sees
nothing else, hears nothing else, understands nothing else, that is what
is much (bhûman). Where one sees something else, hears something else,
understands something else, that is the Little.'--Here the doubt arises
whether that which is much is the vital air (prâ/n/a) or the highest
Self.--Whence the doubt?--The word 'bhûman,' taken by itself, means the
state of being much, according to its derivation as taught by Pâ/n/ani,
VI, 4, 158. Hence there is felt the want of a specification showing what
constitutes the Self of that muchness. Here there presents itself at
first the approximate passage, 'The vital air is more than hope' (Ch.
Up. VII, 15, 1), from which we may conclude that the vital air is
bhûman.--On the other hand, we meet at the beginning of the chapter,
where the general topic is stated, with the following passage, 'I have
heard from men like you that he who knows the Self overcomes grief. I am
in grief. Do, Sir, help me over this grief of mine;' from which passage
it would appear that the bhûman is the highest Self.--Hence there arises
a doubt as to which of the two alternatives is to be embraced, and which
is to be set aside.
The pûrvapakshin maintains that the bhûman is the vital air, since there
is found no further series of questions and answers as to what is more.
For while we meet with a series of questions and answers (such as, 'Sir,
is there something which is more than a name?'--'Speech is more than
name.'--'Is there something which is more than speech?'--'Mind is more
than speech'), which extends from name up to vital air, we do not meet
with a similar question and answer as to what might be more than vital
air (such as, 'Is there something which is more than vital air?'--'Such
and such a thing is more than vital air'). The text rather at first
declares at length (in the passage, 'The vital air is more than hope,'
&c.) that the vital air is more than all the members of the series from
name up to hope; it then acknowledges him who knows the vital air to be
an ativâdin, i.e. one who makes a statement surpassing the preceding
statements (in the passage, 'Thou art an ativâdin. He may say I am an
ativâdin; he need not deny it'); and it thereupon (in the passage, 'But
he in reality is an ativâdin who declares something beyond by means of
the True'[171]),--not leaving off, but rather continuing to refer to the
quality of an ativâdin which is founded on the vital air,--proceeds, by
means of the series beginning with the True, to lead over to the bhûman;
so that we conclude the meaning to be that the vital air is the
bhûman.--But, if the bhûman is interpreted to mean the vital air, how
have we to explain the passage in which the bhûman is characterised.
'Where one sees nothing else?' &c.--As, the pûrvapakshin replies, in the
state of deep sleep we observe a cessation of all activity, such as
seeing, &c., on the part of the organs merged in the vital air, the
vital air itself may be characterised by a passage such as, 'Where one
sees nothing else.' Similarly, another scriptural passage (Pra. Up. IV,
2; 3) describes at first (in the words, 'He does not hear, he does not
see,' &c.) the state of deep sleep as characterised by the cessation of
the activity of all bodily organs, and then by declaring that in that
state the vital air, with its five modifications, remains awake ('The
fires of the prâ/n/as are awake in that town'), shows the vital air to
occupy the principal position in the state of deep sleep.--That passage
also, which speaks of the bliss of the bhûman ('The bhûman is bliss,'
Ch. Up. VII, 23), can be reconciled with our explanation, because Pra.
Up. IV, 6 declares bliss to attach to the state of deep sleep ('Then
that god sees no dreams and at that time that happiness arises in his
body').--Again, the statement, 'The bhûman is immortality' (Ch. Up. VII,
24, 1), may likewise refer to the vital air; for another scriptural
passage says, 'Prâ/n/a is immortality' (Kau. Up. III, 2).--But how can
the view according to which the bhûman is the vital air be reconciled
with the fact that in the beginning of the chapter the knowledge of the
Self is represented as the general topic ('He who knows the Self
overcomes grief,' &c.)?--By the Self there referred to, the pûrvapakshin
replies, nothing else is meant but the vital air. For the passage, 'The
vital air is father, the vital air is mother, the vital air is brother,
the vital air is sister, the vital air is teacher, the vital air is
Brâhma/n/a' (Ch. Up. VII, 15, 1), represents the vital air as the Self
of everything. As, moreover, the passage, 'As the spokes of a wheel rest
in the nave, so all this rests in prâ/n/a,' declares the prâ/n/a to be
the Self of all--by means of a comparison with the spokes and the nave
of a wheel--the prâ/n/a may be conceived under the form of bhûman, i.e.
plenitude.--Bhûman, therefore, means the vital air.
To this we make the following reply.--Bhûman can mean the highest Self
only, not the vital air.--Why?--'On account of information being given
about it, subsequent to bliss.' The word 'bliss' (samprasâda) means the
state of deep sleep, as may be concluded, firstly, from the etymology of
the word ('In it he, i.e. man, is altogether
pleased--samprasîdati')--and, secondly, from the fact of samprasâda
being mentioned in the B/ri/hadâra/n/yaka together with the state of
dream and the waking state. And as in the state of deep sleep the vital
air remains awake, the word 'samprasâda' is employed in the Sûtra to
denote the vital air; so that the Sûtra means, 'on account of
information being given about the bhûman, subsequently to (the
information given about) the vital air.' If the bhûman were the vital
air itself, it would be a strange proceeding to make statements about
the bhûman in addition to the statements about the vital air. For in the
preceding passages also we do not meet, for instance, with a statement
about name subsequent to the previous statement about name (i.e. the
text does not say 'name is more than name'), but after something has
been said about name, a new statement is made about speech, which is
something different from name (i.e. the text says, 'Speech is more than
name'), and so on up to the statement about vital air, each subsequent
statement referring to something other than the topic of the preceding
one. We therefore conclude that the bhûman also, the statement about
which follows on the statement about the vital air, is something other
than the vital air. But--it may be objected--we meet here neither with a
question, such as, 'Is there something more than vital air?' nor with an
answer, such as, 'That and that is more than vital air.' How, then, can
it be said that the information about the bhûman is given subsequently
to the information about the vital air?--Moreover, we see that the
circumstance of being an ativâdin, which is exclusively connected with
the vital air, is referred to in the subsequent passage (viz. 'But in
reality he is an ativâdin who makes a statement surpassing (the
preceding statements) by means of the True'). There is thus no
information additional to the information about the vital air.--To this
objection we reply that it is impossible to maintain that the passage
last quoted merely continues the discussion of the quality of being an
ativâdin, as connected with the knowledge of the vital air; since the
clause, 'He who makes a statement surpassing, &c. by means of the True,'
states a specification.--But, the objector resumes, this very statement
of a specification may be explained as referring to the vital air. If
you ask how, we refer you to an analogous case. If somebody says, 'This
Agnihotrin speaks the truth,' the meaning is not that the quality of
being an Agnihotrin depends on speaking the truth; that quality rather
depends on the (regular performance of the) agnihotra only, and speaking
the truth is mentioned merely as a special attribute of that special
Agnihotrin. So our passage also ('But in reality he is an ativâdin who
makes a statement, &c. by means of the True') does not intimate that the
quality of being an ativâdin depends on speaking the truth, but merely
expresses that speaking the truth is a special attribute of him who
knows the vital air; while the quality of being an ativâdin must be
considered to depend on the knowledge of the vital air.--This objection
we rebut by the remark that it involves an abandonment of the direct
meaning of the sacred text. For from the text, as it stands, we
understand that the quality of being an ativâdin depends on speaking the
truth; the sense being: An ativâdin is he who is an ativâdin by means of
the True. The passage does not in anyway contain a eulogisation of the
knowledge of the vital air. It could be connected with the latter only
on the ground of general subject-matter (prakara/n/a)[172]; which would
involve an abandonment of the direct meaning of the text in favour of
prakara/n/a[173].--Moreover, the particle but ('But in reality he is,'
&c.), whose purport is to separate (what follows) from the
subject-matter of what precedes, would not agree (with the prâ/n/a
explanation). The following passage also, 'But we must desire to know
the True' (VII, 16), which presupposes a new effort, shows that a new
topic is going to be entered upon.--For these reasons we have to
consider the statement about the ativâdin in the same light as we should
consider the remark--made in a conversation which previously had turned
on the praise of those who study one Veda--that he who studies the four
Vedas is a great Brâhma/n/a; a remark which we should understand to be
laudatory of persons different from those who study one Veda, i.e. of
those who study all the four Vedas. Nor is there any reason to assume
that a new topic can be introduced in the form of question and answer
only; for that the matter propounded forms a new topic is sufficiently
clear from the circumstance that no connexion can be established between
it and the preceding topic. The succession of topics in the chapter
under discussion is as follows: Nârada at first listens to the
instruction which Sanatkumâra gives him about various matters, the last
of which is Prâ/n/a, and then becomes silent. Thereupon Sanatkumâra
explains to him spontaneously (without being asked) that the quality of
being an ativâdin, if merely based on the knowledge of the vital
air--which knowledge has for its object an unreal product,--is devoid of
substance, and that he only is an ativâdin who is such by means of the
True. By the term 'the True' there is meant the highest Brahman; for
Brahman is the Real, and it is called the 'True' in another scriptural
passage also, viz. Taitt. Up. II, 1, 'The True, knowledge, infinite is
Brahman.' Nârada, thus enlightened, starts a new line of enquiry ('Might
I, Sir, become an ativâdin by the True?') and Sanatkumâra then leads
him, by a series of instrumental steps, beginning with understanding, up
to the knowledge of bhûman. We therefrom conclude that the bhûman is
that very True whose explanation had been promised in addition to the
(knowledge of the) vital air. We thus see that the instruction about the
bhûman is additional to the instruction about the vital air, and bhûman
must therefore mean the highest Self, which is different from the vital
air. With this interpretation the initial statement, according to which
the enquiry into the Self forms the general subject-matter, agrees
perfectly well. The assumption, on the other hand (made by the
pûrvapakshin), that by the Self we have here to understand the vital air
is indefensible. For, in the first place, Self-hood does not belong to
the vital air in any non-figurative sense. In the second place,
cessation of grief cannot take place apart from the knowledge of the
highest Self; for, as another scriptural passage declares, 'There is no
other path to go' (/S/vet. Up. VI, 15). Moreover, after we have read at
the outset, 'Do, Sir, lead me over to the other side of grief' (Ch. Up.
VII, 1, 3), we meet with the following concluding words (VII, 26, 2),
'To him, after his faults had been rubbed out, the venerable Sanatkumâra
showed the other side of darkness.' The term 'darkness' here denotes
Nescience, the cause of grief, and so on.--Moreover, if the instruction
terminated with the vital air, it would not be said of the latter that
it rests on something else. But the brâhma/n/a (Ch. Up. VII, 26, 1) does
say, 'The vital air springs from the Self.' Nor can it be objected
against this last argument that the concluding part of the chapter may
refer to the highest Self, while, all the same, the bhûman (mentioned in
an earlier part of the chapter) may be the vital air. For, from the
passage (VII, 24, 1), ('Sir, in what does the bhûman rest? In its own
greatness,' &c.), it appears that the bhûman forms the continuous topic
up to the end of the chapter.--The quality of being the bhûman--which
quality is plenitude--agrees, moreover, best with the highest Self,
which is the cause of everything.
9. And on account of the agreement of the attributes (mentioned in the
text).
The attributes, moreover, which the sacred text ascribes to the bhûman
agree well with the highest Self. The passage, 'Where one sees nothing
else, hears nothing else, understands nothing else, that is the bhûman,'
gives us to understand that in the bhûman the ordinary activities of
seeing and so on are absent; and that this is characteristic of the
highest Self, we know from another scriptural passage, viz. 'But when
the Self only is all this, how should he see another?' &c. (B/ri/. Up.
IV, 5, 15). What is said about the absence of the activities of seeing
and so on in the state of deep sleep (Pra. Up. IV, 2) is said with the
intention of declaring the non-attachedness of the Self, not of
describing the nature of the prâ/n/a; for the highest Self (not the
vital air) is the topic of that passage. The bliss also of which
Scripture speaks as connected with that state is mentioned only in order
to show that bliss constitutes the nature of the Self. For Scripture
says (B/ri/. Up. IV, 3, 32), 'This is his highest bliss. All other
creatures live on a small portion of that bliss.'--The passage under
discussion also ('The bhûman is bliss. There is no bliss in that which
is little (limited). The bhûman only is bliss') by denying the reality
of bliss on the part of whatever is perishable shows that Brahman only
is bliss as bhûman, i.e. in its plenitude,--Again, the passage, 'The
bhûman is immortality,' shows that the highest cause is meant; for the
immortality of all effected things is a merely relative one, and another
scriptural passage says that 'whatever is different from that (Brahman)
is perishable' (B/ri/. Up. III, 4, 2).--Similarly, the qualities of
being the True, and of resting in its own greatness, and of being
omnipresent, and of being the Self of everything which the text mentions
(as belonging to the bhûman) can belong to the highest Self only, not to
anything else.--By all this it is proved that the bhûman is the highest
Self.
10. The Imperishable (is Brahman) on account of (its) supporting (all
things) up to ether.
We read (B/ri/. Up. III, 8, 7; 8). 'In what then is the ether woven,
like warp and woof?--He said: O Gârgî, the Brâhma/n/as call this the
akshara (the Imperishable). It is neither coarse nor fine,' and so
on.--Here the doubt arises whether the word 'akshara' means 'syllable'
or 'the highest Lord.'
The pûrvapakshin maintains that the word 'akshara' means 'syllable'
merely, because it has, in such terms as akshara-samâmnâya, the meaning
of 'syllable;' because we have no right to disregard the settled meaning
of a word; and because another scriptural passage also ('The syllable Om
is all this,' Ch. Up. II, 23, 4) declares a syllable, represented as the
object of devotion, to be the Self of all.
To this we reply that the highest Self only is denoted by the word
'akshara.'--Why?--Because it (the akshara) is said to support the entire
aggregate of effects, from earth up to ether. For the sacred text
declares at first that the entire aggregate of effects beginning with
earth and differentiated by threefold time is based on ether, in which
it is 'woven like warp and woof;' leads then (by means of the question,
'In what then is the ether woven, like warp and woof?') over to the
akshara, and, finally, concludes with the words, 'In that akshara then,
O Gârgî, the ether is woven, like warp and woof.'--Now the attribute of
supporting everything up to ether cannot be ascribed to any being but
Brahman. The text (quoted from the Ch. Up.) says indeed that the
syllable Om is all this, but that statement is to be understood as a
mere glorification of the syllable Om considered as a means to obtain
Brahman.--Therefore we take akshara to mean either 'the Imperishable' or
'that which pervades;' on the ground of either of which explanations it
must be identified with the highest Brahman.
But--our opponent resumes--while we must admit that the above reasoning
holds good so far that the circumstance of the akshara supporting all
things up to ether is to be accepted as a proof of all effects depending
on a cause, we point out that it may be employed by those also who
declare the pradhâna to be the general cause. How then does the previous
argumentation specially establish Brahman (to the exclusion of the
pradhâna)?--The reply to this is given in the next Sûtra.
11. This (supporting can), on account of the command (attributed to the
Imperishable, be the work of the highest Lord only).
The supporting of all things up to ether is the work of the highest Lord
only.--Why?--On account of the command.--For the sacred text speaks of a
command ('By the command of that akshara, O Gârgî, sun and moon stand
apart!' III, 8, 9), and command can be the work of the highest Lord
only, not of the non-intelligent pradhâna. For non-intelligent causes
such as clay and the like are not capable of command, with reference to
their effects, such as jars and the like.
12. And on account of (Scripture) separating (the akshara) from that
whose nature is different (from Brahman).
Also on account of the reason stated in this Sûtra Brahman only is to be
considered as the Imperishable, and the supporting of all things up to
ether is to be looked upon as the work of Brahman only, not of anything
else. The meaning of the Sûtra is as follows. Whatever things other than
Brahman might possibly be thought to be denoted by the term 'akshara,'
from the nature of all those things Scripture separates the akshara
spoken of as the support of all things up to ether. The scriptural
passage alluded to is III, 8, 11, 'That akshara, O Gârgî, is unseen but
seeing, unheard but hearing, unperceived but perceiving, unknown but
knowing.' Here the designation of being unseen, &c. agrees indeed with
the pradhâna also, but not so the designation of seeing, &c., as the
pradhâna is non-intelligent.--Nor can the word akshara denote the
embodied soul with its limiting conditions, for the passage following on
the one quoted declares that there is nothing different from the Self
('there is nothing that sees but it, nothing that hears but it, nothing
that perceives but it, nothing that knows but it'); and, moreover,
limiting conditions are expressly denied (of the akshara) in the
passage, 'It is without eyes, without ears, without speech, without
mind,' &c. (III, 8, 8). An embodied soul without limiting conditions
does not exist[174].--It is therefore certain beyond doubt that the
Imperishable is nothing else but the highest Brahman.
13. On account of his being designated as the object of sight (the
highest Self is meant, and) the same (is meant in the passage speaking
of the meditation on the highest person by means of the syllable Om).
(In Pra. Up. V, 2) the general topic of discussion is set forth in the
words, 'O Satyakâma, the syllable Om is the highest and also the other
Brahman; therefore he who knows it arrives by the same means at one of
the two.' The text then goes on, 'Again, he who meditates with this
syllable Om of three mâtrâs on the highest Person,' &c.--Here the doubt
presents itself, whether the object of meditation referred to in the
latter passage is the highest Brahman or the other Brahman; a doubt
based on the former passage, according to which both are under
discussion.
The pûrvapakshin maintains that the other, i.e. the lower Brahman, is
referred to, because the text promises only a reward limited by a
certain locality for him who knows it. For, as the highest Brahman is
omnipresent, it would be inappropriate to assume that he who knows it
obtains a fruit limited by a certain locality. The objection that, if
the lower Brahman were understood, there would be no room for the
qualification, 'the highest person,' is not valid, because the vital
principal (prâ/n/a) may be called 'higher' with reference to the
body[175].
To this we make the following reply: What is here taught as the object
of meditation is the highest Brahman only.--Why?--On account of its
being spoken of as the object of sight. For the person to be meditated
upon is, in a complementary passage, spoken of as the object of the act
of seeing, 'He sees the person dwelling in the castle (of the body;
purusham puri/s/ayam), higher than that one who is of the shape of the
individual soul, and who is himself higher (than the senses and their
objects).' Now, of an act of meditation an unreal thing also can be the
object, as, for instance, the merely imaginary object of a wish. But of
the act of seeing, real things only are the objects, as we know from
experience; we therefore conclude, that in the passage last quoted, the
highest (only real) Self which corresponds to the mental act of complete
intuition[176] is spoken of as the object of sight. This same highest
Self we recognise in the passage under discussion as the object of
meditation, in consequence of the term, 'the highest person.'--But--an
objection will be raised--as the object of meditation we have the
highest person, and as the object of sight the person higher than that
one who is himself higher, &c.; how, then, are we to know that those two
are identical?--The two passages, we reply, have in common the terms
'highest' (or 'higher,' para) and 'person.' And it must not by any means
be supposed that the term jîvaghana[177] refers to that highest person
which, considered as the object of meditation, had previously been
introduced as the general topic. For the consequence of that supposition
would be that that highest person which is the object of sight would be
different from that highest person which is represented as the object of
meditation. We rather have to explain the word jîvaghana as 'He whose
shape[178] is characterised by the jîvas;' so that what is really meant
by that term is that limited condition of the highest Self which is
owing to its adjuncts, and manifests itself in the form of jîvas, i.e.
individual souls; a condition analogous to the limitation of salt (in
general) by means of the mass of a particular lump of salt. That limited
condition of the Self may itself be called 'higher,' if viewed with
regard to the senses and their objects.
Another (commentator) says that we have to understand by the word
'jîvaghana' the world of Brahman spoken of in the preceding sentence
('by the Sâman verses he is led up to the world of Brahman'), and again
in the following sentence (v. 7), which may be called 'higher,' because
it is higher than the other worlds. That world of Brahman may be called
jîvaghana because all individual souls (jîva) with their organs of
action may be viewed as comprised (sa@nghâta = ghana) within
Hira/n/yagarbha, who is the Self of all organs, and dwells in the
Brahma-world. We thus understand that he who is higher than that
jîvaghana, i.e. the highest Self, which constitutes the object of sight,
also constitutes the object of meditation. The qualification, moreover,
expressed in the term 'the highest person' is in its place only if we
understand the highest Self to be meant. For the name, 'the highest
person,' can be given only to the highest Self, higher than which there
is nothing. So another scriptural passage also says, 'Higher than the
person there is nothing--this is the goal, the highest road.' Hence the
sacred text, which at first distinguishes between the higher and the
lower Brahman ('the syllable Om is the higher and the lower Brahman'),
and afterwards speaks of the highest Person to be meditated upon by
means of the syllable Om, gives us to understand that the highest Person
is nothing else but the highest Brahman. That the highest Self
constitutes the object of meditation, is moreover intimated by the
passage declaring that release from evil is the fruit (of meditation),
'As a snake is freed from its skin, so is he freed from evil.'--With
reference to the objection that a fruit confined to a certain place is
not an appropriate reward for him who meditates on the highest Self, we
finally remark that the objection is removed, if we understand the
passage to refer to emancipation by degrees. He who meditates on the
highest Self by means of the syllable Om, as consisting of three mâtrâs,
obtains for his (first) reward the world of Brahman, and after that,
gradually, complete intuition.
14. The small (ether) (is Brahman) on account of the subsequent
(arguments).
We read (Ch. Up. VIII, 1, 1), 'There is this city of Brahman, and in it
the palace, the small lotus, and in it that small ether. Now what exists
within that small ether that is to be sought for, that is to be
understood,' &c.--Here the doubt arises whether the small ether within
the small lotus of the heart of which Scripture speaks, is the elemental
ether, or the individual soul (vij/ñ/ânâtman), or the highest Self. This
doubt is caused by the words 'ether' and 'city of Brahman.' For the word
'ether,' in the first place, is known to be used in the sense of
elemental ether as well as of highest Brahman. Hence the doubt whether
the small ether of the text be the elemental ether or the highest ether,
i.e. Brahman. In explanation of the expression 'city of Brahman,' in the
second place, it might be said either that the individual soul is here
called Brahman and the body Brahman's city, or else that the city of
Brahman means the city of the highest Brahman. Here (i.e. in consequence
of this latter doubt) a further doubt arises as to the nature of the
small ether, according as the individual soul or the highest Self is
understood by the Lord of the city.
The pûrvapakshin maintains that by the small ether we have to understand
the elemental ether, since the latter meaning is the conventional one of
the word âkâ/s/a. The elemental ether is here called small with
reference to its small abode (the heart).--In the passage, 'As large as
this ether is, so large is that ether within the heart,' it is
represented as constituting at the same time the two terms of a
comparison, because it is possible to make a distinction between the
outer and the inner ether[179]; and it is said that 'heaven and earth
are contained within it,' because the whole ether, in so far as it is
space, is one[180].--Or else, the pûrvapakshin continues, the 'small
one' may be taken to mean the individual soul, on account of the term,
'the city of Brahman.' The body is here called the city of Brahman
because it is the abode of the individual soul; for it is acquired by
means of the actions of the soul. On this interpretation we must assume
that the individual soul is here called Brahman metaphorically. The
highest Brahman cannot be meant, because it is not connected with the
body as its lord. The lord of the city, i.e. the soul, is represented as
dwelling in one spot of the city (viz. the heart), just as a real king
resides in one spot of his residence. Moreover, the mind (manas)
constitutes the limiting adjunct of the individual soul, and the mind
chiefly abides in the heart; hence the individual soul only can be
spoken of as dwelling in the heart. Further, the individual soul only
can be spoken of as small, since it is (elsewhere; /S/vet. Up. V, 8)
compared in size to the point of a goad. That it is compared (in the
passage under discussion) to the ether must be understood to intimate
its non difference from Brahman.--Nor does the scriptural passage say
that the 'small' one is to be sought for and to be understood, since in
the clause, 'That which is within that,' &c., it is represented as a
mere distinguishing attribute of something else[181].
To all this we make the following reply:--The small ether can mean the
highest Lord only, not either the elemental ether or the individual
soul.--Why?--On account of the subsequent reasons, i.e. on account of
the reasons implied in the complementary passage. For there, the text
declares at first, with reference to the small ether, which is enjoined
as the object of sight, 'If they should say to him,' &c.; thereupon
follows an objection, 'What is there that deserves to be sought for or
that is to be understood?' and thereon a final decisive statement, 'Then
he should say: As large as this ether is, so large is that ether within
the heart. Both heaven and earth are contained within it.' Here the
teacher, availing himself of the comparison of the ether within the
heart with the known (universal) ether, precludes the conception that
the ether within the heart is small--which conception is based on the
statement as to the smallness of the lotus, i.e. the heart--and thereby
precludes the possibility of our understanding by the term 'the small
ether,' the elemental ether. For, although the ordinary use of language
gives to the word 'ether' the sense of elemental ether, here the
elemental ether cannot be thought of, because it cannot possibly be
compared with itself.--But, has it not been stated above, that the
ether, although one only, may be compared with itself, in consequence of
an assumed difference between the outer and the inner ether?--That
explanation, we reply, is impossible; for we cannot admit that a
comparison of a thing with itself may be based upon a merely imaginary
difference. And even if we admitted the possibility of such a
comparison, the extent of the outer ether could never be ascribed to the
limited inner ether. Should it be said that to the highest Lord also the
extent of the (outer) ether cannot be ascribed, since another scriptural
passage declares that he is greater than ether (/S/a. Brâ, X, 6, 3, 2),
we invalidate this objection by the remark, that the passage (comparing
the inner ether with the outer ether) has the purport of discarding the
idea of smallness (of the inner ether), which is primâ facie established
by the smallness of the lotus of the heart in which it is contained, and
has not the purport of establishing a certain extent (of the inner
ether). If the passage aimed at both, a split of the sentence[182] would
result.--Nor, if we allowed the assumptive difference of the inner and
the outer ether, would it be possible to represent that limited portion
of the ether which is enclosed in the lotus of the heart, as containing
within itself heaven, earth, and so on. Nor can we reconcile with the
nature of the elemental ether the qualities of Self-hood, freeness from
sin, and so on, (which are ascribed to the 'small' ether) in the
following passage, 'It is the Self free from sin, free from old age,
from death and grief, from hunger and thirst, of true desires, of true
purposes.'--Although the term 'Self' (occurring in the passage quoted)
may apply to the individual soul, yet other reasons exclude all idea of
the individual soul being meant (by the small ether). For it would be
impossible to dissociate from the individual soul, which is restricted
by limiting conditions and elsewhere compared to the point of a goad,
the attribute of smallness attaching to it, on account of its being
enclosed in the lotus of the heart.--Let it then be assumed--our
opponent remarks--that the qualities of all-pervadingness, &c. are
ascribed to the individual soul with the intention of intimating its
non-difference from Brahman.--Well, we reply, if you suppose that the
small ether is called all-pervading because it is one with Brahman, our
own supposition, viz. that the all-pervadingness spoken of is directly
predicated of Brahman itself, is the much more simple one.--Concerning
the assertion that the term 'city of Brahman' can only be understood, on
the assumption that the individual soul dwells, like a king, in one
particular spot of the city of which it is the Lord, we remark that the
term is more properly interpreted to mean 'the body in so far as it is
the city of the highest Brahman;' which interpretation enables us to
take the term 'Brahman' in its primary sense[183]. The highest Brahman
also is connected with the body, for the latter constitutes an abode for
the perception of Brahman[184]. Other scriptural passages also express
the same meaning, so, for instance, Pra. Up. V, 5, 'He sees the highest
person dwelling in the city' (purusha = puri/s/aya), &c., and B/ri/. Up.
II, 5, 18, 'This person (purusha) is in all cities (bodies) the dweller
within the city (puri/s/aya).'--Or else (taking brahmapura to mean
jîvapura) we may understand the passage to teach that Brahman is, in the
city of the individual soul, near (to the devout worshipper), just as
Vish/n/u is near to us in the Sâlagrâma-stone.--Moreover, the text
(VIII, 1, 6) at first declares the result of works to be perishable ('as
here on earth whatever has been acquired by works perishes, so perishes
whatever is acquired for the next world by good actions,' &c.), and
afterwards declares the imperishableness of the results flowing from a
knowledge of the small ether, which forms the general subject of
discussion ('those who depart from hence after having discovered the
Self and those true desires, for them there is freedom in all worlds').
From this again it is manifest that the small ether is the highest
Self.--We now turn to the statement made by the pûrvapakshin,'that the
sacred text does not represent the small ether as that which is to be
sought for and to be understood, because it is mentioned as a
distinguishing attribute of something else,' and reply as follows: If
the (small) ether were not that which is to be sought for and to be
understood, the description of the nature of that ether, which is given
in the passage ('as large as this ether is, so large is that ether
within the heart'), would be devoid of purport.--But--the opponent might
say--that descriptive statement also has the purport of setting forth
the nature of the thing abiding within (the ether); for the text after
having raised an objection (in the passage, 'And if they should say to
him: Now with regard to that city of Brahman and the palace in it, i.e.
the small lotus of the heart, and the small ether within the heart, what
is there within it that deserves to be sought for or that is to be
understood?') declares, when replying to that objection, that heaven,
earth, and so on, are contained within it (the ether), a declaration to
which the comparison with the ether forms a mere introduction.--Your
reasoning, we reply, is faulty. If it were admitted, it would follow
that heaven, earth, &c., which are contained within the small ether,
constitute the objects of search and enquiry. But in that case the
complementary passage would be out of place. For the text carrying on,
as the subject of discussion, the ether that is the abode of heaven,
earth, &c.--by means of the clauses, 'In it all desires are contained,'
'It is the Self free from sin,' &c., and the passage, 'But those who
depart from hence having discovered the Self, and the true desires' (in
which passage the conjunction 'and' has the purpose of joining the
desires to the Self)--declares that the Self as well, which is the abode
of the desires, as the desires which abide in the Self, are the objects
of knowledge. From this we conclude that in the beginning of the passage
also, the small ether abiding within the lotus of the heart, together
with whatever is contained within it as earth, true desires, and so on,
is represented as the object of knowledge. And, for the reasons
explained, that ether is the highest Lord.
15. (The small ether is Brahman) on account of the action of going (into
Brahman) and of the word (brahmaloka); for thus it is seen (i.e. that
the individual souls go into Brahman is seen elsewhere in Scripture);
and (this going of the souls into Brahman constitutes) an inferential
sign (by means of which we may properly interpret the word
'brahmaloka').
It has been declared (in the preceding Sûtra) that the small (ether) is
the highest Lord, on account of the reasons contained in the subsequent
passages. These subsequent reasons are now set forth.--For this reason
also the small (ether) can be the highest Lord only, because the passage
complementary to the passage concerning the small (ether) contains a
mention of going and a word, both of which intimate the highest Lord. In
the first place, we read (Ch. Up. VIII, 3, 2), 'All these creatures, day
after day going into that Brahma-world, do not discover it.' This
passage which refers back, by means of the word 'Brahma-world,' to the
small ether which forms the general subject-matter, speaks of the going
to it of the creatures, i.e. the individual souls, wherefrom we conclude
that the small (ether) is Brahman. For this going of the individual
souls into Brahman, which takes place day after day in the state of deep
sleep, is seen, i.e. is met with in another scriptural passage, viz. Ch.
Up. VI, 8, 1, 'He becomes united with the True,' &c. In ordinary life
also we say of a man who lies in deep sleep, 'he has become Brahman,'
'he is gone into the state of Brahman.'--In the second place, the word
'Brahma-world,' which is here applied to the small (ether) under
discussion, excludes all thought of the individual soul or the elemental
ether, and thus gives us to understand that the small (ether) is
Brahman.--But could not the word 'Brahma-world' convey as well the idea
of the world of him whose throne is the lotus[185]?--It might do so
indeed, if we explained the compound 'Brahma-world' as 'the world of
Brahman.' But if we explain it on the ground of the coordination of both
members of the compound--so that 'Brahma-world' denotes that world which
is Brahman--then it conveys the idea of the highest Brahman only.--And
that daily going (of the souls) into Brahman (mentioned above) is,
moreover, an inferential sign for explaining the compound
'Brahma-world,' on the ground of the co-ordination of its two
constituent members. For it would be impossible to assume that all those
creatures daily go into the world of the effected (lower) Brahman; which
world is commonly called the Satyaloka, i.e. the world of the True.
16. And on account of the supporting also (attributed to it), (the small
ether must be the Lord) because that greatness is observed in him
(according to other scriptural passages).
And also on account of the 'supporting' the small ether can be the
highest Lord only.--How?--The text at first introduces the general
subject of discussion in the passage, 'In it is that small ether;'
declares thereupon that the small one is to be compared with the
universal ether, and that everything is contained in it; subsequently
applies to it the term 'Self,' and states it to possess the qualities of
being free from sin, &c.; and, finally, declares with reference to the
same general subject of discussion, 'That Self is a bank, a limitary
support (vidh/ri/ti), that these worlds may not be confounded.' As
'support' is here predicated of the Self, we have to understand by it a
supporting agent. Just as a dam stems the spreading water so that the
boundaries of the fields are not confounded, so that Self acts like a
limitary dam in order that these outer and inner worlds, and all the
different castes and â/s/ramas may not be confounded. In accordance with
this our text declares that greatness, which is shown in the act of
holding asunder, to belong to the small (ether) which forms the subject
of discussion; and that such greatness is found in the highest Lord
only, is seen from other scriptural passages, such as 'By the command of
that Imperishable, O Gârgî, sun and moon; are held apart' (B/ri/. Up.
III, 8, 9). Similarly, we read in another passage also, about whose
referring to the highest Lord there is no doubt, 'He is the Lord of all,
the king of all things, the protector of all things. He is a bank and a
limitary support, so that these worlds may not be confounded' (B/ri/.
Up. IV, 4, 22)--Hence, on account of the 'supporting,' also the small
(ether) is nothing else but the highest Lord.