वेदान्त पारिजात सौरभ (भगवद् निम्बार्काचार्य - द्वैताद्वैत वेदान्त ब्रह्मसूत्र भाष्य सटीक)

[sū. 1. 2. 7. ADH. 1.] VEDĀNTA-KAUSTUBHA 101 3.14 3), also on account of the designation of its smallness in the text : ‘Smaller than a grain of rice, or’ (Chānd. 3.14 3; Śat. Br. 10 6.3 2¹), (the object of meditation) here is not Brahman,— (We reply ) “Not so”, because Brahman is to be meditated on in that way. Minuteness on the part of a great thing, however, fits in, as in the case of a window and the ether. Vedānta-kaustubha If it be objected.—Brahman cannot be understood here as the object of meditation. Why? “On account of its occupying a small abode and on account of the designation of that ” That is, that which has a small abode, i e. place, viz. the individual soul which is like the tip of the spoke of a wheel, is ‘arbhakaukas’, the state of that is ‘arbhakaukastvam’, on account of that,²—the resulting meaning being: ‘on account of the characteristic mark of the individual soul’. That is to say, occupying a limited place, viz. the heart, is the attribute of the individual soul only, and not the attribute of Brahman. More- over, “on account of the designation” of smallness by that very term (viz ‘small’), in the passage ‘Smaller than a grain of rice, or a barley-corn’ (Chānd. 3.14 3; Śat. Br. 10 6 3.2), the individual soul alone is to be understood here, and not Brahman,— (We reply ) “No.” Why? It is “because (Brahman) is to be conceived thus”,—i e. “Because (Brahman) is to be conceived”, or to be meditated on, “thus”, i.e. as abiding within the heart, small in size,—that the Highest Self is designated in that way. And, hereby His omnipresence is not contradicted. For, He is designated to be minute with the object of designating a particular kind of medita- tion on Him as very subtle. Nor, again, does He become small in size (i.e small like the heart) hereby, since the text: ‘Greater than the earth, greater than the sky’ (Chānd. 3 14.3) speaks of the great- ness of the Lord. An analogous case is the following Just as the ether, though all-pervasive, is spoken of as occupying a small place and as small in reference to the eye of a needle, so is Brahman, the topic of discussion,—this is the sense. ¹ P. 806, line 18. ² This explains the compound ‘arbhakaukastvāt’.