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

[SŪ. 1. 4. 23. 258 VEDĀNTA-KAUSTUBHA ADH. 7.] the origin and the rest of this’ (Br. Sū. 1.1.2), demonstrating the characteristic marks of Brahman, establishing the nature of the cause of the world. (To this we reply). No. One sees its appropriateness here indeed. Thus, on the enquiry: viz Of what mark is Brahman? with regard to the injunction, viz. ‘An enquiry into Brahman should be undertaken’,—the mark of Brahman was stated in the aphorism ‘From whom (arise) the origin and the rest of this’ (Br. Sū. 1.1.2). There it was certainly established, on the ground of scriptural and Smṛti texts, that Brahman is both the material and the efficient cause. After that, there being no enquiry as to whether He is only the material cause, or only the efficient cause, the topic was not further amplified But there those who take everything to be the transformation of prakṛti (and take Brahman to be the efficient cause only) are being refuted separately. Thus, some theistic Sāṁkhyas hold: In the world of ordinary experience, sentient beings like potters and the rest are found to be the efficient cause alone, and not the material cause. In the passages: ‘He thought’ (Bṛh. 1.2.5 ; Ait 1.1), ‘He thought’ (Praśna 6.3), creation is said to be preceded by thinking. Hence let the Supreme Lord, the thinker, be, somehow or other, only the efficient cause of the world: but the material cause of mahat and the rest is nothing but pradhāna, superintended by Him, just as clay is the material cause of pots and the like, in accordance with the text: ‘He thinks of her who is the mother of all changes, non-knowing, having eight forms, and eternal. Ruled by him she manifests herself; again incited and superintended by him alone ¹ she gives birth to the world for the benefit of the soul. She is a cow, without beginning and end, the progenitress, the source of all beings’ (Cūl. 3b–5a ²). With regard to it, we reply. Brahman alone is ‘prakṛti’, i.e. the material cause of the world, as well as its efficient cause, indicated by the particle “and” (in the sūtra). Why? “On account of the absence of conflict with regard to the initial proposition and illus- tration,” i.e. on account of the non-contradiction or consistency of ¹ Incorrect, ought to be ‘adhyāsitā, which is translated here. ² Reading different, viz.: ‘Vikāra-jananīm māyām aṣṭa-rūpām dhruvām Dhyāyate adhyāsitā tena tanyate preritā punaḥ. Stūyate puruṣārthañ ca tenaivādhiṣṭhitā purā Gaur anādyavatī sā tu janitrī bhūta-bhāvinī’. Vide Cūl. 3–5, p. 230.