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

[sū. 3. 3. 23. ADH. 8.] VEDĀNTA-KAUSTUBHA 617 ‘oldest’, i.e. as their chief,—that means: they are the attributes of Brahman. (They are) ‘held together’, i.e supported, by the sub- stratum of the attributes, (viz. Brahman),—hereby (Brahman's attri- bute of) holding the powers together is designated. That chiefest Brahman stretched out the heaven,—hereby (Brahman's attribute of) pervading the heaven is designated. Here the doubt is as to whether these attributes of Brahman are to be inserted in the Śāṇḍilya-vidyā and the rest,—that are meditations on Brahman—enjoined in their (i.e. Rānāyanīyas's) Upaniṣads, or not to be inserted, a different kind of meditation (on Brahman) as possessed of these attributes being enjoined here. On the suggestion that they are to be inserted, We reply. Just as the two names are not combined, so the group of attributes like “holding together and pervading the heaven” and so on too is not to be combined. Why? “For this reason,” i.e. on account of the very same difference, i e. on account of the difference of abodes In the Śāṇḍilya-vidyās and the rest, Brahman is declared to have a small abode in the texts: “This soul of mine within the heart” (Chānd. 3.14.3, 4). Here, there (is no mention of the) attribute of occupying a place that is not small, resulting from (His) ‘pervading the heaven’, as well as of other attributes of occupying a place that is not small, such as, ‘holding together’ and the rest, resulting from (their) association with that Hence it is established that there is a separate meditation (on Brahman) as qualified by the attributes of holding the powers together, pervading the heaven and so on. Here ends the section entitled “Holding together” (8). COMPARISON Baladeva This is sūtra 24 in his commentary. He continues the topic that the God-possessed souls are not to be meditated on as possessed of the attributes of the Lord. Hence the sūtra: “And (the attributes like) holding together and pervading the heaven too (are not to be combined in the meditations on the God-possessed souls) also for this reason (i.e. because they are not equal to the Lord) ”.¹ ¹ G.B. 3.3.24, pp. 148-149, Chap. 3.