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

[SŪ. 1. 4. 23.
258 VEDĀNTA-KAUSTUBHA ADH. 7.]
the origin and the rest of this’ (Br. Sū. 1.1.2), demonstrating the
characteristic marks of Brahman, establishing the nature of the cause
of the world. (To this we reply). No. One sees its appropriateness
here indeed. Thus, on the enquiry: viz Of what mark is Brahman?
with regard to the injunction, viz. ‘An enquiry into Brahman should
be undertaken’,—the mark of Brahman was stated in the aphorism
‘From whom (arise) the origin and the rest of this’ (Br. Sū. 1.1.2).
There it was certainly established, on the ground of scriptural and
Smṛti texts, that Brahman is both the material and the efficient
cause. After that, there being no enquiry as to whether He is only
the material cause, or only the efficient cause, the topic was not
further amplified But there those who take everything to be the
transformation of prakṛti (and take Brahman to be the efficient
cause only) are being refuted separately.
Thus, some theistic Sāṁkhyas hold: In the world of ordinary
experience, sentient beings like potters and the rest are found to be
the efficient cause alone, and not the material cause. In the passages:
‘He thought’ (Bṛh. 1.2.5 ; Ait 1.1), ‘He thought’ (Praśna 6.3),
creation is said to be preceded by thinking. Hence let the Supreme
Lord, the thinker, be, somehow or other, only the efficient cause of
the world: but the material cause of mahat and the rest is nothing
but pradhāna, superintended by Him, just as clay is the material
cause of pots and the like, in accordance with the text: ‘He thinks
of her who is the mother of all changes, non-knowing, having eight
forms, and eternal. Ruled by him she manifests herself; again incited
and superintended by him alone ¹ she gives birth to the world for the
benefit of the soul. She is a cow, without beginning and end, the
progenitress, the source of all beings’ (Cūl. 3b–5a ²).
With regard to it, we reply. Brahman alone is ‘prakṛti’, i.e. the
material cause of the world, as well as its efficient cause, indicated by
the particle “and” (in the sūtra). Why? “On account of the
absence of conflict with regard to the initial proposition and illus-
tration,” i.e. on account of the non-contradiction or consistency of
¹ Incorrect, ought to be ‘adhyāsitā, which is translated here.
² Reading different, viz.:
‘Vikāra-jananīm māyām aṣṭa-rūpām dhruvām
Dhyāyate adhyāsitā tena tanyate preritā punaḥ.
Stūyate puruṣārthañ ca tenaivādhiṣṭhitā purā
Gaur anādyavatī sā tu janitrī bhūta-bhāvinī’. Vide Cūl. 3–5, p. 230.