Śaṅkaraon Brahma Sūtra 3.3.23

In the khilas (supplementary writings) of the Ra;/a- yaniyas we meet with a passage, ‘ Held together arc the powers among which Brahman is the best ; the best Brahman in the beginning stretched out the sky h’ which mentions certain energies of Brahman, such as holding together its powers, entering into the sky, &c. And in the ^ Virya viryawi parakramabheda//, anye hi purusha/^ sahay^n apcksliya vikraman bibb rati tena tatparakramawam na ta eva niyat- apurvatvarupakaia;?atvena ^>-yesli///a bhavanti kwi tu tatsaliakari//o spi, brahmaviryawaw tu brahmaiva gyQ8ht/i3.m brahma gyesh/Mm yeshaw tani tatha brahma khalv ananyapeksha»z ^aga^^anni^di karoti. Kim Mnyeshaw parakramawam balavadbhir madhye bhahga^ sambhavati tena te svaviryawi na bibhrati, brahmavirya/n tu brahmawa sambhr/tani avighnena sambhruaiiy ity arlha^. An. Gi. Upanishad of the same (i. e. the RdwAyaniyas) we meet — with vidyas of Brahman among which the 5d;/rfilya-vidy4 is the first. The question then arises whether the energies of Brahman just mentioned are to be inserted in those Brahma-vidy^s or not. To the pilrvapaksha view that they are to be so inserted because they are connected with Brahman, the SCitrakara replies that the holding together and pervading the sky are not to be inserted in the i"a;/^/ilya-vidyd and other vidyas, for the same reason, i. e. on account of their being connected with different abodes. In the 6'a;/^/iIya-vidya, Brahman is said to have its abode in the heart, ‘ He is the^ Self within the heart ’ (KA. Up. HI, 14, 3); the same statement is made in the dahara-vidya, ‘ There is the palace, the small lotus (of the heart), and in it that small ether’ (VIII, 1, 1). In the Upako.yala-vidya again, Brahman is said to reside within the eye, ‘That person that is seen in the eye’ (IV, 15, i). In all these vidyds Brahman is described as residing within the body; it is therefore impossible to insert into them the energies of Brahman which the khila of the Rd//a- yaniyas mentions, and which are connected with tlie Devas (i. e. external — nature). But the vidyas of the AV/andogya likewise mention such powers of Ih'ahman as are connected with the Uevas ; cp. e.g. HI, 14, 3, ‘ He is greater than the heaven, greater than these worlds; ’ IV, 15, 4, ‘He is also Bhamani, for he shines in all worlds ; ’ VIH, 1, 3, ^ As large as this ether is, so large is that ether within the heart. Both heaven and earth arc contained within it.’ And again there are other vidyds of Brahman, such as the one which represents Brahman as comprising sixteen parts, in which not any special abode is mentioned.—T rue ; but there is a special reason why the attributes stated in the Rdz/ayaniya- khila cannot be introduced into the other vidyas. Par- ticulars mentioned in one place can indeed be inserted in vidyds met with in another place if the latter are suggested to the mind by containing some reference to agreeing par- ticulars ; the qualities of holding together, however, on one side and those mentioned in the 5a«r/ilya-vidya, &c., on the other side are of such a nature as to exclude each 220 VEDANTA-S^^TRAS. other, and therefore do not mutually suggest each other. The mere circumstance of all the particulars being con- nected with Brahman does not suffice to suggest vidy^s occurring in other places ; for even in vidyas which are avowedly separate, all the particulars may be connected with Brahman. And it is an established fact that Brahman, although one only, is, owing to the plurality of its powers, meditated upon in more than one way, as shown under Sutra 7.—The conclusion therefore is that the attributes of holding together its powers and so on are not to be inserted in the 5a;/<'/ilya and similar vidyas.