Establishment of Brahman 3.27

3.27

athavā ‘paraṃ jyotirupasaṃpadya svena rūpeṇāvatiṣṭhate'; iti svarūpasthitirmuktiruktā /
sādhyatve ca na svarūpasthitiḥ syāt /
ato mokṣatvāccyaveta /
yattu ---
‘na sa (na ca --edition) punarāvartate'; iti śruteḥ prāmāṇyātkāryasyāpi mokṣasya nityatvamiti, dṛṣṭaviparītamapi tadāśrīyeta, ananyagatitve śruteḥ /
yadā tu viditātmatattvasyādvayaṃ viśuddhaprakāśamātmānaṃ paśyataḥ samutkhātāyāmanavayavenāvidyāyāṃ hetvabhāvātpunarbandhasyāsaṃbhāvyatvātprāptamevārthaṃ vartamānāpadeśādanuvadati śrutirarthavādatvena, tadā kutastatprāmāṇyādanantaphalatvam? tathā hi ---
vartamānāpadeśādeva nāpunarāvṛttiḥ sādhyatvenāvagamyate /
na ca kāmopabandho 'sti, yataḥ sādhyatā gamyeta /
tasmādarthavādaḥ /
arthavādādapi ca yā phalakalpanā, sāpi jñāne jñeyatattvāvabhāsadṛṣṭaphalanirākāṅkṣe 'nupapannā /
puruṣārthatā cāsya vakṣyata iti /

Or rather, liberation is stated to be abiding in one's own nature: 'Having attained the supreme light, he remains in his own form.' And if it were an effect to be accomplished, it would not be abiding in one's own nature; therefore it would fall away from being liberation. As for the claim that, on the authority of the scripture 'He does not return again', liberation—even though an effect—is eternal: that would be resorted to, even though contrary to what is observed, only if scripture had no other purport. But when the seeker has known the reality of the Self, sees the Self as non-dual and of pure illumination, and nescience is completely uprooted, non-recurrence of bondage is impossible due to the absence of its cause; hence scripture, through a statement in the present tense, merely reiterates an already established fact by way of eulogy. In that case, whence could its infinite result arise on the authority of that text? To explain: precisely because it is stated in the present tense, non-return is not understood as something to be accomplished. Nor is there any connection with desire from which an end to be accomplished could be grasped. Therefore it is a eulogy. Moreover, any assumption of a result even from a eulogy is unjustified with respect to knowledge, which lacks any desire for another result because of the observed result, namely the manifestation of the reality of the object to be known. And its status as a human end will be explained.