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The System of the Vedanta according to Badarayana's Brahma-Sutras and Cankara's Commentary c10.s2: XXXVI. Condition of the Sage in this Life

The System of the Vedânta according to Bâdarâyana's Brahma-Sûtras and Çankara's Commentary c10.s2

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XXXVI. Condition of the Sage in this Life

1. Characteristics of the Sage

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IN contrast to the Devotee, who knows and worships Brahman in the exoteric, theological form, we understand in this and in what follows by the term Sage, him to whom has come *Samyagdarçanam*, perfect knowledge, that is, esoteric knowledge of the higher, attributeless (*param, nirguṇam*) Brahman, and who in consequence of this possesses an immediate consciousness¹³⁶ on the one hand of the identity of his own Self with Brahman, on the other of the illusory character of all that is different (*nānā*) from the Soul, from Brahman, therefore of the whole extended world (*prapañca*), his own body and the other *Upādhis* of the Soul (*indriyas, manas, mukhya prāṇa, sūkṣmam śarīram, karman*) included. For such a one there is no longer any world to be perceived nor any perception, and even his own suffering, since it depends upon perception, is no longer felt by him as pain; on which point compare the fuller treatment above p. 299 and p. 415. Further since all works have only the purpose of attaining pleasure and avoiding pain, while pain and pleasure concern not bodiless, but only embodied Being based upon illusion (above p. 402), for him who has seen through this illusion, all works (Vedic study, sacrifice, alms, asceticism, fasting) are abolished, as also all the injunction of the Veda which command them. And not only does the Part of Works become superfluous, but also that Part of the Veda which treats of knowledge, above p. 21; for this is also only a means to an end: "Thinking and meditating have like hearing (only) "attainment as their purpose;" when that purpose is attained, the scripture has fulfilled its object; as there exists for the awakened neither perception, nor pain, nor action, so there exists for him no Veda either; to him "the Veda is not Veda" as the scripture says (above p. 416). In a word: everything outside Brahman, that is the Self, the Soul, has no more reality for him and can no longer disturb him, just as little as the rope which he mistakenly held to be a snake (note 105, above p. 269) or the trunk, in which in the darkness of his ignorance, he thought he saw a man (p. 86, 12).

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¹³⁶ *anubhava*; p. 917, 5: "The fruit of Knowledge depends upon immediate consciousness; for the scripture says (Bṛih. 3, 4, 1, translated above p. 141): 'the immanent, not transcendent Brahman;' and the words 'That art thou' (Chānd. 6, 8, 7) denote something already existing and must not be understood as if they meant only: 'That wilt thou become after death;' ... consequently for the knower of Brahman liberation is absolutely accomplished." Cf. p. 987, l. 66, 7. 1055, 10. 1057, 2.

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(p. 84, 5:) "And yet experience shows how, even for one "who knows Brahman, Samsâra still persists, so that he has "not attained his goal, as in the simile of the rope?--To this "we reply: It must not be maintained that for him who has "recognised that the Soul is Brahman, Samsâra persists as "before, because the knowledge of the Self (the Soul) as "Brahman contradicts this. For so long as he held the body "etc. to be the Self, so long was he affected by pain and "fear, but after that delusion has been destroyed by means of "the knowledge (produced by the Veda), of the Self as Brah"man, then it can no longer be maintained that he is affected "by pain and fear since that depended upon erroneous know"ledge. For so long as for instance, a rich householder has "the consciousness of his wealth, pain arises for him from its "loss; but after he has gone away as a hermit into the forest "(above p. 16) and has freed himself from the conciousness of "his wealth, then there can arise for him no more pain from "the loss of it. And so long as one wears ear-rings, pleasure "arises from the consciousness of wearing them; but after "one has laid them aside and freed oneself from the conscious"ness of wearing ear-rings, then the pleasure in wearing them "no longer exists for him. Therefore the scripture says (Chând. 8, 12, 1): ‘Verily, the bodiless is not touched by pain and pleasure.’ If you maintain that bodilessness is only attained after the dissolution of the body, not during life, then we do not admit this, because being clothed with the body depends (only) upon false cognition. For the circumstance of the Self's being connected with a body can be understood in no other way, than by conceiving it as erroneous knowledge, consisting in the delusion of the body being the Self. For we have seen that [for the Self] the condition of bodilessness is an eternal one, and this because it is not conditioned by action [only what belongs to the fruit of works is perishable]. If however you maintain that being embodied is the consequence of good and evil works done by it [the bodiless Âtman], then we deny this; for since its union with the body is untrue, therefore the assertion is also untrue that the Âtman has done good and evil. For the assertions that it is clothed with a body and has done good and evil works are always supported by each other and therefore lead to the assumption of a regressus in infinitum; and this is comparable to a chain altogether of blind persons each holding the other, since it is impossible for the Âtman to be affected by works, the Âtman being no acting principle.”—(p. 87, 5:) ‘Consequently being clothed with a body depends only upon a false conception, and thus it is proved that the knower of Brahman is, in his life time, already bodiless. Therefore the scripture says (Bṛih. 4, 4, 7, translated above p. 194): ‘As the slough of a snake dead and cast off lies upon an anthill, thus lies this body then, but the bodiless, the immortal, the life is pure Brahman, is pure Light;’ and [where is unknown to me]: ‘with eyes as if without eyes, with ears as if without ears, with speech as if without speech, with Manas as if without Manas, with life as if without life,’ and the Smṛiti shows in the passage: ‘What is the essence of him who is firm in knowledge?’ etc. (Bhagavadgîtâ 2, 54) where it enumerates the characteristics of one who is firm in knowledge and reckons as such that he is set free from all work.—Thus for one who has recognised the Brahmanhood of the Soul, Saṃsâra does not continue “as before, and he for whom it still continues, has in truth “not yet recognised that the Soul is Brahman; that is cer- “tain.”

2. The Destruction of Sin

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Sûtram 4, 1, 3.

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Existence without works is, as we have seen repeatedly, (above pp. 112. 390. 402) impossible. But it lies in the nature of works to have as purpose the production of a definite fruit, and without its having brought forth this fruit—one might think—no work can be annihilated, provided that the authority of the scripture is to be maintained (p. 1075, 9). That liberation thereby becomes impossible, need not be admitted; only one would have to incorporate liberation, like the fruit of works in the chain of Space, Time, and Causality (p. 1075, 17; that is, regard it equally as a fruit of works).—But that is not so! On the contrary, when once Brahman is known, sin committed is annihilated, and future sins cannot cleave to such a one (p. 1076, 2). For the scripture says (Chând. 4, 14, 3, translated above p. 165): “As water does not cling to the lotus “leaf, so no evil deed clings to one who thus knows;” and (Chând. 5, 24, 3; translated above p. 157) “as burns the leaflet “of the bulrush when thrust into the fire, so are burnt up all “his sins;” and yet again (Muṇḍ. 2, 2, 8):

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“For him who sees the One, both high and low
“His heart’s strong fetters, bursting, fall apart,
“For him all doubts are solved, all works are naught.”

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We do not thereby deny the fruit-producing power of works; such a power certainly exists; but we assert that it is checked in its development by a cause of another kind, namely, by knowledge (p. 1076, 14). For the canon of the doctrine of works holds good only on the assumption, that the power of the works exists; where the power is checked, the canon then loses its validity (p. 1076, 15). When then the Smṛiti says: “no work can be lost,” this remains the rule and implies that no work, without having borne its fruit, can be annihilated, and even the penance (prâyaçcittam) prescribed for certain deeds forms no exception, in that it is itself a kind of retribution (p. 1077, 1). The case is otherwise, on the contrary, with knowledge. If one takes exception to the fact that this (knowledge) is not, like penance, prescribed as a means of purification from sin (p. 1077, 6) then it is to be noted that the attribute-ascribing forms of knowledge (*saguṇā vidyāḥ*) do likewise also belong to the doctrine of works and in consequence are also accompanied by promises of heavenly lordship and release from evil (p. 1077, 9); in the attributeless knowledge, on the contrary, the prescription does not hold good, and yet the "burning up" of works is accomplished by it, and this by the knowledge that the Ātman is not an acting principle (p. 1077, 12). This knowledge that the soul is by nature a non-agent brings about in the first place the result that future works no longer cleave to the knower of Brahman who is no longer an agent, and further, that the former works which he performed under the false delusion of being an agent are annihilated through the dissipation of this delusion by the power of knowledge (p. 1078, 1). For the knower of Brahman says: "That Brahman the nature of which is opposed to the nature of formerly held to be true, being an agent and enjoyer, that Brahman which is in its very nature in all time past, present and future not-agent, not-enjoyer, that Brahman am I, and therefore I never was either agent or enjoyer, nor am I such now, nor shall I ever be one" (p. 1078, 4).—Only thus can liberation take place; in any other way the destruction of the works which have been taking their course from eternity in the past, and therefore liberation itself also, becomes impossible. "Hence liberation cannot, like the fruit of works, be conditioned by Space, Time, and Causality, for then the fruit of knowledge would be transitory and would lose its transcendent character (*parokshatvam*)” (p. 1078, 10).

3. Destruction of Good Works also

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When knowledge arises, past sins, as we have seen, are annihilated, and future sins can no longer cleave to the Soul. But how about the good works? For these indeed are commanded by the same scripture which is the source of knowledge and it cannot contradict itself. Must not good works therefore be excepted from annihilation?—We reply: annihilation and non-cleaving apply equally to good works and evil, for the following reasons: 1) good works also bring their own fruit and thereby hinder the fruit of knowledge; 2) the scripture teaches that both, the good and the evil works, disappear at the appearance of knowledge (Brih. 4, 4, 22, translated above p. 196): "[Who thus knows] him both overcome not whether he therefore [because he was in the body] has done evil or has done good; but he overcomes both; him neither what he has done nor what he has not done burns;" 3) in the destruction of works resulting from the knowledge that the Soul is not an agent, good and evil deeds are of equal value (tulya); of both it is said indifferently (Mund. 2, 2, 8) "and his works are naught;" 4) where evil works only are mentioned, good works must be understood as well, because their fruit, in comparison with that of knowledge, is inferior; 5) when the scripture says (Chând. 8, 4; translated above p. 162): "this bridge day and night traverse not, nor old age, nor death, nor pain, nor good, nor evil works, and from it all sins turn back," then in the words "all sins" both the good and evil works just mentioned are included (p. 1079).

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—We may compare with this, the explanations of the Apostle Paul in the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians as to the impossibility of a redemption through the law. According to Paul the law, if fulfilled, would set us free; but, in consequence of the sinfulness of our nature, it cannot be fulfilled; according to Çankara the law can be fulfilled, but its fulfilment does not bring liberation, but only reward on the path of transmigration. The former has the deeper consciousness of the sinfulness of our nature, the latter the more correct estimate of the value of the works of the law;—both combined give the philosophical truth. The law (for instance the Vedic or Mosaic) can unquestionably be fulfilled, but, in consequence of our innate egotism can be fulfilled only from selfish motives; hence its fulfilment has no moral value; lawful and unlawful actions both depend upon egotism, and are therefore, morally considered, both equally valueless and do not lead to liberation. This is only accomplished through that transformation of our Ego, which according to the Christian view proceeds from Faith, according to the Hindu view consists in Knowledge.—Both, Faith and Knowledge, are at the bottom one and the same,—that metaphysical consciousness which lifts us above the world and raises us above all possibility of sin. Whether this consciousness, assuming its genuineness, leads over into Quietism as among the Indians, or, as among us, is realised in deeds of love, touches only its form of appearance and establishes no difference in the value of what appears here.

4. Why the Body, in spite of Liberation, still continues to exist

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Sûtras 4, 1, 15. 19.

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Knowledge burns up works, but only works whose retribution has not yet begun, whether they originate from this life as led before the awakening (*prabodha*), or consist in a balance from some previous life which could not come to realisation in the present existence (above pp. 112. 390). But knowledge does not destroy those works whose seed has already germinated, that is, those from which the present life, serving as basis for dawning knowledge, has been fashioned (p. 1080, 9; the same predestination of the course of life as we find in Plato's Republic 10, 15, p. 617 E). For if this were not so, if all works without exception were annihilated by knowledge, then quiescence (*kshema*) would not arise only after death, but immediately upon the attainment of knowledge, since there would be no further cause for the continuance of life [no further work to be atoned for] (p. 1080, 12). For this fact certainly startling in our system, that in spite of liberation the body still continues to exist for a while, Çañkara gives two explanations, of which the one is more realistic, the other more idealistic. (1) As the vessel which is being formed requires the potter's wheel to support it, so liberation requires a life as a substratum; and as the potter's wheel continues for a time to revolve, even after the vessel has been completed, so also life continues after liberation, since it contains no cause to check the impetus already gained (p. 1081, 2); hence only after works, like the velocity of the flying arrow, have expended themselves, does liberation become an accomplished fact for all who possess knowledge; therefore it is said (Chând. 6, 14, 2; translated above p. 266): "To this [worldly action] I shall belong only until I am liberated, then shall I go home" (p. 916, 8). (2) As when a man suffering from eye disease, continues to see two moons even after he has attained the conviction that there is only one moon there, owing to the force of the impression (saṃskâra-vaçât), so too the impression of the sense-world persists, after a man has attained the knowledge of its non-existence (p. 1081, 5).—In view of the questionable character of these explanations, our author falls back upon the inner certainty of liberation: "Here, he remarks, no discussion at all is admissible; for how could anyone who is convinced in his heart that he is Brahman, be refuted by another, even when he is in the body?"

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Truly there are venerable, holy words, which prove how profoundly the Indian was convinced of what he lays before us!—But the condition here described (to which, as the highest goal of existence, humanity will ever return, whatever else man may undertake)—this condition must have been nothing very rare in India, as is proved by the fact that later ages had a technical expression for it, namely jīvan-mukti (liberation during life) and jīvan-mukta (the living liberated), although we do not yet meet with these expressions in Çañkara.

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Thus after works, whose retribution has not yet begun, have been destroyed by knowledge, while those whose seed had already germinated, have been consumed through continuance of life, death comes, as the outward sign of this consumption (above p. 353), and with death comes definitive and eternal union with Brahman; for the works on whose account one had to live are exhausted, while the balance, and in them the seed of a further existence, has been burnt up, through the destruction of false knowledge, on which they depend, by perfect knowledge (p. 1086).

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