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

[SŪ. 3. 3. 33. ADH. 15.] VEDĀNTA-KAUSTUBHA 647 happiness ¹, without measure, without inside and without outside. It consumes nothing whatsoever ² Verily, O Gārgī, at the com- mand of this Imperishable the sun and the moon stand held apart’ ’ (Bṛh. 3.8.8-9 ³). In the text of the followers of the Atharva-veda too beginning: “Now, the higher is that whereby the Imperishable is apprehended” (Muṇḍ. 1.1.5), it is said: “That which is invisible, intangible, without family, without caste, without eye, without ear, without hands and feet” (Muṇḍ. 1 1 6 ⁴). Here the doubt is, whether the attributes, viz. non-grossness, non-atomicity, invisibility, intangibility and the rest, which belong to Brahman, denoted by the word ‘Imperishable’, which are mentioned in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka and the text of the followers of the Atharva- veda, and which establish the difference of Brahman from the sentient and the non-sentient,—are to be inserted in all the meditations on Brahman or not. On the suggestion, viz. that they are not to be inserted, there being no purpose for that,— (We reply.) There is a purpose. In those meditations on Brahman too, it is Brahman, different from the sentient and the non-sentient, that is the object to be attained by the attainers,—so says (the author): “But there is the comprehension of the conceptions of the Imperishable”. “The Imperishable” is Brahman. There should be the “comprehension”, i.e. inclusion, of the “conceptions” of non-grossness, non-atomicity and the rest also, connected with Him, in all the meditations on Brahman, in order that we may understand ¹ Correct quotation : “amukham” (=without mouth) and not “asukham”. Vide Bṛh. 3.3.8, p. 169. ² Omitted portion: “None whatsoever consumes it”. ³ Vide the dialogue between Gārgī and Yājñavalkya, Bṛh. 3.8. Gārgī put two questions to Yājñavalkya: First: “That which is above the sky, that which is beneath the earth, that which is between these two, sky and earth, that which people call the past, the present and the future,—across what is that woven, warp and woof ?” (Bṛh. 3.8.4). Answer: “That, O Gārgī, the Brāhmaṇas call the Imperishable”, etc. ⁴ Vide Muṇḍ. 1 1. Brahmā taught this knowledge of Brahman to his eldest son Atharva, who taught it to Aṅgir, who taught it to Bhāradvāja Satya- vāha, who taught it to Aṅgiras. Then, Śaunaka, a great householder approached Aṅgiras with the question: “Sir ! Through knowing which everything else becomes known ?” (Muṇḍ. 1.1.3). Thereupon Aṅgiras proceeded to teach him two kinds of knowledge, higher (or parā) and lower (or aparā). The lower so is the knowledge of the four Vedas with their subsidiary parts, the higher is the knowledge whereby the Imperishable is apprehended.