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

[SŪ. 3. 3. 35. 654 VEDĀNTA-KAUSTUBHA ADH. 16.] asking about Brahman having such a mark. With this idea, he said, 'Explain Brahman who is manifest, who is the soul within all'.¹ But such a Brahman is none but the cause of the world, having the stated marks, called the Highest Person. Thus it is known that the question is concerned with the Supreme Brahman, in accordance with the following scriptural and Smṛti texts: "The controller of matter and soul, the Lord of the properties of matter" (Śvet. 6.16), "He is your soul, the inner controller" (Bṛh. 3.7.3–23), "Entered within, the ruler of men" (Tait. Ār. 3.11.1, 2²), "He who abiding within the earth is other than the earth" (Bṛh. 3.7.3), "He who abiding within the soul is other than the soul" (Śat. Br. 14, 6.7.30³), '"I transcend the perish- able and am higher than even the imperishable. Hence I am celebrated in the world and in the Veda as the Highest Person"' (Gītā 15 18), '"He who sees me everywhere"' (Gītā 6.30), '"And I am situated in the heart of all"' (Gītā 15 15) and so on. The answer, viz. '"He who breathes in with the in-breath"' (Bṛh. 3.4.1) too refers to the Highest Person alone, since the Highest alone is the primary agent of in-breathing, in accordance with the scriptural text: "For who would live, who would breathe, if there were not this bliss in the ether" (Tait. 2.7). That the last set of question and answer refers to the Highest Self is admitted by the prima facie view as well. There is repetition of question and answer for the sake of demon- strating that the Highest Person, the cause of the breathing of all breathing creatures, is beyond hunger and so on. (The author) states a parallel instance: "As in the case of another teaching". That is, just as under the same Sad-vidyā, which begins: '"You are proud. Did you ask for that teaching"' (Chānd. 6.1.2), there is repetition of the question thus: '"But you yourself, Sir, tell me that"' (Chānd. 6.1.7), '"Sir, inform me once more"' (Chānd. 6.5.4, etc.); and repetition of the answer as well, thus: '"That which is the finest essence—all this has that for its soul"' (Chānd. 6.8.7, etc.)—with a ¹ The individual is not 'manifest' Brahman, i.e. it is not directly and actually Brahman, but only figuratively, while the Lord is Brahman or great directly. Again, the individual soul is not the 'soul within all', which the Lord is. Hence these two epithets show that the word 'Brahman' here does not mean the individual soul, but the Lord alone. ² P. 181. ³ P. 1074.