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XXVI]
Interpretation of Brahma-sūtra 1. 1. I
The word "therefore" (ataḥ) in the sutra means "through the grace or kindness of the Lord Visņu"; for without His grace the bondage of the world, which is real, cannot be broken or liberation attained. Jaya-tirtha in his Nyāya-sudhā on the Anuvyākhyāna of Madhva here anticipates an objection, viz., since liberation can be attained in the natural course through right knowledge, as explained by Sankara and his followers on the one hand and the Nyāya-sūtra on the other, what is the usefulness of the intervention of Isvara for producing liberation? All sorrow is due to the darkness of ignorance, and, once there is the light of knowledge, this darkness is removed, and it cannot therefore wait for the grace of any supposed Lord1. The simplest answer to such an objection, as given in the Nyāya-sudhā, is that, the bondage being real, mere knowledge is not sufficient to remove it. The value of knowledge consists in this, that its acquirement pleases the Lord and He, being pleased, favours us by His grace so as to remove the bondage2.
The word "Brahman" (which according to Sankara is derived from the root brhati-, "to exceed" (atiśayana), and means eternity, purity and intelligence) means according to the Madhva school the person in whom there is the fullness of qualities (bṛhanto hy asmin guṇaḥ). The argument that acceptance of the difference of Brahman and the souls would make Brahman limited is not sound; for the objects of the world are not considered to be identical with Brahman nor yet as limiting the infinitude of Brahman; and the same sort of answer can serve in accepting the infinitude of Brahman as well as in accepting His difference from the souls3. The infinitude of Brahman should not therefore be considered only in the negative
III
1 tathā ca jñāna-svabhāva-labhyāyām muktau kim isvara-prasādena; na hi andhakara-nibandhana-duḥkha-nivṛttaye pradipam upādadānāḥ kasyacit prabhoḥ prasādam apekṣante. Nyāya-sudhā, p. 18.
2 The Tattva-prakāsikā says that the letter a means Vişņu, and ataḥ therefore means through the grace of Viṣṇu: akāra-vācyad visnos tat-prasādāt, p. 4. The Bhāmati, however, following Sankara, explains the word ataḥ as meaning "since the Vedas themselves say that the fruits of sacrifices are short-lived, whereas the fruits of Brahma-knowledge are indestructible and eternal". So that through the Vedas we have disinclination from mundane and heavenly joys (ihamutra-phala-bhoga-viragaḥ), and these through Brahma-enquiry. But the Candrikā points out that such a connection with vairagya, as signified by ataḥ, is remote and, moreover, the connection with vairagya was already expressed by the word atha.
3 Tātparya-tikā, pp. 89-93.
