First Adhyaya: Fourth Pada
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Thibaut, G. (George)
Brahman is the material cause for that reason also that it is spoken of in the sacred texts as the source (yoni); compare, for instance, 'The maker, the Lord, the person who has his source in Brahman' (Mu. Up. III, 1, 3); and 'That which the wise regard as the source of all beings' (Mu. Up. I, 1, 6). For that the word 'source' denotes the material cause is well known from the use of ordinary language; the earth, for instance, is called the yoni of trees and herbs. In some places indeed the word yoni means not source, but merely place; so, for instance, in the mantra, 'A yoni, O Indra, was made for you to sit down upon' (Rik. Samh. I, 104, 1). But that in the passage quoted it means 'source' follows from a complementary passage, 'As the spider sends forth and draws in its threads,' &c.—It is thus proved that Brahman is the material cause of the world.—Of the objection, finally, that in ordinary life the activity of operative causal agents only, such as potters and the like, is preceded by reflection, we dispose by the remark that, as the matter in hand is not one which can be known through inferential reasoning, ordinary experience cannot be used to settle it. For the knowledge of that matter we rather depend on Scripture altogether, and hence Scripture only has to be appealed to. And that Scripture teaches that the Lord who reflects before creation is at the same time the material cause, we have already explained. The subject will, moreover, be discussed more fully later on.
28. Hereby all (the doctrines concerning the origin of the world which are opposed to the Vedânta) are explained, are explained.
The doctrine according to which the pradhâna is the cause of the world has, in the Sûtras beginning with I, 1, 5, been again and again brought forward and refuted. The chief reason for the special attention given to that doctrine is that the Vedânta-texts contain some passages which, to people deficient in mental penetration, may appear to contain inferential marks pointing to it. The doctrine, moreover, stands somewhat near to the Vedânta doctrine since, like the latter, it admits the non-difference of cause and effect, and it, moreover, has been accepted by some of the authors of the Dharma-sûtras, such as Devala, and so on. For all these reasons we have taken special trouble to refute the pradhâna doctrine, without paying much attention to the atomic and other theories. These latter theories, however, must likewise be refuted, as they also are opposed to the doctrine of Brahman being the general cause, and as slow-minded people might think that they also are referred to in some Vedic passages. Hence the Sûtrakâra formally extends, in the above Sûtra, the refutation already accomplished of the pradhâna doctrine to all similar doctrines which need not be demolished in detail after their great protagonist, the pradhâna doctrine, has been so completely disposed of. They also are, firstly, not founded on any scriptural authority; and are, secondly, directly contradicted by various Vedic passages.—The repetition of the phrase 'are explained' is meant to intimate that the end of the adhyâya has been reached.
Notes:
Source notes
The Great one is the technical Sâ@nkhya-term for buddhi, avyakta is a common designation of pradhâna or prakriti, and purusha is the technical name of the soul. Compare, for instance, Sâ@nkhya Kâr. 2, 3.
Samkalpavikalparûpamananasaktyâ hairanyagarbhî buddhir manas tasyâh vyashtimanahsu samashtitayâ vyâptim âha mahân iti. Samkalpâdisktitayâ tarhi samdehâtmatvam tatrâha matir iti. Mahatvam upapâdayati brahmeti. Bhogyajâtâdhâratvam âha pûr iti. Niskayâtmakatvam âha buddhir iti. Kîrtisaktimattvam âha khyâtir iti. Niyamanasaktimatvam aha îsvara iti. Loke yat prakrishtam jñânam tatosnatirekam âha prajñeti. Tatphalam api tato nârthântaravishayam ity âha samvid iti. Kitpradhânatvam âha kitir iti. Jñatasarvârtbânusamdhânasaktim âha smritis keti. Ânanda Giri.
Nanu na bîjasaktir vidyayâ dahyate vastutvâd âtmavan nety âha avidyeti. Kekit tu pratijîvam avidyasaktibhedam ikkhanti tan na avyaktâvyâkritâdisabdâyâs tasyâ bhedakâbhâvâd ekatvexpi svasaktyâ vikitrakâryakaratvâd ity âha avyakteti. Na ka tasyâ jîvâsrayatvam jîvasabdavâkyasya kalpitatvâd avidyârûpatvât takkhabdalakshyasya brahmâvyatirekâd ity âha paramesvareti. Mâyâvidyayor bhedâd îsvarasya mâyâsrayatvam jîvânâm avidyâsrayateti vadantam pratyâha mâyâmayîti. Yathâ mâyâvino mâyâ paratantrâ tathaishâpîty arthah. Pratîtau tasyâs ketanâpekshâm âha mahâsuptir iti. Ânanda Giri.
Sûtradvayasya vrittikridvyâkhyânam utthâpayati. Go. Ân. Âkâryadesîyamatam utthâpayati. Ân. Gi.
The commentators give different explanations of the Sattâmâtra of the text.—Sattâmâtre sattvapradhânaprakriter âdyaparinâme. Go. Ân.—Bhogâpavargapurushârthasya mahakkhabditabuddhikâryatvât purushâpekshitaphalakâranam sad ukyate tatra bhâvapratyayos'pi svarûpârtho na sâmânyavâkî kâryânumeyam mahan na pratyaksham iti mâtrasabdah. Ânanda Giri.
As the meaning of the word ajâ is going to be discussed, and as the author of the Sûtras and Sa@nkara seem to disagree as to its meaning (see later on), I prefer to leave the word untranslated in this place.—Sa@nkara reads—and explains,—in the mantra, sarûpâh (not sarûpâm) and bhuktabhogâm, not bhuktabhogyâm.
Here there seems to be a certain discrepancy between the views of the Sûtra writer and Sa@nkara. Govindânanda notes that according to the Bhâshyakrit ajâ means simply mâyâ—which interpretation is based on prakarana—while, according to the Sûtra-krit, who explains ajâ on the ground of the Chândogya-passage treating of the three primary elements, ajâ denotes the aggregate of those three elements constituting an avântaraprakriti.—On Sa@nkara's explanation the term ajâ presents no difficulties, for mâyâ is ajâ, i.e. unborn, not produced. On the explanation of the Sûtra writer, however, ajâ cannot mean unborn, since the three primary elements are products. Hence we are thrown back on the rûdhi signification of ajâ, according to which it means she-goat. But how can the avântara-prakriti be called a she-goat? To this question the next Sûtra replies.
Indication (lakshanâ, which consists in this case in five times five being used instead of twenty-five) is considered as an objectionable mode of expression, and therefore to be assumed in interpretation only where a term can in no way be shown to have a direct meaning.
That pañkajanâh is only one word appears from its having only one accent, viz. the udâtta on the last syllable, which udâtta becomes anudâtta according to the rules laid down in the Bhâshika Sûtra for the accentuation of the Satapatha-brâhmana.
So in the Mâdhyandina recension of the Upanishad; the Kânva recension has not the clause 'the food of food.'
This in answer to the Sánkhya who objects to jana when applied to the prâna, &c. being interpreted with the help of lakshanâ; while if referred to the pradhâna, &c. it may be explained to have a direct meaning, on the ground of yaugika interpretation (the pradhâna being jana because it produces, the mahat &c. being jana because they are produced). The Vedãntin points out that the compound pañkajanâh has its own rûdhi-meaning, just as asvakarna, literally horse-ear, which conventionally denotes a certain plant.
We infer that udbhid is the name of a sacrifice because it is mentioned in connexion with the act of sacrificing; we infer that the yûpa is a wooden post because it is said to be cut, and so on.
Option being possible only in the case of things to be accomplished, i.e. actions.
According to Go. Ân. in the passage, 'That made itself its Self' (II, 7); according to Ân. Giri in the passage, 'He created all' (II, 6).
By the brâhmanas being meant all those brâhmanas who are not at the same time wandering mendicants.
The comment of the Bhâmatî on the Sûtra runs as follows: As the sparks issuing from a fire are not absolutely different from the fire, because they participate in the nature of the fire; and, on the other hand, are not absolutely non-different from the fire, because in that case they could be distinguished neither from the fire nor from each other; so the individual souls also—which are effects of Brahman—are neither absolutely different from Brahman, for that would mean that they are not of the nature of intelligence; nor absolutely non-different from Brahman, because in that case they could not be distinguished from each other, and because, if they were identical with Brahman and therefore omniscient, it would be useless to give them any instruction. Hence the individual souls are somehow different from Brahman and somehow non-different.—The technical name of the doctrine here represented by Âsmarathya is bhedâbhedavâda.
Bhâmatî: The individual soul is absolutely different from the highest Self; it is inquinated by the contact with its different limiting adjuncts. But it is spoken of, in the Upanishad, as non-different from the highest Self because after having purified itself by means of knowledge and meditation it may pass out of the body and become one with the highest Self. The text of the Upanishad thus transfers a future state of non-difference to that time when difference actually exists. Compare the saying of the Pâñkarâtrikas: 'Up to the moment of emancipation being reached the soul and the highest Self are different. But the emancipated soul is no longer different from the highest Self, since there is no further cause of difference.'—The technical name of the doctrine advocated by Audulomi is satyabhedavâda.
Compare the note to the same mantra as quoted above under I, 1, 11.
And not the relation of absolute identity.
I.e. upon the state of emancipation and its absence.
Upapâditam keti, sarvasyâtmamâtratvam iti seshah. Upapâdanaprakâram sûkayati eketi. Sa yathârdrendhanâgner ityâdinaikaprasavatvam, yathâ sarvâsâm apâm ityâdinâ kaikapralayatvam sarvasyoktam. Ân. Gi.
So according to Go. Ân. and Ân. Gi., although their interpretations seem not to account sufficiently for the ekâm of the text.—Kâmkid evaikâm iti jîvasthânâd anyâm ity arthah. Go. Ân.—Jîvabhâvena pratibimbâdhârâtiriktâm ity arthah. Ân. Gi.
While release, as often remarked, is eternal, it being in fact not different from the eternally unchanging Brahman.
I.e. that the operative cause and the substantial cause are separate things.
Viz. the Sâ@nkhya-smriti.