वेदान्त पारिजात सौरभ (भगवद् निम्बार्काचार्य - द्वैताद्वैत वेदान्त ब्रह्मसूत्र भाष्य सटीक)

[SŪ. 1. 2. 13.
112 VEDĀNTA-KAUSTUBHA ADH. 4.]
is used, who (viz. the individual soul or the Supreme Soul) is to be
understood ?
We read under the Upakośala-vidyā ¹ in the Chāndogya:—" 'That
Person who is seen within the eye, he is the soul", said he, "This is the
immortal, the fearless, that is Brahman Hence, even if they pour
clarified butter or water on it, it goes away to both sides' " (Chānd.
4 15 1) and so on Here, a doubt arises as to whether the person,
taught as abiding within the eye, is the reflected self (i e. the image
of a person reflected on the eye of another), or the individual soul,
or the presiding deity of the sense-organ (viz the eye), or the Supreme
Soul The prima facie view is as follows· In accordance with the
statement 'is seen', he may be the reflected self, because the reflected
self alone is well-known to be perceivable, while the individual soul
and the rest are not perceivable If it be said that here 'seeing'
means scriptural insight (and not actual, physical perceiving),—then
the individual soul may be that which is 'within' the eye, since it,
as the perceiver of colour and the rest, is in proximity to the eye.¹
Or, the presiding deity of the eye is denoted by the word 'person'
in accordance with the scriptural passage: 'Through his rays he is
stationed herein' (Bṛh. 5 5 2), and because the all-pervasive Being
cannot possibly abide within the eye
With regard to it, we reply· "That which is within", i e. the
being who is within the eye, is the Supreme Soul alone. Why?
"On account of fitting in", i e. because the attributes of 'being the
self', 'fearlessness', and so on, "fit in" in the case of the Supreme Soul
alone Although 'being the Self' and the rest are not incompatible
with the real nature of the individual soul, yet when the term 'Brah-
man' (in the text) can be understood in its primary sense, it is not
proper to take it as implying some other sense. Moreover, 'fearless-
ness', too, is not appropriate in the case of any one, other than Brahman,
as known also from the text. 'Through fear of Him the wind blows,
through fear of Him the sun rises, through fear of Him fire and
Indra, and death as fifth, speed along' (Tait. 2.8.1); and further
because the attributes of 'being the uniter of all lovely things' and the
¹ I.e. it is the soul which really perceives colour, etc. and not the eye itself,
but the soul perceives them through the eye, and is as such in close proximity
to the eye. Hence, as the soul is situated very near to the eye, it is called the
person within the eye.