GOD MORNING : Dyubhvadyayatanam svasabdat I.3.1 (64) Dyu: heaven; Bhu: earth; Adi: and the rest; Ayatanam: abode; Sva: own; Sabdat: from the word (Sva sabdat: on account of the word `Self). Para Brahman is the basis or resting place of heaven, earth etc., as the term Atman indicative of Him is found in the passage. We read in Mundaka Upanishad II-2-5 He in whom the heaven, the earth, and the sky are woven, as also the mind with all the senses, know Him alone as the Self, and leave off other talk! He is the bridge of immortality. Here the doubt arises whether the abode is the Supreme Brahman or something else. The Purvapakshin or the opponent holds that the abode is something else on account of the expression He is the bridge of immortality. He says: it is known from daily experience that a bridge takes one to some further bank. It is impossible to assume something beyond the Supreme Brahman, because the Srutis declare, Brahman is endless without a shore Bri. Up. II-4-12. As the Pradhana is the general cause, it may be called the general abode. Or the Sutratman may be the abode. The Srutis say Air is that thread, O Gautama! By air as by a thread O Gautama! this world and the other world and all beings are strung together Bri. Up. III-7-2. So the air supports all things. Or else the Jiva may be the abode with reference to the objects of enjoyment as he is the enjoyer. He who is spoken of as the abode, in whom the earth, heaven etc., are woven is Brahman only, on account of the term `Own or `Self which is appropriate only if Brahman is referred to in the text and not Pradhana or Sutratman. (We meet with the word `Self in the passageKnow him alone as the Self). Brahman is spoken of in the Sruti as the general abode by its own terms i.e. by terms properly designating Brahman as, for instance, All these creatures, my dear, have their root in the being, their abode in the being, their rest in the being (Chh. Up. VI-8-4). In the texts preceding and following this one, i.e. in Mun. Up. II-1-10 and II-2-11 Brahman is spoken of. Therefore it is only proper to infer that Brahman only is referred to in the intervening texts which is under discussion. In the texts cited above mention is made of an abode and that which abides. In Mundaka Upanishad II-2-11 we read: Brahman indeed is all this. From this a doubt may arise that Brahman is of a manifold variegated nature, just as in the case of a tree consisting of leaves, branches, stem, root etc. ln order to remove this doubt the text declares in the passage under discussion Know Him alone as the Self i.e. know the Self alone and not that which is merely a product of Avidya (ignorance) and is false or illusory. Another scriptural text reproves the man who thinks that this world is real. From death to death goes he who beholds any difference here (Katha Up. II-4-11). The statement All is Brahman aims at dissolving the wrong conception of the reality of the world. It does not intimate that Brahman is of manifold, variegated nature. The homogeneous nature of Brahman is clearly stated in the Srutis. As a mass of salt has neither inside nor outside, but is altogether a mass of taste, thus indeed has that Self (Brahman) neither inside nor outside, but is altogether a mass of knowledge (Bri. Up. IV-5-13). For all these reasons the abode of heaven, earth etc., is the Supreme Brahman.
Posted on: Wed, 22 Jan 2014 01:52:32 +0000
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