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

[sū. 1. 3. 34. ADH 9] VEDĀNTA-KAUSTUBHA 197 hastened to Raikva, the man with the cart and a knower of Brahman. From this, it is “indicated” that his “grief” had arisen. Hence, the address ‘Śūdra’ was applied by the sage to a non-Śūdra, with a view to intimating his own omniscience, thinking: ‘This Jānaśruti has come to learn the knowledge of Brahman from me, tempting me with the offering of riches. He does not know me, that I have performed all my duties and am omniscient’. Thus, (the whole story goes). Jānaśruti Pautrāyaṇa was a royal saint, versed in religious duties. Certain divine sages, pleased with his multitude of qualities, and intending that having heard their conversation, and having thereupon approached Raikva, the knower of Brahman, Jānaśruti, too, would become a knower of Brahman, assumed the forms of swans and began to fly in a circle over the king who was lying on the roof of his palace in summer Then, the swan which was following said with surprise to the one which was leading. ‘O Bhallākṣa, Bhallākṣa, do you not see the light of the king Jānaśruti which has pervaded the region of the heaven? That light will burn you, so do not cross it’. On hearing these words of the one following it, the leading swan replied: ‘ “O, who is that man of him you speak as if he were Raikva, with the cart”? ’ (Chānd. 4 1.3), i.e you speak of this Jānaśruti as if he were Raikva with the cart, meaning, the reverend Raikva who has a ‘yugva’ or a cart and is a knower of Brahman. By the adjective ‘with a cart’, Raikva’s mark was indicated, in order that he might be easily found out and approached. Then, on hearing the disres- pectful words used by the swan, Jānaśruti too, ascertained, in the morning, the whereabout of Raikva through his man, and repaired to the sage Raikva, taking with him six hundred cows, a necklace and a chariot yoked with horses, and having approached him, said: ‘O Raikva! Take all these cows and the rest, and teach me, O reverend sir’. Raikva replied ‘ “O, the necklace ” ’ (Chānd. 4.2.3) and so on, i.e. ‘O Śūdra, the heap of wealth, like the chariot and the rest, together with the cows be yours’. And he addressed him as ‘O Śūdra’ more than once (viz again in Chānd. 4.2.5). A ‘Śūdra’ is one who grieves (śocati), and the word is formed in accordance with the rule: ‘When the root “śuc” is followed by the suffix “ra”, the “ca” is replaced by “da” ’ (SD. K. Uṇādi-sūtra 176 ¹), and the vowel ‘u’ is lengthened (in accordance with the uṇādi-sūtra 175 ²). Hence “his”, 1 P. 599, vol. 2. 2 Thus, śuc+ra = śud+ra = śūdra.