Śaṅkaraon Brahma Sūtra 3.3.31

We have shown that the going on the path of the gods is valid only for the vidyas of the qualified Brahman, not for the knowledge of the highest Brahman which is destitute of all qualities—Now we observe that the going on the path of the gods is mentioned only in some of the qualified vidyas. such as the paryahka-vidya, the pa/z/agni-vidya, the upako^ala-vidya, the dahara-vidya ; while it is not men- tioned in others, such as the madhu-vidya,thc ^fi;/<'/iiya-vidya, the sho/^/ai‘akala-vidya, the vauvanara-vidyfi. — The doubt then arises whether the going on the path of the gods is to be connected with those vidyas only in which it is actually mentioned or generally with all vidyas of that kind. The piirvapakshin maintains the former view ; for, he says, the limitative force of the general subject-matter of each particular section compels us to connect the going on the path of the gods with those vidyas only which actually mention it. If we transferred it to other vidyas also, the authoritativeness of scripture would suffer ; for then any- thing might be the sense of anything. Moreover, the details about the path of the gods beginning w ith light and so on are given equally* in the upakoi’ala-vidya and the pa;z/4gni-vidya, which would be a useless repetition if as a matter of course the going on the path of the gods were connected with all vidyas. To this we make the following reply. The going on the path of the gods is not to be restricted but to be connected equally wdth all those qualified vidyas wdiich have exaltation (abhyudaya) for their result. The objection above raised by the purvapakshin that thereby we contradict the general subject-matter, we refute by appealing to scripture and Smrzti. Scripture in the first place declares that not only those ‘who know this,' i.e. the pa;z/{’agni-vidya {Kh, Up. V, 10, i), proceed on the path of the gods, but also those who understand other vidyas, ‘ and also those who in the forest follow faith and — austerities.’ But how do we know that the latter passage refers to those who are conversant wdth other 234 vedanta-s^)tras. vidyds ? The text certainly speaks of those only who are intent on faith and austerities ! —Not by faith and austerities alone, wc reply, unaided by knowledge, can that path be attained ; for another scriptural passage says, ‘ Through knowledge they mount to that place from which all wishes have passed away ; those who are skilled in works only do not go there, nor penitents devoid of knowledge ’ (.Sat. Bra. X,5, 4, 1 6). Wc therefore conclude that faith and austerities denote at the same time other vidyas. — The Va^asancyins again read in the Pa;/ytagni-vidya, ^ Those who thus know this and those who in the forest worship faith and the True.’ The latter part of this passage we must explain to mean, ‘Those who in the forest with faith worship the True, i.e. Brahman;’ the term ‘the True* being often employed to denote Brahman, And as those who know the pa;/Mgni- vidya are in the above passage referred to as ‘ those who thus know this,* we must understand the clause, ‘and those who in the forest,* &c., as referring to men in the possession of other vidyas. And, moreover, also the passage, ‘ Those, however, who know neither of these two paths become worms, birds, and creeping things ’ (VI, 2, i6), which teaches that those who miss the two paths have to go downwards, intimates that those who possess other vidyas have to pro- ceed either on the path of the gods or that of the fethers, and as their vidyas are as such not different from the pa;7Hgni-vidya, we conclude that they proceed on the path of the gods (not on that of the fathers) h In the second place Smr/ti also confirms the same doctrine, ‘These two, the white and the black path, are known as the eternal paths of the world ; on the one man goes not to return, on the other he again returns ’ (Bha. Gi. VIII, 26). With regard, finally, to the circumstance that the details about the path of the gods are given in the Upakojala- ^ Itaj vidyanlarajilinaw gatir ili lingadarjanaw samuMinoti atheti, etan iti vidyantarapara gr/hyante, tathapi kathaz?^ deva- yanayogas tesham iiy ajafikya yogyatayety aha tatrSpiti. An. Gi. ; vidySi as well as the PawMgni-vidya, we remark that the repetition is meant to assist reflection. For all these reasons the going on the path of the gods is not limited to those vidyas in which it is actually mentioned.