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

[SŪ 1. 2. 22.
128 VEDĀNTA-KAUSTUBHA ADH. 6 ]
be understood here (in the above text), owing to the absence of that
(i.e. owing to the fact that the above text contains no reference to the
qualities of a sentient being).
In the Ātharvaṇa, it is said: 'There are two knowledges to be
known' (Muṇḍ. 1 1 4). Among these, the knowledge of works,
viz. the Ṛg-veda and the rest, is the lower.¹ With a view to teaching
the higher, viz the knowledge of Brahman, in contrast to it, it is
said: 'Now, the higher is that whereby the Imperishable is appre-
hended, that which is invisible, incapable of being grasped, without
family, without caste, without eye, without ear, it is without hands
and feet, eternal, all-pervasive, omnipresent, excessively subtle, it is
unchangeable, which the wise perceive as the source of beings' (Muṇḍ.
1.1.5-6), 'Without the vital-breath, without mind, pure, higher than the
high Imperishable' (Muṇḍ. 2 1.12) and so on. Here a doubt arises as
to whether here the Imperishable, the source of beings and possessed of
the qualities of invisibility and the rest, is pradhāna, or the individual
soul, or the Highest Self. The prima facie view is as follows :—As
invisibility and such other qualities are possible on the part of pradhāna
and the individual soul; as pradhāna is established to be the source
of beings; and as the individual soul too, the cause of the body and
the rest through its own works, can be so,—let one of these two be
the Imperishable.
With regard to this, we reply: The Imperishable, the source of
beings and possessed of the qualities of invisibility and the rest, is the
Highest Self alone. Why? "On account of the mention of qualities",
i.e. because in the passage: 'He who is all-knowing, omniscient, whose
penance consists of knowledge, from Him alone Brahman, name and
form, and food arise' (Muṇḍ. 1.1.9), the permanent attributes of the
Highest Self, viz. omniscience, etc. are stated, with a view to laying
down the attributes of the Imperishable, the source of beings.
If it be objected: This view is not reasonable. Having referred
to the Imperishable in the passage: 'The Imperishable is apprehended'
(Muṇḍ. 1.1.5), then again having designated the Imperishable as a
limit in the passage: 'Higher than the high Imperishable' (Muṇḍ.
2 1.2), the text next goes on to designate the meaning of the word
'higher' as the Highest Self, in the passage: 'He who is all-knowing'
(Muṇḍ. 1.1.9). If here the Highest Self be understood by the word
¹ Vide Muṇḍ. 1.1.5.