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

[SŪ. 1. 2. 17.
ADH. 4 ] VEDĀNTA-KAUSTUBHA 117
of the mention of the path of one who has heard the Upaniṣad", the
person within the sun is the Supreme Self,—this is the sense.
Thus, the path, which is said to be followed by a knower,—so
that he may attain Brahman,—in another scriptural text, viz. ‘Now,
those who seek the soul by austerity, chastity, faith and knowledge,
win the sun by the northern path. That, verily, is the abode of the
vital-breaths, that is immortal, that is fearless, that is the highest
goal From that they do not return’ (Praśna 1.10), as well as
in the Smṛti passage, viz. ‘Fire, light, day, the bright fortnight, the
six months of the sun’s northern progress,—through these do the
knowers of Brahman go to Brahman on departing’ (Gītā 8.24),—
that very path is said to belong to one who knows the person within
the eye, in the following passage: ‘Now, whether they perform
obsequies in the case of such a person, or not, (the dead) pass over to
light, from light to the day, from the day to the waxing fortnight,
from the waxing fortnight to the six months during which the sun
moves northwards, from the months to the year, from the year to the
sun, from the sun to the moon, from the moon to lightning. Then
there is a non-human Person. He leads them to Brahman. This is
the path of the gods, the path to Brahman Those who go by it
do not return to this human whirlpool,—they return not’ (Chānd
4.15.5-6). Hence, the person within the sun is none but the Supreme
Soul.
The meaning of the text (viz Praśna 1.10) is as follows:— ‘Now’,
i.e. after the fall of the body, they ‘win’, i.e. attain the sun, ‘by the
northern path’, i.e. through the path beginning with light and so on.
Then, through the moon and the rest, in the order to be designated
hereafter,¹ they attain the nature of Brahman. By doing what?
Through the three kinds of ‘austerity’, mentioned by the Lord,² or
else through the ‘austerity’ which is the special duty of a Vāna-
prastha ³ and a Saṃnyāsin,⁴ both being primarily given to austerity;
1 See below, p. 119. Vide also V.K. 4.3.5.
2 Vide Gītā 17.14–16, where three kinds of austerity (tapas) are spoken of,
viz Sārīra, Vāṅ-maya and Mānasa. These, again, may be of three kinds, viz.
sāttvika, rājasa and tāmasa. Vide 17.16–22.
3 A Brahmin in the third stage of life, who has passed through the stages
of a student and house-holder and has abandoned his life and family for an ascetic
life in the forest.
4 A Brahmin in the fourth stage of life, a religious mendicant, who has given
up all earthly concerns.