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

[SŪ. 1. 4. 1 ADH. 1.] VEDĀNTA-KAUSTUBHA 213 Vedānta-kaustubha In this manner, it has been shown above, under three sections, that the scriptural texts all refer to Brahman, possessing the sentient and the non-sentient as His powers, an ocean of natural, infinite and inconceivable auspicious qualities, untouched by any material qualities and the cause of the world. Now again, in the fourth section, by showing ¹ that those texts too which apparently seem to establish pradhāna—which is demonstrated by the doctrine of Kapila and is independent of Brahman,—all refer really to Brahman, and by estab- lishing ² that pradhāna is acceptable only as dependent on Brahman, —the reverend author of the aphorisms is removing the false belief, viz. that certain words like 'Unmanifest' and the rest, which denote pradhāna, being mentioned in Scripture, pradhāna, admitted by the Sāṁkhyas, is neither non-scriptural, nor derived from inference merely. In the Kaṭha-valli, we find the following: 'Higher than the great (mahat) is the unmanifest (avyakta), higher than the unmanifest is the Person (puruṣa)' (Kaṭha 3.11). Here, a doubt arises, viz. whether the object denoted by the word 'unmanifest' is pradhāna, admitted by the Sāṁkhyas, or the body. The prima facie view is as follows: Let it be pradhāna, because here we recognize the very same order, beginning with the great (mahat) and ending with the Person (puruṣa), which is well-known in the Kapila-smṛti. If it be objected: The concordance of the entire Veda with regard to Brahman, the cause of the world, has been established duly; hence it is not possible to establish its connection with anything else, (the reply is:) Very well, let then pradhāna, "derived from inference", (mentioned in the texts) "of some" schools, be the cause of the world. So here in the school of the Kāṭhakas pradhāna is understood by the term 'un- manifest'. (Here ends the original prima facie view.) (Author's conclusion:) "No". Wherefore? "Because of under- standing what is put down in the simile of the body", i.e. because by the term 'unmanifest' in this text, the body, mentioned in the preceding text and put down as a simile, is to be understood. A simile means the imagination of one object as another on the ground of a certain similarity. Thus, compare the passages: 'Know the soul to be the lord of the chariot, the body to be the chariot, know intellect

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¹ Here the śatṛ-suffix implies reason. ² See footnote 1, above.