Śaṅkaraon Brahma Sūtra 3.3.52
Advaita Vedānta
Sūtra
परेण च शब्दस्य ताद्विध्यं भूयस्त्वात्त्वनुबन्धः
pareṇa ca śabdasya tādvidhyaṃ bhūyastvāttvanubandhaḥ
Sūtra translation
And from the subsequent (Brahma;<Ja) it follows that being of that kind (i.e. injunction of a mere vidya) (is the aim) of the text. The connexion (of the fanciful agnis with the real one) is due to the plurality (of details of the real agni which arc imaginatively connected with the vidya).
With regard to a subsequent Brdhma;^a also, viz. the one beginning, ‘That piled agni is this world indeed,’ we appre- hend that what is the purpose of the text is ‘ being of that kind,’ i.e. injunction of a mere vidya, not injunction of the member of a mere action. For we meet there with the fol- lowing i’loka, ‘ By knowledge they ascend there where all wishes are attained. Those skilled in works do not go there, nor those who destitute of knowledge do penance.’ This verse blames mere works and praises knowledge. A former Brahma;/a also, viz. the one beginning, ‘What that orb leads’ ( 5at. Brd. X, 5, 2, 23), concludes with a statement of the fruit of knowledge (‘Immortal becomes he whose Self is death ’), and thereby indicates that works are not the chief thing.— The text connects the vidyd (of the agnis built of — mind) with the real agni built of bricks, not because those agnis are members of the act of building the real agni, but because many of the elements of the real agni are imaginatively combined with the vidya. All this establishes the conclusion that the fire-altars built of mind and so on constitute a mere vidya.