Brahma-Sūtra 4.2.20

English of translation of Brahmasutra 4.2.20 by Roma Bose:

“Declared by Smṛti to the ascetics, and these two are to be remembered.”

Nimbārka’s commentary (Vedānta-pārijāta-saurabha):

The Smṛti passage: “But at which time, there is non-return” (Gītā 8.23^[1]) declares two paths to the ascetics, “And these two” are to be remembered. Hence there is no fixed rule with regard to a particular time.

Here ends the second quarter of the fourth chapter in the Vedānta-pārijāta-saurabha, an interpretation of the Śārīraka-mīmāṃsā texts by the reverend Nimbārka.

Śrīnivāsa’s commentary (Vedānta-kaustubha)

An objection may be raised: The passage: “At what time the ascetics departing return not, and also when they return, that time I shall tell you, O best of the Bhāratas. Fire, light, the day, the bright fortnight, the six months of the northern progress of the sun,—departing there the knowers of Brahman go to Brahman. Smoke, the night, likewise the dark fortnight, the six months of the northern progress of the sun,—the ascetics departing there, having attained the Light of the moon, return. The white and the dark,—these two are thought to be the eternal paths of the world. By the one, one goes who returns not; by the other, he returns again” (Gītā 8.23-26), enjoins a special time as the cause of the non-return of those who are devoted to Brahman, or as the cause of the return of those who are devoted to works. Hence it is not reasonable to hold that one who dies during the southern progress of the sun attains Brahman.

We reply: “No”, since here the path called the ‘path of gods’ and the path called the ‘path of fathers’ “are declared to the ascetics”; “and” since “these two are to be remembered”, i.e. are to be remembered as the subsidiary part of knowledge and the subsidiary part of work, in accordance with the conclusion: ‘“Knowing these two paths, O Pārtha, an ascetic is never deluded’” (Gītā 8.27). In the Smṛti text, “At which time”, etc., the term ‘time’ means the path, connected with the presiding deities of time; and accordingly, the phrase “At which time” means ‘in which path, connected with the presiding deities of day and so on who are conductors of the soul it being impossible for fire and smoke to be time. Hence there is no fixed rule with regard to time. Therefore it is established that even a knower who dies during the southern progress of the sun surely attains Brahman.

Here ends the section entitled “The southern progress of the sun” (11).

Here ends the second quarter of the fourth chapter of the holy Vedānta-kaustubha, a commentary on the Śārīraka-mīmāṃsa texts by the reverend teacher Śrīnivāsa, dwelling under the lotus-feet of the holy Nimbārka, the founder and teacher of the sect of the reverend Sanatkumāra.

Comparative views of Śaṅkara:

He gives two explanations of the word “smārte”, viz. these two rules regarding dying by day and so on are mentioned in Smṛti alone, but what holds good in Smṛti does not necessarily hold good in Scripture. The second explanation is like Nimbārka’s.^[2] This is sūtra 21 in his commentary.

Comparative views of Bhāskara:

His explanation of the word “smārte” is like Śaṅkara’s first explanation.^[3]

Résumé:

The second quarter of the fourth chapter contains:

(1) 20 sūtras and 11 adhikaraṇas, according to Nimbārka;
(2) 21 sūtras and 11 adhikaraṇas, according to Śaṅkara;
(3) 20 sūtras and 11 adhikaraṇas, according to Rāmānuja;
(4) 20 sūtras and 11 adhikaraṇas, according to Bhāskara;
(5) 20 sūtras and 9 adhikaraṇas, according to Śrīkaṇṭha;
(6) 21 sūtras and 10 adhikaraṇas, according to Baladeva,

Śaṅkara and Baladeva break sūtra 21 in Nimbārka’s commentary into two separate sūtras.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Quoted by Śaṃkara, Rāmānuja, Bhāskara, Śrīkaṇṭha and Baladeva.

[2]:

Brahma-sūtras (Śaṅkara’s commentary) 4.2.21, pp. 945-46.

[3]:

Brahma-sūtras (Bhāskara’s Commentary) 4.2.20. p. 233.