Vedanta-Sutras Part I · 35 of 103

Adhyaya I: Pada I: Sutra 23

In the Khândogya (I, 9) the following passage is met with, ‘What is the origin of this world?’ ‘Ether,’ he replied. ‘For all these beings take their rise from the ether only, and return into the ether. Ether is greater than these, ether is their rest.’—Here the following doubt arises. Does the word ‘ether’ denote the highest Brahman or the elemental ether?—Whence the doubt?—Because the word is seen to be used in both senses. Its use in the sense of ‘elemental ether’ is well established in ordinary as well as in Vedic speech; and, on the other hand, we see that it is sometimes used to denote Brahman, viz. in cases where we ascertain, either from some complementary sentence or from the fact of special qualities being mentioned, that Brahman is meant. So, for instance, Taitt. Up. II, 7, ‘If that bliss existed not in the ether;’ and Kh. Up. VIII, 14, ‘That which is called ether is the revealer of all forms and names; that within which forms and names are 1 that is Brahman.’ Hence the doubt.—Which sense is then to be adopted in our case?—The sense of elemental ether, the pûrvapakshin replies; because this sense belongs to the word more commonly, and therefore presents itself to the mind more readily.

The word ‘ether’ cannot be taken in both senses equally, because that would involve a (faulty) attribution of several meanings to one and the same word. Hence the term ‘ether’ applies to Brahman in a secondary (metaphorical) sense only; on account of Brahman being in many of its attributes, such as all pervadingness and the like, similar to ether. The rule is, that when the primary sense of a word is possible, the word must not be taken in a secondary sense. And in the passage under discussion only the primary sense of the word ‘ether’ is admissible.

Should it be objected that, if we refer the passage under discussion to the elemental ether, a complementary passage (‘for all these beings take their rise from the ether only, &c.’) cannot be satisfactorily accounted for; we reply that the elemental ether also may be represented as a cause, viz. of air, fire, &c. in due succession. For we read in Scripture (Taitt. Up. II, 1), ‘From that Self sprang ether, from ether air, from air fire, and so on.’ The qualities also of being greater and of being a place of rest may be ascribed to the elemental ether, if we consider its relations to all other beings. Therefore we conclude that the word ‘ether’ here denotes the elemental ether.

To this we reply as follows:—The word ether must here be taken to denote Brahman, on account of characteristic marks of the latter being mentioned. For the sentence,

‘All these beings take their rise from the ether only,’ clearly indicates the highest Brahman, since all Vedânta-texts agree in definitely declaring that all beings spring from the highest Brahman.—But, the opponent may say, we have shown that the elemental ether also may be represented as the cause, viz. of air, fire, and the other elements in due succession.—We admit this. But still there remains the difficulty, that, unless we understand the word to apply to the fundamental cause of all, viz. Brahman, the affirmation contained in the word ‘only’ and the qualification expressed by the word ‘all’ (in ‘all beings’) would be out of place.

Moreover, the clause, ‘They return into the ether,’ again points to Brahman, and so likewise the phrase, ‘Ether is greater than these, ether is their rest;’ for absolute superiority in point of greatness Scripture attributes to the highest Self only; cp. Kh. Up. III, 14, 3, ‘Greater than the earth, greater than the sky, greater than heaven, greater than all these worlds.’ The quality of being a place of rest likewise agrees best with the highest Brahman, on account of its being the highest cause. This is confirmed by the following scriptural passage: ‘Knowledge and bliss is Brahman, it is the rest of him who gives gifts’ (Bri. Up. III, 9, 28). Moreover, Gaivali finding fault with the doctrine of Sâlâvatya, on account of (his sâman) having an end (Kh. Up.

I, 8, 8), and wishing to proclaim something that has no end chooses the ether, and then, having identified the ether with the Udgîtha, concludes, ‘He is the Udgîtha greater than great; he is without end.’ Now this endlessness is a characteristic mark of Brahman. To the remark that the sense of ‘elemental ether’ presents itself to the mind more readily, because it is the better established sense of the word âkâsa, we reply, that, although it may present itself to the mind first, yet it is not to be accepted, because we see that qualities of Brahman are mentioned in the complementary sentences. That the word âkâsa is also used to denote Brahman has been shown already; cp.

such passages as, ‘Ether is the revealer of all names and forms.’ We see, moreover, that various synonyma of âkâsa are employed to denote Brahman. So, for instance, Rik Samh.

I, 164, 39, ‘In which the Vedas are 1, in the Imperishable one (i. e. Brahman), the highest, the ether (vyoman), on which all gods have their seat.’ And Taitt. Up. III, 6, ‘This is the knowledge of Bhrigu and Varuna, founded on the highest ether (vyoman).’ And again, ‘Om, ka is Brahman, ether (kha) is Brahman’ (Kh. Up. IV, 10, 5), and ‘the old ether’ (Bri. Up. V, 1) 2. And other similar passages. On account of the force of the complementary passage we are justified in deciding that the word ‘ether,’ although occurring in the beginning of the passage, refers to Brahman. The case is analogous to that of the sentence, ‘Agni (lit. the fire) studies a chapter,’ where the word agni, although occurring in the beginning, is at once seen to denote a boy 3. It is therefore settled that the word ‘ether’ denotes Brahman.

Footnotes 82:1 Or else ‘that which is within forms and names.’

84:1 Viz. as intimating it. Thus Ân. Gi. and Go. Ân. against the accent of rikáh. Sâyana explains rikáh as genitive.

84:2 Omkârasya pratîkatvena vâkakatvena lakshakatvena vâ brahmatvam uktam, om iti, kam sukham tasyârthendriyayogagatvam vârayitum kham iti, tasya bhûtâkasatvam vyâseddhum purânam ity uktam. Ân. Gi.

84:3 The doubt about the meaning of a word is preferably to be decided by means of a reference to preceding passages; where that is not possible (the doubtful word occurring at the beginning of some new chapter) complementary, i.e. subsequent passages have to be taken into consideration.

23.For the same reason breath (is Brahman).

Concerning the udgîtha it is said (Kh. Up. I, 10, 9), ‘Prastotri, that deity which belongs to the prastâva, &c.,’ and, further on (I,11,4; 5), ‘Which then is that deity? He said: Breath. For all these beings merge into breath alone, and from breath they arise. This is the deity belonging to the prastâva.’ With reference to this passage doubt and decision are to be considered as analogous to those stated under the preceding Sûtra. For while in some passages—as, for instance, ‘For indeed, my son, mind is fastened to prâna,’ Kh. Up. VI, 8, 2; and, ‘the prâna of prâna,’ Bri. Up. IV, 4, 18—the word ‘breath’ is seen to denote Brahman, its use in the sense of a certain modification of air is better established in common as well as in Vedic language. Hence there arises a doubt whether in the passage under discussion the word prâna denotes Brahman or (ordinary) breath. In favour of which meaning have we then to decide?

Here the pûrvapakshin maintains that the word must be held to denote the fivefold vital breath, which is a peculiar modification of wind (or air); because, as has been remarked already, that sense of the word prâna is the better established one.—But no, an objector will say, just as in the case of the preceding Sûtra, so here also Brahman is meant, on account of characteristic marks being mentioned; for here also a complementary passage gives us to understand that all beings spring from and merge into prâna; a process which can take place in connexion with the highest Lord only.—This objection, the pûrvapakshin replies, is futile, since we see that the beings enter into and proceed from the principal vital air also. For Scripture makes the following statement (Sat. Br.

X, 3, 3, 6), ‘When man sleeps, then into breath indeed speech merges, into breath the eye, into breath the ear, into breath the mind; when he awakes then they spring again from breath alone.’ What the Veda here states is, moreover, a matter of observation, for during sleep, while the process of breathing goes on uninterruptedly, the activity of the sense organs is interrupted and again becomes manifest at the time of awaking only. And as the sense organs are the essence of all material beings, the complementary passage which speaks of the merging and emerging of the beings can be reconciled with the principal vital air also. Moreover, subsequently to prâna being mentioned as the divinity of the prastâva the sun and food are designated as the divinities of the udgîtha and the pratihâra.

Now as they are not Brahman, the prâna also, by parity of reasoning, cannot be Brahman.

To this argumentation the author of the Sûtras replies: For the same reason prâna—that means: on account of the presence of characteristic marks—which constituted the reason stated in the preceding Sûtra—the word prâna also must be held to denote Brahman. For Scripture says of prâna also, that it is connected with marks characteristic of Brahman. The sentence, ‘All these beings merge into breath alone, and from breath they arise,’ which declares that the origination and retractation of all beings depend on prâna, clearly shows prâna to be Brahman.

In reply to the assertion that the origination and retractation of all beings can be reconciled equally well with the assumption of prâna denoting the chief vital air, because origination and retractation take place in the state of waking and of sleep also, we remark that in those two states only the senses are merged into, and emerge from, the chief vital air, while, according to the scriptural passage, ‘For all these beings, &c.,’ all beings whatever into which a living Self has entered, together with their senses and bodies, merge and emerge by turns. And even if the word ‘beings’ were taken (not in the sense of animated beings, but) in the sense of material elements in general, there would be nothing in the way of interpreting the passage as referring to Brahman.—But.

it may be said, that the senses together with their objects do, during sleep, enter into prâna, and again issue from it at the time of waking, we distinctly learn from another scriptural passage, viz. Kau. Up. III, 3, ‘When a man being thus asleep sees no dream whatever, he becomes one with that prâna alone. Then speech goes to him with all names,’ &c.—True, we reply, but there also the word prâna denotes (not the vital air) but Brahman, as we conclude from characteristic marks of Brahman being mentioned.

The objection, again, that the word prâna cannot denote Brahman because it occurs in proximity to the words ‘food’ and ‘sun’ (which do not refer to Brahman), is altogether baseless; for proximity is of no avail against the force of the complementary passage which intimates that prâna is Brahman. That argument, finally, which rests on the fact that the word prâna commonly denotes the vital air with its five modifications, is to be refuted in the same way as the parallel argument which the pûrvapakshin brought forward with reference to the word ‘ether.’ From all this it follows that the prâna, which is the deity of the prastâva, is Brahman.