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The Vedanta-Sutras with the Commentary by Sankaracarya - Sacred Books of the East, Volume 1 by Unknown
page 125 of 653 (19%)
when passing out of the old body into a new one is invested with the
subtle body; hence section 13 cannot be taken as saying what it clearly
does say, viz. that at death the different organs pass into the
different elements, but as merely indicating that the organs are
abandoned by the divinities which, during lifetime, presided over them!

The whole third adhyâya indeed of the B/ri/hadâra/n/yaka affords ample
proof of the artificial character of /S/a@nkara's attempts to show that
the teaching of the Upanishads follows a definite system. The eighth
brâhma/n/a, for instance, is said to convey the doctrine of the highest
non-related Brahman, while the preceding brâhma/n/as had treated only of
Î/s/vara in his various aspects. But, as a matter of fact, brâhma/n/a 8,
after having, in section 8, represented Brahman as destitute of all
qualities, proceeds, in the next section, to describe that very same
Brahman as the ruler of the world, 'By the command of that Imperishable
sun and moon stand apart,' &c.; a clear indication that the author of
the Upanishad does not distinguish a higher and lower Brahman
in--/S/a@nkara's sense.--The preceding brâhma/n/a (7) treats of the
antaryâmin, i.e. Brahman viewed as the internal ruler of everything.
This, according to /S/a@nkara, is the lower form of Brahman called
Î/s/vara; but we observe that the antaryâmin as well as the so-called
highest Brahman described in section 8 is, at the termination of the two
sections, characterised by means of the very same terms (7, 23: Unseen
but seeing, unheard but hearing, &c. There is no other seer but he,
there is no other hearer but he, &c.; and 8, 11: That Brahman is unseen
but seeing, unheard but hearing, &c. There is nothing that sees but it,
nothing that hears but it, &c.).--Nothing can be clearer than that all
these sections aim at describing one and the same being, and know
nothing of the distinctions made by the developed Vedânta, however valid
the latter may be from a purely philosophic point of view.
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