History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v7.c95.69

v7.c95.69

²⁴⁵⁶ किं पुन परं ब्रह्म किमपरमिति। उच्यते। यत्राविद्याकृतनामरूपादिविशेषप्रतिषेधादस्थूलादिशब्दैर्ब्रह्मोपदिश्यते तत्परम्। तदेव यत्र नामरूपादिविशेषेण केनचिद्विशिष्टमुपासनायोपदिश्यते 'मनोमय प्राणशरीरो भारूपः' (छा III 14. 2) इत्यादिशब्दैस्तदपरम्। भाष्य on वे. सू IV. 3. 14, एवमेकमपि ब्रह्मापेक्षितोपाधिसम्बन्धं निरस्तोपाधिसम्बन्धं चोपास्यत्वेन ज्ञेयत्वेन च वेदान्तेषूपदिश्यत इति। शङ्कराचार्य on वे सू I. 1. 12. It should be noted that the words 'neti neti' occur four times in the great exposition of Yājñavalkya on *brahman* in Br Up. IV. 2. 4, IV 4. 22, IV. 5. 15, III. 9 26 The highest *brahman* is conceived as beyond space, time and independent of the law of causality. We may compare the conceptions of *para-brahma* and *apara-brahma* with what Plato postulates (in Timaeus, Introduction p. 6 to Bury's translation) as the distinction between Being and Becoming viz Being is changeless, eternal, self-existent and apprehensible by thought only. Becoming is the opposite, ever changing, never truly existent and the object of sensations, and the perceptible universe belongs to the latter