Aphorisms on Brahman 2.2-2

2.2-2

19
bṛhadāraṇyake "yaḥ pṛthivyāṃ tiṣṭanpṛthivyā antaroyaṃ pṛthivī na veda yasya pṛthivī śarīraṃ yaḥ pṛthivīmantaro yamatyeṣa ta ātmā'ntaryāmyamṛtaḥ"ityādiṣu sarveṣu paryāyeṣu śrūyamāṇo'ntaryāmī kiṃ pratyagātmota paramātmeti saṃśayaḥ|| pratyagātmeti pūrva pakṣaḥ| "nānyo'to'sti draṣṭā"iti draṣṭantaraniṣedhācca| rāddhāntastu - pṛthivyādyātmaparyantasarvatattvānāṃ sarvairebhiradṛṣṭenaikena niyamanaṃ nirupādhikāmṛtatvādikaṃ ca paramātmana eva dharma ityantaryāmī paramātmā | draṣṭṛtvādiśca rupādisākṣātkāraḥ|
sa ca "paśyatyacakṣuḥ saśṛṇotya karṇaḥ"ityādinā ca paramātmāno'pyasti| "nānyo'to'sti draṣṭā"iti jīvenādṛṣṭāntaryāmi- draṣṭṭavat antaryāmiṇā'pyadṛṣṭadrantaraniṣedhaparaḥ|| sūtrārthaḥ - adhidaivādhilokādipadacihniteṣu vākyeṣu śrūyamāṇo'ntaryāmī paramātmā| sarvāntaratvasarvāviditatvasarvaśarīrakatvasarvaniyamanasarvātmatvāmṛtatvādiparamātmadharmāṇāṃ vyapadeśāt||
(1-2-20)
smārttaṃ pradhānam| śārīraḥ pratyagātmā| smārttaṃ ca śārīraśca nāntaryāmī| tayorasaṃbhāvitātmadharmābhilāpāt| yathā smārttasyācetanasyāsaṃbhāvanayā nāntaryāmitvaprasaktistrathā pratyagātmano'pītyarthaḥ||
(1-2-21)
ubhaye kāṇvā mādhyāndināścāpi " yo vijñāne tiṣṭan| ya ātmani tiṣṭan"iti yataḥ pratyagātmano bhedenainamantaryāmiṇamadhīyate ato'yaṃ tadātiriktaḥ paramātmā||
(1-2-22)
ātharvaṇe " atha parā yayā tadakṣaramadhigamyate yattadadreyam"ityārabhya "yadbhūtayoniṃ paripaśyanti dhīrāḥ| akṣarātparataḥ paraḥ" ityādau kiṃ pradhānapuruṣau pratipādyete uta paramātmeti saṃśayaḥ|| prādhānapuruṣāviti pūrva pakṣaḥ| pṛthivyādyacetanagatadṛśyatvādīnāṃ pratiṣedhāttajjātīyamacetanaṃ pradhānameva bhūtayonyaśkṣaramiti patīyate| tathā" akṣarātparataḥ paraḥ "iti ca tasyādhiṣṭātā puruṣa eveti||rāddhāntastu--uttaratra ’’yaḥ sarvajñaḥ sarvavit ’’ iti pradhānapuruṣayorasaṃbhāvitaṃ sārvajñyanabhidhāya ’’tasmādetahbrahma nāmarūpamannaṃ ca jāyate ’’ iti sarvajñātsatyaskalpājjagadutpattiśranaṇātpūrvoktamadṛśyatvādiguṇakaṃ bhūtayonyakṣaram| ’’trprakṣarātparataḥ paraḥ ’’ iti ca nirdiṣṭaṃ tadakṣaraṃ paraṃ brahmaiveti vijñāyate||sūtrārthaḥ--trpradṛśyatlādiguṇakaḥ paramātmā|sārvajñyā| (1-2-23) viśinaṣṭi hi prakaraṇaṃ pradhānādbhūtayonyakṣaramekavijñānena sarvavijñānādinā|tathā ’’a7rātparataḥ paraḥ ’’
ityakṣarādavyakṛtātpararato'vasthitātpuruṣātpara iti puruṣāccāsya bhūtayonyakṣarasya bhedo vyapadiśyate|ataśca na pradhānapuruṣau|trprapi tu paramātmaivātra nirdiṣṭaḥ||
(1-2-24)
’’agnirmūrddhā’’ ityādinā samastasya cidacidātmakaprapañcasya bhūtayonyakṣararūpatvenopanyāsāccāyamadṛśyatvādiguṇakaḥ paramātmā||
(1-2-25)
chāndogye ’’ trprātmānamevemaṃ vaiśvānaraṃ saṃpratyadhyeṣi tameva no brūhi ’’ ityārambha ’’ yatsvetameva prādeśamātramabhivimānamātmānaṃ vaiśvānaramupāste"ityatra kimayaṃ vaiśvānaraḥ paramātmeti śakyanirṇayaḥ, uta neti saṃśayaḥ| aśakyanirṇaya iti pūrvaḥ pakṣaḥ; vaiśvānaraśabdasya jāṭharāgnau, bhūtatṛtīye, devatāviśeṣe paramātmani ca vaidikaprayogadarśanāt ; asmin prakaraṇe sarveṣāṃ liṅgopalabdheśca| rāddhāntastu - "ko na ātmā kiṃ brahma" iti sarviṣāṃ jīvānāmātmabhūtaṃ brahma kimiti prakramāt, uttaratra ca, "ātmānaṃ vaiśvānaram " iti brahmaśabdasthāne sarvatra vaiśvānaraśabdaprayogācca, vaiśvānarātmā sarveṣāṃ jīvanāmātmabhūtaṃ brahma kimiti prakramāt, uttaratra ca, | trprātmānamevemaṃ vaiśvānaraṃ | iti brahmaśabdasthāne sarvatra vaiśvānaraśabdaprayogācca, vaiśvānarātmā sarveṣāṃ jīvānāmātmabhūtaṃ paraṃ brahmeti
vijñāyate| sūtrārthaḥ-- vaiśvānaraśabdanirdiṣṭaḥ paramātmā, vaiśvānaraśabdasyānekārthasādhāraṇasyāpyasminprakaraṇe paramātmāsādhāraṇaviśeṣaṇaissarvātmatvādibhiḥ viśeṣyamāṇatvāt| viśeṣyata iti viśeṣaḥ||

19
In the Bṛhadāraṇyaka [Upaniṣad], in all the parallel sections heard as: "He who, dwelling in the earth, is within the earth, whom the earth does not know, whose body is the earth, who controls the earth from within—he is your Self, the inner controller, the immortal," there arises the doubt: Is the inner controller the individual inner self or the supreme Self? The prima facie view is that it is the individual inner self, because another seer is denied by "There is no other seer than this." But the established conclusion is: The inner controller is the supreme Self alone, because controlling all real entities from the earth up to the individual self, by one who is unseen by all of them, and unconditioned immortality and the rest, are attributes belonging solely to the supreme Self. And being a seer and so forth is the direct perception of colour and so forth.
And that belongs to the supreme Self as well, through texts such as "He sees without eyes, he hears without ears." The statement "There is no other seer than this" aims at denying another seer who is unseen by the inner controller, just like the inner controller who is unseen by the individual self. The meaning of the aphorism is: The inner controller heard in the passages marked by words such as "governing deities" and "governing worlds" is the supreme Self, because the attributes of the supreme Self are declared, such as being within all, being unknown by all, having all as his body, controlling all, being the Self of all, and being immortal.
(1-2-20)
"What is in sacred tradition" is the pradhāna. The "embodied one" is the individual inner self. Neither the one in sacred tradition nor the embodied one is the inner controller, because attributes of the Self that are impossible in the two are declared. The meaning is: just as the one in sacred tradition, being insentient, cannot possibly apply and hence cannot be the inner controller, so too it is with the individual inner self.
(1-2-21)
Both the Kāṇvas and the Mādhyandinas, since they recite of this inner controller as distinct from the individual inner self by "He who, dwelling in cognition" [and] "He who, dwelling in the self," therefore this [inner controller] is the supreme Self, who is additional to that [individual self].
(1-2-22)
In the Atharvaṇa [Upaniṣad], beginning with "Now, the higher [knowledge] by which that Imperishable is apprehended, that which cannot be seen," down to "which the wise perceive as the source of beings; higher than the high Imperishable," there arises the doubt: Are the pradhāna and the individual soul taught here, or the supreme Self? The prima facie view is that they are the pradhāna and the soul. Because visibility and so forth belonging to insentient entities like the earth are negated, the imperishable source of beings is understood to be the insentient pradhāna belonging to that same category; likewise, by "higher than the high Imperishable," it is only the soul that presides over it. But the established conclusion is: because later on, after stating omniscience and all-knowingness, which are impossible in the pradhāna and the soul, by "He who is omniscient, all-knowing," the origination of the world from the omniscient one of true resolve is heard by "From him this Brahman, name and form, and food are born," it is recognized that the imperishable source of beings possessing the attributes of invisibility and the like mentioned earlier, and that which is designated by "higher than the high Imperishable," is the supreme Brahman alone. The meaning of the aphorism is: The one possessing attributes such as invisibility is the supreme Self, because of omniscience.
(1-2-23)
For the context distinguishes the imperishable source of beings from the pradhāna through the knowledge of everything by the knowledge of the one, and so forth. Likewise, by "higher than the high Imperishable," a difference of this imperishable source of beings from the soul is declared by [stating that he is] higher than the soul that stands higher than the imperishable unmanifest. And therefore, they are not the pradhāna and the soul; rather, it is the supreme Self alone that is designated here.
(1-2-24)
And because the entire universe consisting of sentient and insentient entities is presented as the form of the imperishable source of beings by "Fire is his head" and so forth, this one possessing attributes such as invisibility is the supreme Self.
(1-2-25)
In the Chāndogya [Upaniṣad], beginning with "You now study this very Self, Vaiśvānara; explain him to us," down to "He who meditates on this very Self, Vaiśvānara, measuring a span and boundless," there arises the doubt: Can this Vaiśvānara be determined to be the supreme Self, or not? The prima facie view is that it cannot be determined, because the word "Vaiśvānara" is seen used in the Veda for the digestive fire, the third element, a particular deity, and the supreme Self, and because indicators of all of them are found in this context. But the established conclusion is: because of the opening statement, "What is our Self? What is Brahman?", [inquiring] what is the Brahman that constitutes the Self of all individual selves, and because later on, the word "Vaiśvānara" is used everywhere in place of the word "Brahman" by "this very Self, Vaiśvānara," the Self Vaiśvānara is understood to be the supreme Brahman that constitutes the Self of all individual selves. The meaning of the aphorism is: The one designated by the word "Vaiśvānara" is the supreme Self, because although the word "Vaiśvānara" is common to multiple meanings, in this context it is qualified by the exclusive qualifiers of the supreme Self, such as being the Self of all. "A qualifier (viśeṣa)" is that which qualifies.