Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

The System of the Vedanta according to Badarayana's Brahma-Sutras and Cankara's Commentary c10.s3: XXXVII. The dying Sage

The System of the Vedânta according to Bâdarâyana's Brahma-Sûtras and Çankara's Commentary c10.s3

Language
English

Contents

XXXVII. The dying Sage

1. His Soul does not depart

c10.s3.t1.1

THE *Utkrânti*, that is, the "withdrawal" of the Soul from the body described in Adhyâya 4, 2, which as we saw (above p. 379) was common both to the ignorant and the possessor of exoteric knowledge, is interrupted (4, 2, 12—16) by an episode pertaining to the higher knowledge (*prâsaṅgikî paravidyâ-gatâ cintâ*, p. 1103, 12), which treats of the death of him who possesses esoteric knowledge and is consequently free from desire (*akâmayamâna*). Of such it is said in Bṛih. 4, 4, 6 (translated above p. 194):—

c10.s3.t1.2

"And now of him who desires not.—He who is "without desire, free from desire, whose desires are "stilled, whose desire is the Self, his vital breaths "do not depart, but Brahman is he and into Brah"man is he resolved."

c10.s3.t1.3

One might think, says Çaṅkara, since instead of "his (tasya) vital breaths do not depart" we read in the other (Mâdhyandina-)recension: "out of him (tasmâd) the vital breaths "do not depart"—that what is denied in this passage is not the departure of the Soul from the body (*deha, çarîram*), but that of the organs from the individual Soul (*dehin, çârîra*); that one who is liberated departs from the body is, it might be believed, self-evident; what is taught here being that from him (that is, from the Âtman) his vital organs do not depart, but remain united with him (p. 1099, 2).

c10.s3.t1.4

But this is not the case; this passage rather teaches that the *Akâmayamâna*, he "who does not desire," that is, the completely liberated sage, does not, at death, like others (the pious worshipper and the performer of works) depart from his body. This is proved by the passage (Bṛih. 3, 2, 11) where the son of Ṛitabhāga asks Yājñavalkya: “Yājñavalkya! so said he, when such a man dies, do then the vital breaths depart from him or not?—No, said Yājñavalkya, even at that very spot they are dissolved; 137 he swells, is bloated, bloated lies the dead.”—Here it is evidently the departure from the body, which is denied, and the above passage must also be explained in accordance with this, whether we read tasmād (that is, out of the body) or tasya (that is, of the sage) in the passage in question (p. 1100, 4). This explanation is further supported by the fact that in the passage in question, after the description of the departure from the body, it is said: “So much for him who desires.—Now we have to speak of him who does not desire” (above p. 194). This contrast would be meaningless if a departure of the Soul from the body were to be assumed in the case of one who does not desire (p. 1100, 12). Such a departure, finally, cannot be admitted in the case of the knower of Brahman who has conquered desire and works for this reason also, that there is no cause for it, since he who is liberated becomes Brahman at death, and Brahman is all-pervading (p. 1101, 2). In this sense the Smṛiti also says (Mahābhāratam XII, 9657):—

c10.s3.t1.5

“Who of all nature has become the Self,
“Whose vision fully pierces nature through,
“His path is found not by the gods themselves,
“Who trace the track of him who leaves no trace.”

2. The Dissolution of the Psychic Apparatus

c10.s3.t2.1

As we have already frequently seen, the individual Soul is surrounded by a complicated apparatus of Upādhis, which in part dwell with it in the heart (above p. 311), in part are concentrated in it at death (above p. 379), in order to depart along with the Soul. To this complex of *Upâdhis* which accompanies the Soul in all its wanderings, there belong: *Indriyas*, *Manas*, *Prâna*, and *Sûkshmam Çarîram*, which are as it were knit together into a knot that death cannot loose. This knot of the heart (if we may take *hridaya-granthi*, Mund. 2, 2, 8; cf. Kâth. 6, 15, in this concrete sense, which however is unsupported by any authority) is cut for the Sage, and while at death others do indeed enter into the highest Godhead, yet they do so in such a way that a germ remains over for the new existence, which consists in this very apparatus, folded up and charged with the works of each particular life (above pp. 340. 373), thus while in them the seed-powers just named remain over as a residue (p. 1103, 3), the resolution of the dying sage into Brahman, on the contrary, takes place without residue (*niravaçesha*) and he enters into indivisibility with all his parts (p. 1103, 4). For thus says the scripture (Praçna 6, 5):

c10.s3.t2.2

¹³⁷ Śaṅkara reads instead of samavanīyante, p. 1099, 12, samavalīyante, and instead of ucchvayati, p. 1099, 13. 14, ucchayati, ucchayana, which the Gloss explains as vāhya-vāyu-pūraṇād vardhate.

c10.s3.t2.3

"Just as those flowing rivers, which take their course to
"the ocean, when they have reached the ocean, come to rest.—
"their names and forms perish and they are now called ocean
"only—just so too the sixteen parts of the all-beholder [of
"him who possesses the *Samyagdarçanam*] which take their
"course to the Spirit (*purusha*), after they have reached the
"Spirit, come to rest, their names and forms perish, and they
"are then called Spirit only; this is that partless, immortal
"one."

c10.s3.t2.4

By the "sixteen parts" Çankara here understands "the *Indriyas* called *Prâna* and the Elements" (p. 1102, 4), of which, however, according to his system there are seventeen. In the passage of the Praçna the following parts are originally meant: 1. *Prâna*, 2. *Çraddhâ*, 3. Ether, 4. Air, 5. Fire, 6. Water, 7. Earth, 8. the ten *Indriyas*, 9. *Manas*, 10. Food, 11. Force (*vîryam*), 12. Asceticism, 13. the *Mantras* of the Veda, 14. Works, 15. the Worlds, 16. the Name.

3. Can the Liberated assume a new Body?

c10.s3.t3.1

An episode in 3, 3, 32, deals with the question, whether the Sage, after his body has turned to dust, can again assume a new body (p. 913, 2)?—True it is that from knowledge (and we must here understand *Samyagdarçanam* p. 915, 1) proceeds absoluteness (*kaivalyam*) yet the *Itihāsas* and *Purāṇas* relate how some knowers of Brahman have yet come again to embodiment (p. 913, 7); thus *Apāntaratamas*, *Vasisṭha*, *Bhṛgu*, *Sanatkumāra*, *Nārada* and others (p. 913), as too *Sulabhā* during her life temporarily left her body (p. 915, 8), and others again inhabited several bodies at the same time (p. 914, 2). Hence one might conclude that the knowledge of Brahman sometimes leads to liberation and sometimes not (p. 914, 5); but that is not so; for if those whom we have named returned to bodily existence, it was in fulfilment of a mission (*adhikāra*), *e. g.* to promote the spread of the Veda for the good of the world (p. 914, 6). "As yonder holy *Savitar* (the sun), after having fulfilled his earthly mission through a thousand world-periods, at length neither rises nor sets, but enjoys absoluteness—as the scripture (*Chānd.* 3, 11, 1) says: 'but then after he has risen up, he will no longer rise nor set, but stand alone in the centre' [a prophesy fulfilled since Copernicus],—and as also the living knowers of Brahman after the fruit of actions already entered on has been exhausted, enjoy absoluteness, as it is said (*Chānd.* 6, 14, 2, translated above p. 266): 'to this [world of action] I shall only belong until I am liberated, then shall I return home,'—as we must assume that those glorious ones also, *Apāntaratamas* and others entrusted by the Most Glorious with this or that mission, in spite of the fact that they possessed full knowledge which is the condition of perfection, continued their works not [yet] disappearing, so long as the mission lasted, and [only] after its completion were they dispensed therefrom" (p. 914, 8—915, 2). Wherein, we must assume that, besides the work committed to them, no further work came into existence which could have served as the seed of a new life, as otherwise their liberation would have become illusory (p. 915, 11). But that liberation should come to an end, is unthinkable after the works, which are the seed of future existence, have been burnt up by the fire of knowledge; as the Smṛiti says (the first verse in Bhagavadgîtâ 4, 37):—

c10.s3.t3.2

“As fiery heat to ashes turns the wood
“By knowledge are all works to ashes turned—
“As seed when it is burnt can grow no more,
“So the Soul's sufferings, by knowledge burnt.”

Linked texts (7)