Sri Vedanta-sutra, Part 35
BY: SUN STAFF
Jan 22, 2021 — CANADA (SUN) — Sri Vedanta-sutra - Volume Two by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana.
Adhikarana 7
Brahman is Both Primary and Secondary Cause
Introduction by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana
Vishaya: Now that he has refuted the atheistic pradhana theory, he will refute some theistic theories and prove that all scriptural descriptions of the cause of the universe refer to the Supreme Brahman.
Let us consider the following scriptural passages.
tasmad va etasmad atmana akasah sambhutah
"From atma the sky was manifested."
Taittiriya Upanishad 2.1.1
yato va imani bhutani jayante
"From the Supreme these creatures were born."
Taittiriya Upanishad 2.1.1
sad eva saumyedam agra asid ekam evadvitiyam tad aikshata bahu syam prajayeya
"O gentle one, in the beginning was the Supreme, who was one without a second. He thought: Let me become many. Let me become the father of many."
Chandogya Upanishad 6.2.1
sa aikshata lokan nu srija
"He thought: Now I shall create the worlds."
Aitareya Upanishad 1.1.2
Samsaya: Should Brahman be considering the Primary Cause or the ingredient of the creation? Because the Upanishads say sa aikshata (He thought: "Now I shall create the worlds") the first proposal, that Brahman is the Primary cause and not the ingredient of creation, should be considered true. Although the Upanishad says tasmad va etasmad atmana akasah sambhutah (From atma the sky was manifested) still this should be interpreted to mean only that the Supreme is the Primary Creator (and not the ingredient of creation) of the worlds. The quotes tad aikshata bahu syam prajayeya (He thought: "Let me become many. Let me become the father of many.") and sa aikshata lokan nu srija
(He thought: "Now I shall create the worlds."), because of their clear explanation that the Lord's thinking precedes the creation, show that the Lord is the Primary Creator in the same way a potter is the creator of pots. Because the creation itself and the ingredients of which it is made must have the same nature, the ingredient of the material creation must be the material energy (prakriti). It is not possible to say that the Primary Cause of creation is identical with the ingredients of the creation. In the material world made of dull matter the ingredients are earth and the other elements and the creator is consciousness, just as pots are made of the elements and the creator of the pots is the conscious potter. Here the pots and the potter are clearly different. Furthermore many diverse causes may create a single effect. Therefore it cannot be said that a single thing is both the primary cause and the ingredient of creation. The changing material energy (prakriti), which is controlled by the unchanging Brahman is the ingredient of the changing material universe and Brahman is only its Primary Cause. This statement is not based only on logic, for it is also supported by the following passage of the Culika Upanishad:
vikara-jananim ajnam
ashta-rupam ajam dhruvam
dhyayate 'dhyasita tena
tanyate prerita punah
suyate purushartham ca
tenaivadhishthita jagat
gaur anady-antavati sa
janitri bhuta-bhavini
sitasita ca rakta ca
sarvakam adhuna vibhoh
pibanty enam avishamam
avijnatah kumarakah
ekas tu pibate devah
svacchando 'tra vasanugam
dhyana-kriyabhyam bhagavan
bhunkte 'sau prasabham vibhuh
sarva-sadharanim dogdhrim
piyamanam tu yajvabhih
catur-vimsati-sankhyakam
avyaktam vyaktam ucyate
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead meditates on the unborn, eternal, unintelligent material nature (prakriti), who has eight forms, and by His order the material nature creates the material worlds and the various goals of life adopted by the living entities. Material nature is a beginningless, endless cow, the mother of the worlds. Without knowing, her children, the creatures in goodness, passion, and ignorance all drink her nourishing milk. The one independent, all-powerful Supreme Personality of Godhead strongly enjoys her with thought and deed, she who is the milk-giving mother of all, who is drunk by the performers of sacrifice, and who is said to be both the unmanifested and the manifested divided into 24 elements."
Furthermore, the Vishnu Purana says:
yatha sannidhi-matrena
gandhah kshobhaya jayate
manaso nopakartritvat
tathasau paramesvarah
sannidhanad yathakasa-
kaladyah karanam taroh
tathaivaparigamena
visvasya bhagavan harih
nimitta-matram evasau
srishtanam sarga-karmani
pradhana-karini bhuta
yato vai srijya-saktayah
"When there is a fragrant flower before someone, the fragrance is touched by the smelling power of the person, yet the smelling and the flower are detached from one another. There is a similar connection between the material world and the Supreme Personality of Godhead: actually He has nothing to do with this material world, but He creates by His glance and ordains. In summary, material nature, without the superintendence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, cannot do anything. Yet the Supreme Personality is detached from all material activities."
For these reasons whatever scriptural passages state that Brahman is the ingredient of the creation should be interpreted to have a different meaning.
Siddhanta; To this argument:
Sutra 23
prakritis ca pratijna drishtantanuparodhat
prakritih -material nature; ca -and; pratijna -the proposition to be proved; drishtanta-example; anuparodhat-because of not contradicting.
Brahman is also the material nature (prakriti) because this view is not contradicted by the statements and examples (given in the scriptures).
Purport by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana
Brahman is the material nature (prakriti), the ingredient of the world. How is that? It is so because pratijna-drishtantanuparodhat, which means "Because this view is not contradicted by the statements and examples of the scriptures." An example may be given from the Chandogya Upanishad 6.1.3:
svetaketo yan nu saumyedam maha-mana anucana-mani stabdho 'sy uta tam adesam aprakshir yenasrutam srutam bhavaty amatam matam avijnatam vijnatam ity eka-vijanena sarva-vijnana-vishaya pratijna
"Gentle Svetaketu, you are now very proud and arrogant, thinking yourself a great Vedic scholar. Did you ask for the teaching that makes the unheard heard, the unthinkable thinkable, and the unknown known?"
Here the statement is the existence of a single teaching, the knowledge of which makes everything known. This teaching must be about the ingredient of the world for only that knowledge would not contradict the description in this passage. That ingredient of the world is not different from the original creator of the world. They are one, unlike the pot and the potter, which are different from each other.
The following example is given (Chandogya Upanishad 6.1.10):
yatha saumyaikena mrit-pindena sarvam mrin-mayam vijnatam syat
"O gentle one, as by knowing the nature of clay, everything made of clay becomes known, in the same way by understanding this one teaching everything becomes known."
These words of the sruti must refer to the ingredient of the world. they cannot refer to only the original creator of the world, for by understanding only the potter one does not understand the pot. Therefore, to avoid contradicting these words of the scripture, it must be concluded that Brahman is not only the original creator of the world, but the ingredient of which the world is made as well.
Sutra 24
abhidhyopadesac ca
abhidhya-will; upadesac -because of the teaching; ca-and.
Because (the scriptures) teach (that in this age the world was created by His) will and (in previous creations the world was also created by His will, it must be concluded that Brahman is both the original cause of creation and the ingredient of the creation as well).
Purport by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana
In this sutra the word ca (and) means "and many other things that are not explicitly mentioned here."
The Taittiriya Upanishad (2.6.1) explains:
so 'kamayata bahu syam prajayeya sa tapo 'tapyata tapas taptva idam sarvam asrijat. yad idam kincana tat srishtva tad evanupravisat. tad anupravisya sac ca tyac cabhavat.
"He desired: I will become many. I will father many children. He performed austerities and created everything. Then He entered within the world He had created. After He entered He became all that is manifest and all that is unmanifest."
Because it is here taught that by His own desire He resides as Paramatma within all conscious living entities and unconscious matter, and because it is also taught here that he is the creator of everything, it must be concluded that He is both the ingredient of the which the creation is made and the original creator and as well.
Sutra 25
sakshac cobhayamnanat
sakshat -directly; ca-certainly; ubhaya-both; amnanat-because of direct statement.
(Brahman is both creator and the ingredient of creation) because both (truths) are directly stated (in the scriptures).
Purport by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana
The word ca here means "certainly." The Taittiriya Brahmana (2.8.9.6) explains:
kimsvid vanam ka u sa vriksha asit
yato dyava-prithivi nishtatakshuh
manishino manasa pricchataitat
yad adhyatishthad bhuvanani dharayan
brahma vanam brahma sa vriksha asit
yato dyava-prithivi nishtatakshuh
manishino manasa prabravimi
vo brahmadhyatishthad buvanani dharayan
"What was the forest? What was the tree? From what tree in what forest did He fashion heaven and earth? Ask these questions, O wise ones. Where did He stand when He created the worlds? Brahman was the forest. Brahman was the tree. From Brahman He created heaven and earth. O wise ones, I tell you, He stood on Brahman when He created the worlds."
These questions and answers clearly show that Brahman is both the creator and the ingredient from which the creation is made. From the tree-ingredient the creation, designated by the word "heaven and earth" comes. The word nishtatakshuh means "the Supreme Personality of Godhead created." Although nishtatakshuh is plural, the opposite, the singular, is intended here. This is a use of Vedic poetic license. The questions "What is the tree? What is the forest where the tree rests? Where does He stand when He created the worlds?" are asked in terms of the things of this world and the answers describe something beyond this world. In this way it may be understood that Brahman is both the creator and the ingredient of which the world is made.
Sutra 26
atma-kriteh parinamat
atma-self; kriteh -because of making; parinamat-because of transformation.
(Brahman is both the creator and the ingredient of the creation) because He transformed Himself (into the world).
Purport by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana
The Taittiriya Upanishad (2.6.2) says:
so 'kamayata
"He desired: I shall become many."
It also says (2.7.1):
tad atmanam svayam akuruta
"He created the world from His own Self."
In this way the scriptures explain that Brahman is both the creator and the ingredient from which the creation is made.
Someone may object: How can the eternally-perfect creator be also the creation?
To answer this objection he says parinmat (because He has transformed Himself). This does not contradict the changelessness of Brahman for a certain kind of transformation is not incompatible with changelessness.
Here is the truth of this. In the following passages the sruti explains that Brahman has three potencies:
parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate
"The Supreme has many potencies."
Svetasvatara Upanishad 6.8
pradhana-kshetrajna-patir gunesah
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the master of pradhana (material nature), kshetrajna (the individual spirit souls), and guna (the three material modes)."
Svetasvatara Upanishad 6.16
The smriti (Vishnu Purana) also explains:
vishnu-saktih para prokta
kshetrajnakhya tatha para
avidya-karma-samjnanya
tritiya saktir ucyate
"The potency of Lord Vishnu is summarized in three categories: namely the spiritual potency, the living entities, and ignorance. The spiritual potency is full of knowledge; the living entitles, although belonging to the spiritual potency, are subject to bewilderment; and the third energy, which is full of ignorance, is always visible in fruitive activities."
In this way the scriptures explain that Brahman is both the creator and the ingredient of which the creation is made. He is the first (the creator) by the agency of His spiritual potency and He is the second (the ingredient of which the creation is made) by the agency of the other two potencies. This interpretation is confirmed by the aphorism sa-viseshena vidhi-nishedhau viseshanam upasankramate (an adjective describes both what a noun is and what it is not).
The scriptures also explain (Svetasvatara Upanishad 4.1):
ya eko 'varno bahudha sakti-yogad
varnan anekan nihitartho dadhati
vi caiti cante visvam adau sa devah
sa no buddhya subhaya samyunaktau
"May the one, unrivaled Supreme Personality of Godhead, who for His own purpose created the many varieties of living entities by the agency of His potencies, who created everything in the beginning and into whom everything enters at the end, grant pure intelligence to us."
As the supreme unchangeable the Supreme Brahman is the original cause of creation, and as the parinami (the transformable) Brahman is also the ingredient of which the creation is made. In His subtle nature Brahman is the creator and in His nature as gross matter He is the creation itself. In this way it is established that the Supreme Brahman is both creator and creation. The creation is thus like a lump of clay that may be shaped in different ways. The word parinamat (because of transformation) in this sutra clearly refutes the theory that declares the material world a vivarta (illusion) that has no reality. The statement that the material world is an illusion superimposed on Brahman just as the existence of silver is an illusion superimposed on an oyster shell with a silvery sheen cannot be accepted because the oyster shell is an object that can be placed before the viewer, but Brahman, because it is all-pervading cannot be placed before the viewer and therefore an illusion cannot be superimposed on it. One may object that although the sky is all-pervading illusions may be superimposed on it. However, Brahman is not like the sky in the sense that the sky may be approached by the material observer but Brahman remains beyond the reach of the material senses and therefore an illusion cannot be superimposed on it. Furthermore, the existence of an illusion implies the existence of something different from the thing on which the illusion is superimposed. Without the existence of something separate there is no possibility of an illusion. In the end, therefore, the vivarta theory postulates the existence of something different from Brahman. This is the fault in their theory. When the scriptures state that the material world is an illusion it should be understood these words are a device intended to create renunciation. This is the opinion of they who know the truth. The material world, however, displays a complicated structure of different elements grouped in categories of higher and lower, and in this way it is very much unlike an illusion, where nothing is very stable and one things is continually changing into another. In this way it may be understood that the vivarta theory (that the material world is an illusion) is untrue and the parinama theory (that the material world is a transformation of Brahman) is the truth taught in the Vedic scriptures.
Sutra 27
yonis ca hi giyate
yonih-the place of birth; ca -also; hi -indeed; giyate-is declared.
(The scriptures) declare that (Brahman is the) womb (from which the material world was born).
Purport by Srila Baladeva Vidyabhushana
The sruti-sastra explains:
yad bhuta-yonim paripasyanti dhirah
"The wise see that Brahman is the womb from which everything was born."
Mundaka Upanishad 1.1.6
kartaram isam purusham brahma-yonim
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the original creator, the womb from which everything was born."
Mundaka Upanishad 3.1.6
In these verses the word yonim (womb) describes Brahman as the ingredient of creation and the words kartaram purusham (the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the original creator) describe Brahman as the creator. In this way Brahman is described as both the creator and the ingredient of which the creation is made. The word yoni (womb) means "the ingredient of which the creation is made." This is confirmed in the words:
prithivi yonir oshadhi-vanaspatinam
"The earth is the womb from which the trees and plants are born."
In both common sense and Vedic revelation the creator and the ingredients from which the creation is made are considered are always considered different and it is not possible to say that the creator and the ingredient of which his creation is made are identical. However, the previously quoted passages from the sruti clearly explain that in this case Brahman is both the creator and the ingredient of which His creation is made.
