1. If it be objected that (from the doctrine expounded hitherto) there
would result the fault of there being no room for (certain) Sm/ri/tis;
we do not admit that objection, because (from the rejection of our
doctrine) there would result the fault of want of room for other
Sm/ri/tis.
It has been shown in the first adhyâya that the omniscient Lord of all
is the cause of the origin of this world in the same way as clay is the
material cause of jars and gold of golden ornaments; that by his
rulership he is the cause of the subsistence of this world once
originated, just as the magician is the cause of the subsistence of the
magical illusion; and that he, lastly, is the cause of this emitted
world being finally reabsorbed into his essence, just as the four
classes of creatures are reabsorbed into the earth. It has further been
proved, by a demonstration of the connected meaning of all the
Vedânta-texts, that the Lord is the Self of all of us. Moreover, the
doctrines of the pradhâna, and so on, being the cause of this world have
been refuted as not being scriptural.--The purport of the second
adhyâya, which we now begin, is to refute the objections (to the
doctrine established hitherto) which might be founded on Sm/ri/ti and
Reasoning, and to show that the doctrines of the pradhâna, &c. have only
fallacious arguments to lean upon, and that the different Vedânta-texts
do not contradict one another with regard to the mode of creation and
similar topics.--The first point is to refute the objections based on
Sm/ri/ti.
Your doctrine (the pûrvapakshin says) that the omniscient Brahman only
is the cause of this world cannot be maintained, 'because there results
from it the fault of there being no room for (certain) Sm/ri/tis.' Such
Sm/ri/tis are the one called Tantra which was composed by a /ri/shi and
is accepted by authoritative persons, and other Sm/ri/tis based on
it[253]; for all of which there would be no room if your interpretation
of the Veda were the true one. For they all teach that the
non-intelligent pradhâna is the independent cause of the world. There is
indeed room (a raison d'être) for Sm/ri/tis like the Manu-sm/ri/ti,
which give information about matters connected with the whole body of
religious duty, characterised by injunction[254] and comprising the
agnihotra and similar performances. They tell us at what time and with
what rites the members of the different castes are to be initiated; how
the Veda has to be studied; in what way the cessation of study has to
take place; how marriage has to be performed, and so on. They further
lay down the manifold religious duties, beneficial to man, of the four
castes and â/s/ramas[255]. The Kâpila Sm/ri/ti, on the other hand, and
similar books are not concerned with things to be done, but were
composed with exclusive reference to perfect knowledge as the means of
final release. If then no room were left for them in that connexion
also, they would be altogether purposeless; and hence we must explain
the Vedânta-texts in such a manner as not to bring them into conflict
with the Sm/ri/tis mentioned[256].--But how, somebody may ask the
pûrvapakshin, can the eventual fault of there being left no room for
certain Sm/ri/tis be used as an objection against that sense of /S/ruti
which--from various reasons as detailed under I, 1 and ff.--has been
ascertained by us to be the true one, viz. that the omniscient Brahman
alone is the cause of the world?--Our objection, the pûrvapakshin
replies, will perhaps not appear valid to persons of independent
thought; but as most men depend in their reasonings on others, and are
unable to ascertain by themselves the sense of /S/ruti, they naturally
rely on Sm/ri/tis, composed by celebrated authorities, and try to arrive
at the sense of /S/ruti with their assistance; while, owing to their
esteem for the authors of the Sm/ri/tis, they have no trust in our
explanations. The knowledge of men like Kapila Sm/ri/ti declares to have
been /ri/shi-like and unobstructed, and moreover there is the following
/S/ruti-passage, 'It is he who, in the beginning, bears in his thoughts
the son, the /ri/shi, kapila[257], whom he wishes to look on while he is
born' (/S/ve. Up. V, 2). Hence their opinion cannot be assumed to be
erroneous, and as they moreover strengthen their position by
argumentation, the objection remains valid, and we must therefore
attempt to explain the Vedânta-texts in conformity with the Sm/ri/tis.
This objection we dispose of by the remark, 'It is not so because
therefrom would result the fault of want of room for other
Sm/ri/tis.'--If you object to the doctrine of the Lord being the cause
of the world on the ground that it would render certain Sm/ri/tis
purposeless, you thereby render purposeless other Sm/ri/tis which
declare themselves in favour of the said doctrine. These latter
Sm/ri/ti-texts we will quote in what follows. In one passage the highest
Brahman is introduced as the subject of discussion, 'That which is
subtle and not to be known;' the text then goes on, 'That is the
internal Self of the creatures, their soul,' and after that remarks
'From that sprang the Unevolved, consisting of the three gu/n/as, O best
of Brâhma/n/as.' And in another place it is said that 'the Unevolved is
dissolved in the Person devoid of qualities, O Brâhma/n/a.'--Thus we
read also in the Purâ/n/a, 'Hear thence this short statement: The
ancient Nârâya/n/a is all this; he produces the creation at the due
time, and at the time of reabsorption he consumes it again.' And so in
the Bhagavadgîtâ also (VII, 6), 'I am the origin and the place of
reabsorption of the whole world.' And Âpastamba too says with reference
to the highest Self, 'From him spring all bodies; he is the primary
cause, he is eternal, he is unchangeable' (Dharma Sûtra I, 8, 23, 2). In
this way Sm/ri/ti, in many places, declares the Lord to be the efficient
as well as the material cause of the world. As the pûrvapakshin opposes
us on the ground of Sm/ri/ti, we reply to him on the ground of Sm/ri/ti
only; hence the line of defence taken up in the Sûtra. Now it has been
shown already that the /S/ruti-texts aim at conveying the doctrine that
the Lord is the universal cause, and as wherever different Sm/ri/tis
conflict those maintaining one view must be accepted, while those which
maintain the opposite view must be set aside, those Sm/ri/tis which
follow /S/ruti are to be considered as authoritative, while all others
are to be disregarded; according to the Sûtra met with in the chapter
treating of the means of proof (Mîm. Sûtra I, 3, 3), 'Where there is
contradiction (between /S/ruti and Sm/ri/ti) (Sm/ri/ti) is to be
disregarded; in case of there being no (contradiction) (Sm/ri/ti is to
be recognised) as there is inference (of Sm/ri/ti being founded on
/S/ruti).'--Nor can we assume that some persons are able to perceive
supersensuous matters without /S/ruti, as there exists no efficient
cause for such perception. Nor, again, can it be said that such
perception may be assumed in the case of Kapila and others who possessed
supernatural powers, and consequently unobstructed power of cognition.
For the possession of supernatural powers itself depends on the
performance of religious duty, and religious duty is that which is
characterised by injunction[258]; hence the sense of injunctions (i.e.
of the Veda) which is established first must not be fancifully
interpreted in reference to the dicta of men 'established' (i.e. made
perfect, and therefore possessing supernatural powers) afterwards only.
Moreover, even if those 'perfect' men were accepted as authorities to be
appealed to, still, as there are many such perfect men, we should have,
in all those cases where the Sm/ri/tis contradict each other in the
manner described, no other means of final decision than an appeal to
/S/ruti.--As to men destitute of the power of independent judgment, we
are not justified in assuming that they will without any reason attach
themselves to some particular Sm/ri/ti; for if men's inclinations were
so altogether unregulated, truth itself would, owing to the multiformity
of human opinion, become unstable. We must therefore try to lead their
judgment in the right way by pointing out to them the conflict of the
Sm/ri/tis, and the distinction founded on some of them following /S/ruti
and others not.--The scriptural passage which the pûrvapakshin has
quoted as proving the eminence of Kapila's knowledge would not justify
us in believing in such doctrines of Kapila (i.e. of some Kapila) as are
contrary to Scripture; for that passage mentions the bare name of Kapila
(without specifying which Kapila is meant), and we meet in tradition
with another Kapila, viz. the one who burned the sons of Sagara and had
the surname Vâsudeva. That passage, moreover, serves another purpose,
(viz. the establishment of the doctrine of the highest Self,) and has on
that account no force to prove what is not proved by any other means,
(viz. the supereminence of Kapila's knowledge.) On the other hand, we
have a /S/ruti-passage which proclaims the excellence of Manu[259], viz.
'Whatever Manu said is medicine' (Taitt. Sa/m/h. II, 2, 10, 2). Manu
himself, where he glorifies the seeing of the one Self in everything
('he who equally sees the Self in all beings and all beings in the Self,
he as a sacrificer to the Self attains self-luminousness,' i.e. becomes
Brahman, Manu Sm/ri/ti XII, 91), implicitly blames the doctrine of
Kapila. For Kapila, by acknowledging a plurality of Selfs, does not
admit the doctrine of there being one universal Self. In the Mahabhârata
also the question is raised whether there are many persons (souls) or
one; thereupon the opinion of others is mentioned, 'There are many
persons, O King, according to the Sâ@nkhya and Yoga philosophers;' that
opinion is controverted 'just as there is one place of origin, (viz. the
earth,) for many persons, so I will proclaim to you that universal
person raised by his qualities;' and, finally, it is declared that there
is one universal Self, 'He is the internal Self of me, of thee, and of
all other embodied beings, the internal witness of all, not to be
apprehended by any one. He the all-headed, all-armed, all-footed,
all-eyed, all-nosed one moves through all beings according to his will
and liking.' And Scripture also declares that there is one universal
Self, 'When to a man who understands the Self has become all things,
what sorrow, what trouble can there be to him who once beheld that
unity?' (Î/s/. Up 7); and other similar passages. All which proves that
the system of Kapila contradicts the Veda, and the doctrine of Manu who
follows the Veda, by its hypothesis of a plurality of Selfs also, not
only by the assumption of an independent pradhâna. The authoritativeness
of the Veda with regard to the matters stated by it is independent and
direct, just as the light of the sun is the direct means of our
knowledge of form and colour; the authoritativeness of human dicta, on
the other hand, is of an altogether different kind, as it depends on an
extraneous basis (viz. the Veda), and is (not immediate but) mediated by
a chain of teachers and tradition.
Hence the circumstance that the result (of our doctrine) is want of room
for certain Sm/ri/tis, with regard to matters contradicted by the Veda,
furnishes no valid objection.--An additional reason for this our opinion
is supplied by the following Sûtra.
2. And on account of the non-perception of the others (i.e. the effects
of the pradhâna, according to the Sâ@nkhya system).
The principles different from the pradhâna, but to be viewed as its
modifications which the (Sâ@nkhya) Sm/ri/ti assumes, as, for instance,
the great principle, are perceived neither in the Veda nor in ordinary
experience. Now things of the nature of the elements and the sense
organs, which are well known from the Veda, as well as from experience,
may be referred to in Sm/ri/ti; but with regard to things which, like
Kapila's great principle, are known neither from the Veda nor from
experience--no more than, for instance, the objects of a sixth
sense--Sm/ri/ti is altogether impossible. That some scriptural passages
which apparently refer to such things as the great principle have in
reality quite a different meaning has already been shown under I, 4, 1.
But if that part of Sm/ri/ti which is concerned with the effects (i.e.
the great principle, and so on) is without authority, the part which
refers to the cause (the pradhâna) will be so likewise. This is what the
Sûtra means to say.--We have thus established a second reason, proving
that the circumstance of there being no room left for certain Sm/ri/tis
does not constitute a valid objection to our doctrine.--The weakness of
the trust in reasoning (apparently favouring the Sâ@nkhya doctrine) will
be shown later on under II, 1, 4 ff.