The System of the Vedanta according to Badarayana's Brahma-Sutras and Cankara's Commentary c6.s3.t1: 1. Brahman as the non-Existent

The System of the Vedânta according to Bâdarâyana's Brahma-Sûtras and Çankara's Commentary c6.s3.t1

Language: English

1. Brahman as the non-Existent

It is asserted, Çankara says (loc. cit.), that the Vedânta texts referring to the derivation of the world from Brahman, as well as those referring to the nature of Brahman itself, are frequently contradictory; in the former case, sometimes the ether, sometimes fire, sometimes breath is named as the first created, while in the latter, Brahman is in some passages described as the "non-Existent," in others as the "Existent." With regard to the first point, he says, it will be discussed further on (cf. Chap. XVII, 1); here we have only to do with the latter. It is true that it is said (Taitt. 2, 7):

c6.s3.t1.3

"Non-Existent was this in the beginning, thence the Existent arose"

c6.s3.t1.4

while on the other hand it is said (Chând. 6, 2, 1): "Existent "only, dear one, was this in the beginning, alone and without "a second. Some, verily, say: non-Existent was this in the "beginning, and without a second; from this non-Existent "arose the Existent. But how could this be, dear one? How "could the Existent arise from the non-Existent."

c6.s3.t1.5

Here, in the one passage, as in the other, the all-knowing, almighty, all-animating Being without a second is indicated as the cause of the world (p. 372, 7); and if the Taitt. Up. speaks of a non-Existent, it is not an essenceless non-Existent that is to be understood, as the preceding verse (Taitt. 2, 6) proves:

c6.s3.t1.6

"He is but non-Existent⁷⁰ who knows Brahman as non-Existent;
"He who knows Brahman as Existent becomes himself by this Existent."

c6.s3.t1.7

⁷⁰ Çankara always reads: asann eva sa bhavati, p. 375, 13. 124, 9. 128, 7. 823, 4.

c6.s3.t1.8

The word "Existent" is commonly used to indicate the world extended in names and forms; now in order to suggest, that this development did not exist before the creation, it is metaphorically said of Brahman which alone is: it was, as it were, a non-Existent (p. 376, 7).

Cites (2)

Chāndogyopaniṣad — Sanskrit
Taittirīyopaniṣad — Sanskrit