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

[SŪ. 2. 1. 26.
308 VEDĀNTA-KAUSTUBHA ADH. 9.]
of texts which declare that Brahman is the non-different material
and efficient cause of the world, different from the world, possessed
of powers which are transformed and so on. Such scriptural texts
are· He wished “May I be many”' (Tait 2.6), ‘He Himself created
Himself’ (Tait. 2.7), ‘He became existent and that’ (Tait 2.6),
‘Having created it, he entered into that very thing’ (Tait. 2.6),
‘That divinity thought: “Very well, let me enter into these three
divinities··· (Chānd 6.3 2), ‘Having entered by this living soul’
(Chānd. 6.3.2). ‘Who abiding within the earth, . . from the
earth does not know’ (Bṛh 3 7 3), ‘Entered within the ruler of
men’ (Tait. Ār 3 11.1, 2¹), ‘So much is His greatness, higher
than that is the Person’ (Chānd 3.12 6) and so on. There is a Smṛti
text as well, viz ‘Having voluntarily entered into prakṛti (matter)
and puruṣa (soul), Hari shook the mutable and the immutable at the
time of dissolution and creation’ (V.P 1.2.29 ²). Like a spider,
Brahman is transformed into the form of the world, without waiting
for external helpers. Hence there is no violation of the texts desig-
nating Him to be without parts. The scriptural text to this effect
is as follows ‘Just as a spider creates and takes, just as hairs on the
head and body-hairs arise from a person, and medicinal herbs from
the earth, so this universe arises from the Imperishable’ (Muṇḍ
1 1.7). There is a Smṛti text as well, viz.: ‘Just as a tortoise, having
stretched out its limbs, again draws them in, so the Soul of beings,
having created beings destroys them again’ (Mahā. 12.7072b–7073a³).
Brahman, possessing the sentient and the non-sentient as His powers,
is declared to be without parts and without limbs, because He has no
parts and limbs as His material cause, as threads are of a piece of
cloth.
If it be objected. If it be admitted that transformation means
the projection of power, then there being no transformation of the
real nature of the creator, what is the difference of this view from
the views of the Sāṁkhyas and the rest? ⁴—(we reply·) Listen. The

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¹ P. 191 ² P. 16.
³ P. 615, lines 24-25, vol 3. Reading “sṛṣṭāni harate”. Vaṅgavāsī ed.,
also p. 1571.
⁴ I.e. according to the Sāṁkhyas, pradhāna is transformed into the world,
while according to the Vedāntins also not Brahman Himself, but His power of
the non-sentient (acicchakti)—which is pradhāna—is transformed into the world.
Hence the two views come to the same thing.