The System of the Vedanta according to Badarayana's Brahma-Sutras and Cankara's Commentary c5.s6.t2.3.2

c5.s6.t2.3.2

For the most part these discussions deal with the strange question whether certain passages of the Veda are to be comprehended in one “Vidyâ,” or to be separated, a question which has a meaning only for the lower doctrine, with its aim of worship. Finally, the conclusion of the work, Adhyâya IV, contains the eschatology; it sketches in detail the departure of the soul after death, and how some souls follow the way of the Fathers (pitriyâna) to a new incarnation, while, on the contrary, others, the worshippers of the Brahman, are led along the way of the gods (devayâna) higher and higher upwards to the Brahman, “whence there is no return”—according to the Upanishads, but not without further conditions, according to the reasoning of our system: for this Brahman is only the “lower” Brahman, that is, as considered as possessing attributes (guṇa), it is the object of worship, and not of “perfect knowledge” (samyagdarçanam); only after this latter, that is, the esoteric doctrine, is imparted to the pious in the world of Brahman, is he also liberated; until then, although he is in the world of Brahman, and a partaker of Lordship (aiçvaryam), “his darkness is not yet driven away” (p. 1154, 9), “his ignorance not yet destroyed” (p.