{"collection":"Hinduism","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/hin/sbe34/sbe34031.htm","path":"hin/sbe34/sbe34031.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/hin/sbe34/sbe34031.htm","text":"The Vedanta Sutras, commentary by Sankaracharya (SBE34), tr. by George Thibaut [1890]\n25. If it be objected that(Brahman is) not (denoted) on account of the metre being denoted; (we reply) not so, because thus (i.e. by means of the metre) the direction of the mind (on Brahman) is declared; for thus it is seen (in other passages also).\nWe now address ourselves to the refutation of the assertion (made in the p\u00fbrvapaksha of the preceding S\u00fbtra) that in the previous passage also Brahman is not referred to, because in the sentence, 'G\u00e2yatr\u00ee is everything whatsoever here exists,' the metre called G\u00e2yatr\u00ee is spoken of.--How (we ask the p\u00fbrvapakshin) can it be maintained that, on account of the metre being spoken of, Brahman is not denoted, while yet the mantra 'such is the greatness of it,' &c., clearly sets forth Brahman with its four quarters?--You are mistaken (the p\u00fbrvapakshin replies). The sentence, 'G\u00e2yatr\u00ee is everything,' starts the discussion of G\u00e2yatr\u00ee. The same G\u00e2yatr\u00ee is thereupon described under the various forms of all beings, earth, body, heart, speech, breath; to which there refers also the verse, 'that G\u00e2yatr\u00ee\nhas four feet and is sixfold.' After that we meet with the mantra, 'Such is the greatness of it.' &c. How then, we ask, should this mantra, which evidently is quoted with reference to the G\u00e2yatr\u00ee (metre) as described in the preceding clauses, all at once denote Brahman with its four quarters? Since therefore the metre G\u00e2yatr\u00ee is the subject-matter of the entire chapter, the term 'Brahman' which occurs in a subsequent passage ('the Brahman which has thus been described') must also denote the metre. This is analogous to a previous passage (Kh, Up. III, 11, 3, 'He who thus knows this Brahma-upanishad'), where the word Brahma-upanishad is explained to mean Veda-upanishad. As therefore the preceding passage refers (not to Brahman, but) to the G\u00e2yatr\u00ee metre, Brahman does not constitute the topic of the entire section.\nThis argumentation, we reply, proves nothing against our position. 'Because thus direction of the mind is declared,' i. e. because the Brahmana passage, 'G\u00e2yatr\u00ee indeed is all this,' intimates that by means of the metre G\u00e2yatr\u00ee the mind is to be directed on Brahman which is connected with that metre. Of the metre G\u00e2yatr\u00ee, which is nothing but a certain special combination of syllables, it could not possibly be said that it is the Self of everything. We therefore have to understand the passage as declaring that Brahman, which, as the cause of the world, is connected with that product also whose name is G\u00e2yatr\u00ee, is 'all this;' in accordance with that other passage which directly says, 'All this indeed is Brahman' (Kh. Up. III, 14, 1). That the effect is in reality not different from the cause, we shall prove later on, under S\u00fbtra II, 1, 14. Devout meditation on Brahman under the form of certain effects (of Brahman) is seen to be mentioned in other passages also, so, for instance, Ait. \u00c2r. III, 2, 3, 12, 'For the Bahvrikas consider him in the great hymn, the Adhvaryus in the sacrificial fire, the Khandogas in the Mah\u00e2vrata ceremony.' Although, therefore, the previous passage speaks of the metre, Brahman is what is meant, and the same Brahman is again referred to in the passage about the light, whose purport it is to enjoin another form of devout meditation.\nAnother commentator 1 is of opinion that the term G\u00e2yatr\u00ee (does not denote Brahman in so far as viewed under the form of G\u00e2yatr\u00ee, but) directly denotes Brahman, on account of the equality of number; for just as the G\u00e2yatr\u00ee metre has four feet consisting of six syllables each, so Brahman also has four feet, (i. e. quarters.) Similarly we see that in other passages also the names of metres are used to denote other things which resemble those metres in certain numerical relations; cp. for instance, Kh. Up. IV, 3, 8, where it is said at first, 'Now these five and the other five make ten and that is the Krita,' and after that 'these are again the Vir\u00e2g which eats the food.' If we adopt this interpretation, Brahman only is spoken of, and the metre is not referred to at all. In any case Brahman is the subject with which the previous passage is concerned.\n95:1 The vrittik\u00e2ra according to Go. \u00c2n. in his t\u00eek\u00e2 on the bh\u00e2shya to the next S\u00fbtra.","title":"The Vedanta Sutras, Sankaracharya, comm.: First Adhy\u00e2ya, First P\u00e2da: I, 1, 25","type":"page"}