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The System of the Vedanta according to Badarayana's Brahma-Sutras and Cankara's Commentary c10.s6: XL. Heavenly Lordship and Final Liberation of the Pious

The System of the Vedânta according to Bâdarâyana's Brahma-Sûtras and Çankara's Commentary c10.s6

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XL. Heavenly Lordship and Final Liberation of the Pious

1. Lordship (aiçvaryam)

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The condition of those who have entered into Brahman by the Path of the Gods is indicated by the word, derived from *içvara* (Lord), viz. *aiçvaryam*: that is, being Lord or God. As a description of this condition may be taken among others the passage Chând. 8, 2 (above p. 161), where is described how he who has attained freedom (*kâmacâra*) enjoys the fulfilment of all wishes. Should he desire intercourse with the departed, with fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, friends, should his mind desire after sweet odours and garlands, food and drink, song and music, or women,—"whatsoever goal he "may desire, whatsoever he may wish, that ariseth for him at "his wish, and that he obtaineth; therefore is he glad."

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If it be asked whether the mere wish alone suffices for the fulfilment of the wish, or whether, besides that, some other special means are needed, it is to be noted that the scripture mentions the wish only and no other means besides for its fulfilment (p. 1144, 10); if however such other means cooperate, then it is certainly without any trouble, and without its being possible for the wish to be frustrated; moreover, in contrast with earthly wishes, the fulfilment is here not a passing one, but endures as long as its purpose (the satisfaction of the wisher) demands it (p. 1144, 14). Upon this fact, that the wishes of the liberated are not in vain, depends also their freedom, since no one, if he can avoid it, chooses to remain under a ruler (p. 1145, 3).

2. The Existence of those who have obtained Lordship

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The power of wishing possessed by the Blessed presupposes that they also possess *Manas*, the organ of wishing. Whether they are besides provided with a body and with senses, is doubtful. *Bâdari* disputes it, because otherwise it ought not to be said by way of exclusion: "with *Manas* he beholds "those wishes and rejoices in the world of Brahman;" *Jaimini* on the other hand maintains it, appealing to the passage: "he is one, he is threefold," etc. (*Chând*. 7, 26, 2); being threefold presupposes a bodily existence; and even if the passage quoted is taken from the *Bhûmavidyâ*, that is, from a *nirguṇa vidyâ*, yet the *aiśvaryam* to which it refers belongs to the fruit of the *saguṇa vidyâ* (p. 1146, 5). *Bâdarâyaṇa*, finally, assumes, that, because the scripture teaches both, those possessed of lordship can subsist at pleasure either in bodily or in bodiless form (p. 1146, 10); in the latter case the enjoyment of wishes must be conceived as taking place as in dreaming, in the former as in the waking state (p. 1146, 15. 1147, 4).--But how are we to conceive existence in three or more bodies at once? Are they to be conceived as being all animated, or rather, since the Soul cannot multiply itself, as all soul-less except one, like automata (wooden machines, *dâruyantram*)? The answer to this is: as one light can divide itself into several lights, so he who has attained lordship can be in different bodies simultaneously, as without this their moving would be impossible; his *Âtman* rules them, entering into them by means of a division of the *Upâdhis*; just as indeed the books of *Yoga* teach such a connection of the *Yogin* with several bodies (p. 1148, 10; cf. above p. 68). --We must not bring forward here the passages which teach the "unity without a second" of the *Âtman* (above p. 435) for the lordship here described is only the ripened fruit of the branches of knowledge that ascribe attributes (p. 1149, 13).

3. Limits of Lordship

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The lordship of the pious in the beyond extends without restriction to everything, with the exception of the government of the world. They thus possess the prefections¹³⁹ connected with *aiçvaryam*, and only the ruling of the world, that is, its creation, guidance and destruction, is reserved to the eternally perfect *Içvara* because he is once for all appointed for it, and because the *aiçvaryam* of the others has not subsisted from eternity, but has a beginning in time. Otherwise, too, unpleasantnesses might occur, in that, for instance, one might wish the continued existence of the world and another its destruction; so that there belongs to the highest *Içvara* a supremacy over the others, in that he has to bring their wishes into harmony (p. 1151, 1). Their Freedom (*svârâjyam*) "rests" upon that of the highest *Içvara*; into him, who in this sense is named "the Lord of wishes" (*manasaspati*) (Taitt. 1, 6, 2), the pious enter, so that his lordship is conditioned by that of the highest *Içvara* (p. 1151, 14).

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¹³⁹ As an example of these, Çaṅkara names, on p. 1150, 8 as also p. 314, 7, *aṇiman*. According to Gauḍapâda on Sâṅkhyakârikâ v. 23 there are the following eight: 1. *aṇiman*, 2. [*gariman and*] *laghiman* 3. *mahiman*, 4. *prâpti*, 5. *prâkâmyaṃ*, 6. *vaçitvam*, 7. *içitvam*, 8. *yatra-kâma-avasâyitvam*; for the explanation of these expressions see above p. 39.

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When, in Rigv. X, 90, 3 (above p. 168), it is said:—

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"However great is nature's majesty,
"The Spirit is yet higher raised by far,
"Of it but one foot do all beings make,
"Three feet of him are immortality in heaven,"

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two forms of the highest God are here spoken of, the one changeable, belonging only to the realm of change (*vikâra-mâtra-gocara*) and one unchangeable, to which all changes return (*vikâra-âvartin*), of which it is written (Kâṭh. 5, 15): "after him, the Shining, shine all things, from his light shines this whole world." From these two forms of existence, the changeless and the changing (*avikṛtam* and *kâryam* brahma, p. 1119, 11), which for Çankara coincide with the attributeless and attribute-possessing conceptions,¹⁴⁰ the pious, because they have looked only to the attribute-possessing Brahman, attain to that conditioned Brahman only (p. 1152, 6), because their insight (kratu) reaches only to it. And as they have not attained the higher, attributeless, but only the lower, attribute-possessing Brahman, therefore even within the latter their power is not boundless, but limited (p. 1152, 8), and only in respect of enjoyment does their lordships equal that of the highest Īçvara (p. 1153, 2).

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¹⁴⁰ Upon this confusion of the phenomenal forms and the forms of presentation of Brahman compare above p. 206.

4. Final Liberation of the Pious

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But if this is so, if the lordship of the pious is not unsurpassable (sa-atiçaya), must it not then also be finite, so that its possessors at last return to earth-life? — To this answers "the venerable Bādarāyaṇa" in the last Sūtram of the work: "No return according to Scripture, no return according to Scripture." And the meaning of this is: "Those who through artery and ray attain to the world of Brahman described in the scripture, by the stages of the Flame etc., upon the Path of the Gods, where are the lakes Ara- and -nyam, in the world of Brahman, in the third heaven from here, where is the lake Airammadīyam and the fig-tree Somavasana, and the stronghold of Brahman Aparājita, and the golden palace Prabhuvimitam (Chând. 8, 5, 3), as it is described in many hymns and explanations (cf. Kaush. 1, 3—5),—those who have attained to it, do not return like those in the world of the moon, on the expiration of enjoyment: 'Immortality attains he who ascends by it' (Chând. 8, 6, 6),—'for them there is no return' (Brih. 6, 2, 15),—'those who enter thereupon, return not again to this world' (Chând. 4, 15, 6),—'he goes to the world of Brahman and returns not again' (Chând. 8, 15, 1),—as the scripture says. 'But rather, even when their lordship comes to an end, they "do not return, but go, as shown (above p. 442), when the "transformed [Brahman] ceases to exist, pass with the ruler "thereof into the highest Brahman. Namely, after the dark- "ness [of their Ignorance] has melted away in *Samyagdar- "çanum*, then, as the highest goal there opens before them "the eternal, perfect *Nirvânam*; in this they take their refuge "and therefore for such also as place themselves under the "protection of the attribute-possessing Brahman, there is "verily no return."

Cites (7)