"Manu said, 'When the fivefold attributes are united with the five senses
and the mind, then is Brahma seen by the individual like a thread passing
through a gem. As a thread, again, may lie within gold or pearl or a
coral or any object made of earth, even so one's soul, in consequence of
one's own acts, may live within a cow, a horse, a man, an elephant, or
any other animal, or within a worm or an insect. The good deeds an
individual performs in a particular body produce rewards that the
individual enjoys in that particular body. A soil, apparently drenched
with one particular kind of liquid, supplies to each different kind of
herb or plant that grows on it the sort of juice it requires for itself.
After the same manner, the Understanding, whose course is witnessed by
the soul, is obliged to follow the path marked out by the acts of
previous lives.The meaning seems to be this: ordinary men regard all external objects as possessing an independent existence, and their attributes also as things different from the substances which own them. The first step to attain to is the conviction that attributes and substances are the same, or that the attributes are the substances. This accords with the European Idealism. The next stage, of course, is to annihilate the attributes themselves by contemplation. The result of this is the attainment of Brahma. From knowledge springs desire. From desire springs
resolution. From resolution flows action. From action proceed fruits
(i.e., consequences, good and bad). Fruits, therefore, are dependent on
actions as their cause. Actions have the understanding for their cause.
The understanding has knowledge for its cause; and knowledge has the Soul
for its cause. That excellent result which is achieved in consequence of
the destruction of knowledge, of fruits, of the understanding, and of
acts, is called Knowledge of Brahma.Antaratmanudarsini is explained by the commentator as "that which has the Antaratman for its anudarsin or witness. The Burdwan translator is incorrect in rendering the second line. Great and high is that
self-existent Essence, which yogins behold. They that are devoid of
wisdom, and whose understandings are devoted to worldly possessions never
behold that which exists in the Soul itself. Water is superior to the
Earth in extension; Light is superior to Water; Wind is superior to
Light; Space is superior to Wind; Mind is superior to Space;
Understanding is superior to Mind; Time is superior to Understanding. The
divine Vishnu, whose is this universe, is superior to Time. That god is
without beginning, middle, and end. In consequence of his being without
beginning, middle, and end, he is Unchangeable. He transcends all sorrow,
for sorrow has limits.The first 'knowledge' refers to the perception of the true connection between the Soul and the not-Soul. 'Fruits' mean the physical forms that are gained in new births. The destruction of the understanding takes place when the senses and the mind are withdrawn into it all of them, united together, are directed towards the Soul. Jneyapratishthitam Jnanam means, of course, knowledge of Brahma. That Vishnu hath been called the Supreme
Brahma. He is the refuge or object of what is called the Highest. Knowing
Him, they that are wise, freed from everything that owns the power of
Time, attain to what is called Emancipation. All these (that we perceive)
are displayed in attributes. That which is called Brahma, being without
attributes, is superior to these.The commentator explains that sorrow arises from the relation of the knower and the known. All things that depend upon that relation are transitory. They can form no part of What is eternal and what transcends that relation. Abstention from acts is the
highest religion. That religion is sure to lead to deathlessness
(Emancipation). The Richs, the Yajuses, and the Samans, have for their
refuge the body. They flow from the end of the tongue. They cannot be
acquired without effort and are subject to destruction. Brahma, however,
cannot be acquired in this way, for (without depending upon the body) it
depends upon that (i.e., the knower or Soul) which has the body for its
refuge. Without beginning, middle, or end, Brahma cannot be acquired by
exertion (like to what is necessary for the acquirement of the Vedas).
The Richs, the Samans, the Yajuses have each a beginning. Those that have
a beginning have also an end. But Brahma is said to be without beginning.
And because Brahma hath neither beginning nor end, it is said to be
infinite and unchangeable. In consequence of unchangeableness, Brahma
transcends all sorrow as also all pairs of opposites. Through
unfavourable destiny, through inability to find out the proper means, and
through the impediments offered by acts, mortals succeed not in beholding
the path by which Brahma may be reached. In consequence of attachment to
worldly possessions, of a vision of the joys of the highest heaven, and
of coveting something other than Brahma, men do not attain to the
Supreme.I take the obvious meaning, instead of the learned explanation offered by Nilakantha. Others beholding worldly objects covet their possession.
Desirous of such objects, they have no longing for Brahma in consequence
of its transcending all attributes.The very Yogins, if led away by the desire of acquiring extraordinary powers and the beatitude of the highest heaven do not behold the Supreme. How shall he that is attached to
attributes which are inferior, arrive at a knowledge of him that is
possessed of attributes that are superior? It is by inference that one
can arrive at a knowledge of Him that transcends all this in attributes
and form. By subtile intelligence alone can we know Him. We cannot
describe Him in words. The mind is seizable by the mind, the eye by
eye.Gunam, literally, attributes; hence objects possessed of attributes. By knowledge the understanding can be purified of its dross.
The understanding may be employed for purifying the mind. By the mind
should the senses be controlled. Achieving all this, one may attain to
the Unchangeable. One who has, by contemplation, become freed from
attachments, and who has been enriched by the possession of a discerning
mind, succeeds in attaining to Brahma which is without desire and above
all attributes. As the wind keeps away from the fire that is embedded
within a piece of wood, even so persons that are agitated (by desire for
worldly possessions) keep away from that which is Supreme. Upon the
destruction of all earthly objects, the mind always attains to That which
is higher than the Understanding; while upon their separation the mind
always acquires that which is below the Understanding. That person, who,
in conformity with the method already described, becomes engaged in
destroying earthly objects, attains to absorption into the body of
Brahma.That which is called the external world has no objective existence. It is purely subjective. Hence, it is the mind that sees and hears and touches the mind itself. Though the Soul is unmanifest; yet when clothed with
qualities, its acts become unmanifest. When dissolution (of the body)
comes, it once more becomes manifest. The Soul is really inactive. It
exists, united with the senses that are productive of either happiness or
sorrow. United with all the senses and endued with body, it takes refuge
in the five primal elements. Through want of power, however, it fails to
act when deprived of force by the Supreme and Unchangeable. No man sees
the end of the earth but knows this, viz., that the earth's end Will
surely come.This verse is a cruce. There can be no doubt that Nilakantha's explanation is correct. Only, as regards budhyavara I am disposed to differ from him very slightly. The grammar of the first line is this; 'Gunadane manah sada budhiyaraya; viprayoge cha tesham budhyavaraya.' Now 'Gunadana' means the 'adana' (destruction) of 'guna'. (This root da means to cut). What is meant by the destruction of 'guna' or attribute or earthly objects is merging them in the buddhi by yoga; in other words, a withdrawal of the senses into the mind, and the senses and the mind into the understanding. "Viprayoga cha tesham" means 'in their separation,' i.e., when these objects are believed to be real and as existing independently of the mind. The result of this would be the acquisition of 'budhyavara,' implying the acquisition of those very objects. In the case of yogins, whose minds may be in such a frame, the powers called 'asiswaryya' are acquired. There is no especial necessity, however, for taking the case of yogins. Man, agitated here (by attachments), is surely led to
his last refuge like the wind leading a vessel tossed on the sea to a
safe harbour at last. The Sun, spreading his rays, becomes the possessor
of an attribute, (viz., the lighter of the world): withdrawing his rays
(at the hour of setting), he once more becomes an object divested of
attributes. After the same manner, a person, abandoning all distinctions
(attachments), and betaking himself to penances, at last enters the
indestructible Brahma which is divested of all attributes. By discerning
Him who is without birth, who is the highest refuge of all righteous
persons, who is self-born, from whom everything springs and unto whom all
things return, who is unchangeable, who is without beginning, middle, and
end, and who is certainty's self and supreme, a person attains to
immortality (Emancipation).'"