III-3 Śrī Bhāshya | Rāmānuja | 19-20

Topic 19 - Perfected Souls May Be Reborn For The Fulfilment Of Some Divine Mission

Sutra 3,3.32

यावदधिकारमवस्थितिराधिकारिकाणाम् ॥ ३२ ॥

yāvadadhikāramavasthitirādhikārikāṇām || 32 ||

yāvat-adhikāram—So long as the mission is not fulfilled; avasthitiḥ—(there is corporeal) existence; ādhikārikāṇām—of those who have a mission to fulfil.

32. Of those who have a mission to fulfil (there is corporeal) existence, so long as the mission is not fulfilled.

We do not maintain that all those who have reached true knowledge divest themselves at the time of death of all their good and evil works; we limit our view to those who immediately after death attain to moving on the path, the first stage of which is light. Persons like Vasishtha, on the other hand, who are entrusted with certain missions, do not immediately after death attain to moving on the path beginning with light, since the duties undertaken by them are not completely accomplished. In the case of beings of this kind, who owing to particular deeds have been appointed to particular missions, the effect of the works which gave rise to the mission does not pass away before those missions are completely accomplished; for the effect of a work is exhausted only through the complete enjoyment of its result. In the case of those persons, therefore, the effects of the works which gave rise to their mission continue to exist as long as the mission itself, and hence they do not after death enter on the path beginning with light.--Here terminates the Adhikaraṇa of 'passing away.'

Topic 20 - The negative attributes of Brahman mentioned in various texts are to be combined in all meditations on Brahman

Sutra 3,3.33

अक्षरधियां त्ववरोधः सामान्यतद्भावाभ्यामौपसदवत्, तदुक्तम् ॥ ३३ ॥

akṣaradhiyāṃ tvavarodhaḥ sāmānyatadbhāvābhyāmaupasadavat, taduktam || 33 ||

akṣaradhiyāṃ—Of the conceptions of the (negative) attributes of the Immutable (Brahman); tu—but; avarodhaḥ—combination; sāmānyatadbhāvābhyām—on account of the similarity (of defining Brahman through denials) and the object (i.e. Immutable Brahman) being the same; upasadavatas in the case of the Upasad (offerings); tatit; uktamhas been said (by Jaimini).

33. But the conceptions of the (negative) attributes of the Immutable (Brahman) are to be combined (from different texts where the Immutable Brahman is treated, in all meditations on the Immutable Brahman, as they form one Vidyā),

on account of the similarity (of defining the Immutable Brahman through denials) and the object (the Immutable Brahman) being the same, as in the case of the Upasad (offerings). It has been said (by Jaimini in Pūrva Mīmāṃsā).

We read in the Brihadāraṇyaka (III, 8, 9),'O Gārgī, the Brāhmaṇas call that the Akṣara. It is neither coarse nor fine,' and so on. And in the Atharvana (Mu. Up. I, 1, 5) we have 'The higher knowledge is that by which the Akṣara is apprehended. That which cannot be seen nor seized,' etc. The doubt here arises whether all the qualities there predicated of Brahman--called akṣara, i.e. the Imperishable--and constituting something contrary in nature to the apparent world, are to be included in all meditations on Brahman, or only those where the text specially mentions them. The Pūrvapakshin advocates the latter view; for, he says, there is no authority for holding that the qualities which characterise one meditation are characteristic of other meditations also; and such negative attributes as are mentioned in those two texts do not--as positive qualities such as bliss do--contribute to the apprehension of the true nature of Brahman. What those two texts do is merely to deny of Brahman, previously apprehended as having bliss, and so on, for its essential qualities, certain qualities belonging to the empirical world, such as grossness, and so on; for all negation must refer to an established basis.--This view the Sūtra refutes. The ideas of absence of grossness, and so on, which are connected with Brahman viewed as the Akṣara, are to be included in all meditations on Brahman. For the imperishable (akṣara) Brahman is the same in all meditations, and qualities such as non-grossness enter into the conception of its essential nature. The apprehension of a thing means the apprehension of its specific character. But mere bliss, and so on, does not suggest the specific character of Brahman, since those qualities belong also to the individual soul. What is specifically characteristic of Brahman is bliss, and so on, in so far as fundamentally opposed to all evil and imperfection. The individual soul, on the other hand, although fundamentally free from evil, yet is capable of connexion with evil. Now being fundamentally opposed to evil implies having a character the opposite of grossness and all similar qualities which belong to the empirical world, material and mental. He therefore who thinks of Brahman must think of it as having for its essential nature bliss, knowledge, and so on, in so far as distinguished by absence of grossness and the like, and those qualities, being no less essential than bliss, and so on, must therefore be included in all meditations on Brahman.--The Sūtra gives an instance illustrating the principle that qualities (secondary matters) follow the principal matter to which they belong. As the mantra 'Agnir vai hotram vetu,' although given in the Sāma-veda, yet has to be recited in the Yajur-veda style, with a subdued voice, because it stands in a subordinate relation to the Upasad-offerings prescribed for the four-days 'sacrifice called Jamadagni; those offerings are the principal matter to which the subordinate matter--the mantra--has to conform. This point is explained in the first section, i.e. in the Pūrva Mimāṁsa-sūtras III, 3, 9.--But this being admitted, it would follow that as Brahman is the principal matter in all meditations on Brahman, and secondary matters have to follow the principal matter, also such qualities as 'doing all works, enjoying all odours and the like,' which are mentioned in connexion with special meditations only, would indiscriminately have to be included in all meditations.

--With reference to this the next Sūtra says.