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

[SŪ. 1. 4. 16. ADH. 5.] VEDĀNTA-KAUSTUBHA 243 promised the king Ajātaśatru ‘“Let me declare Brahman to you”’ (Kauṣ 4.1), having then designated various persons as Brahman, thus ‘“He who is the person within the sun”’ (Kauṣ. 4 3), ‘“The person within the moon”’ (Kauṣ. 4.4) and so on ¹, became silent Then, Ajātaśatru, who knew Brahman ², having condemned him with the words ‘“In vain, did you tell me”’ ³ (Kauṣ. 4.19), said: ‘“He who, verily, O Bālāki, is the maker of these persons, and ⁴ of whom this is the work, he, verily, is to be known”’ (Kauṣ. 4 19). Here a doubt arises, viz. whether puruṣa, established in the Sāṁkhya- tantra, the superintendent of prakṛti and the enjoyer, is taught here as the object to be known, or the Supreme Soul The prima facie view is as follows: It was puruṣa, unconnected with prakṛti, as estab- lished in the Tantra, that was indicated, by the royal sage, as the object to be known, because of the mention of a connection with works in the phrase ‘“and of whom this is the work”’ (Kauṣ. 4.19); because works, consisting in merit and demerit, are possible on the part of the individual soul alone, entitled to works, because a connec- tion with work is not admitted on the part of the Supreme Soul; and, because the origin of the world is due to the works of the respective enjoyers. Moreover, here in accordance with the text ‘ ‘They two went to a sleeping person’ (Kauṣ. 4.19), it was the enjoying soul alone which was demonstrated by Ajātaśatru to Bālāki. Likewise, in the passage ‘ ‘Just as a merchant enjoys with his own people, and as his own people enjoy him, so exactly this intelligent self enjoys with these selves, so exactly these selves enjoy it’ (Kauṣ. 4.20), the characteristic mark of the enjoying soul alone is found. The meaning of the text is as follows: ‘Just as a merchant’, i.e. a lord who is the chief, enjoys ‘with his own people’, i.e. with implements like servants and the rest; and ‘his own people’, i.e. the servants and the rest, ‘enjoy’ the merchant, i.e. depend on him for food and clothing, ‘so

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¹ The sage wanted to teach the king about the person within the sun, that within the moon, that within the lightning, that within the cloud and so on, altogether about sixteen persons, but in each case, the king begged to be spared of the teaching, as he was already acquainted with the person in question. Finally, the king himself taught the sage about Brahman. Vide Kauṣ. 4. ² The word ‘Brahmajña’ is not really included in the text. ³ Correct quotation: ‘Mṛṣā vai khalu mā saṁvādayiṣṭhā’, in which case it would mean ‘in vain, verily, did you make me talk’. Vide Kauṣ. 4.19, p. 138 ⁴ Correct quotation ‘vā’ and not ‘ca’.