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

[SŪ. 1. 2. 17. ADH. 4 ] VEDĀNTA-KAUSTUBHA 117 of the mention of the path of one who has heard the Upaniṣad", the person within the sun is the Supreme Self,—this is the sense. Thus, the path, which is said to be followed by a knower,—so that he may attain Brahman,—in another scriptural text, viz. ‘Now, those who seek the soul by austerity, chastity, faith and knowledge, win the sun by the northern path. That, verily, is the abode of the vital-breaths, that is immortal, that is fearless, that is the highest goal From that they do not return’ (Praśna 1.10), as well as in the Smṛti passage, viz. ‘Fire, light, day, the bright fortnight, the six months of the sun’s northern progress,—through these do the knowers of Brahman go to Brahman on departing’ (Gītā 8.24),— that very path is said to belong to one who knows the person within the eye, in the following passage: ‘Now, whether they perform obsequies in the case of such a person, or not, (the dead) pass over to light, from light to the day, from the day to the waxing fortnight, from the waxing fortnight to the six months during which the sun moves northwards, from the months to the year, from the year to the sun, from the sun to the moon, from the moon to lightning. Then there is a non-human Person. He leads them to Brahman. This is the path of the gods, the path to Brahman Those who go by it do not return to this human whirlpool,—they return not’ (Chānd 4.15.5-6). Hence, the person within the sun is none but the Supreme Soul. The meaning of the text (viz Praśna 1.10) is as follows:— ‘Now’, i.e. after the fall of the body, they ‘win’, i.e. attain the sun, ‘by the northern path’, i.e. through the path beginning with light and so on. Then, through the moon and the rest, in the order to be designated hereafter,¹ they attain the nature of Brahman. By doing what? Through the three kinds of ‘austerity’, mentioned by the Lord,² or else through the ‘austerity’ which is the special duty of a Vāna- prastha ³ and a Saṃnyāsin,⁴ both being primarily given to austerity; 1 See below, p. 119. Vide also V.K. 4.3.5. 2 Vide Gītā 17.14–16, where three kinds of austerity (tapas) are spoken of, viz Sārīra, Vāṅ-maya and Mānasa. These, again, may be of three kinds, viz. sāttvika, rājasa and tāmasa. Vide 17.16–22. 3 A Brahmin in the third stage of life, who has passed through the stages of a student and house-holder and has abandoned his life and family for an ascetic life in the forest. 4 A Brahmin in the fourth stage of life, a religious mendicant, who has given up all earthly concerns.