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

[sū. 1. 4. 18.
248 VEDĀNTA-KAUSTUBHA ADH. 5 ]
individual soul, on account of the question: " 'Where, O Bālāki, did
this person lie? What did he become? Whence did he come back?' "
(Kauṣ. 4 19 ¹), and on account of the reply. " 'When the sleeping
person sees no dreams whatsoever, then in this vital-breath alone he
becomes one' " (Kauṣ. 4 19 ²). The Vājasaneyins, too, thus record
the Supreme Soul as other than the individual soul. There too, there
are question and answer. The question is: " 'What did he then be-
come? Whence did he return?' " (Bṛh. 2.1 16 ³), and the answer
is: " 'That which is this ether within the heart, in that he lies' "
(Bṛh. 2 1 17 ⁴).
Vedānta-kaustubha
To the objection, viz. since in the text 'In this vital-breath
alone he becomes one' (Kauṣ. 4.19), entering by the individual
soul is mentioned, and since the term 'vital-breath' is applied to
Brahman, who alone is fit to be the substratum of the individual
soul's entering, let the characteristic marks of the vital-breath refer
to Brahman. But it seems very difficult to take the characteristic
marks of the individual soul as referring to Brahman, since here in the
passage: 'They two went to a sleeping person' (Kauṣ. 4.19), the
exclusive mark of an individual soul is found,—the author replies
here.
The teacher Jaimini thinks that the mention of the individual
soul in this section "has a different purpose", viz. the purpose of
demonstrating that the Supreme Soul,—possessed of the qualities
of being a support and the rest,—is different from the individual soul,
possessed of the qualities of 'being the object to be supported', etc.
Why? "On account of question and explanation." Thus, Ajāta-
śatru, a knower of Brahman, approached a sleeping person with
Bālāki, desirous of enquiring into Brahman, and called that person
thus: " 'O Soma, the king' " (Kauṣ. 4 19). But when the sleeper
did not hear him, Ajātaśatru thereby demonstrated the fact that
enjoyer is different from the vital-breath and the rest which are not
enjoyers. After that, when the sentient soul, different from those non-
sentient, was awakened by the push of the stick, Ajātaśatru himself
asked the following questions with a view to demonstrating Brahman
once more as different from the sentient and the non-sentient:
¹ Ś, R, Bh, ŚK, B. ² Op. cit.
³ Ś, R, Bh, ŚK, B. ⁴ Op. cit.