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XXVI) Important topics of the Brahma-sūtras 1+1 if it is urged as an answer that there may be some kind of nonexistence from which on the strength of Vedic assertions production is possible (though it is well-known that production is impossible from all kinds of non-existence, e.g., a hare's horn), yet in that case the state of dissolution (pralaya) would be a state of absolute nonexistence (sarvā sattva), and that is impossible, since all productions are known to proceed from previous states of existence and all destructions must end in some residuel. The answer given to these objections is that these questions cannot be decided merely by argument, which can be utilized to justify all sorts of conclusions. Sankara's fourth topic consists of only the twelfth sūtra, which says that the objections of other schools of thought which are not generally accepted may similarly be disregarded.
The fifth topic of Sankara (sūtra II. 1. 13) is supposed by him to signify that the objection that the enjoyer and the enjoyable cannot be identified, and that therefore in a similar way Brahman cannot be considered as the material cause of the world, cannot hold, since, in spite of identity, there may still be apparent differences due to certain supposed limitations, just as, in spite of the identity of the sea and the waves, there are points of view from which they may be considered different. According to Madhya, however, this topic means that those texts which speak of the union of jixa with Brahman are to be understood after the analogy of ordinary mixing of water with water; here, though the water is indistinguishably mixed, in the sense that the two cannot be separated, still the two have not become one, since there has been an excess in quantity at least. By this it is suggested that, though the jīra may be inseparably lost in Brahman, yet there must be at least some difference between them, such that there cannot be anything like perfect union of the one with the other
The sixth topic, consisting of the same sūtras in Sankara and Madhva (sūtras 14-20), is supposed by Sankara to affirm the identity of cause and effect, Brahman and the world, and to hold that the apparent differences are positively disproved by scriptural texts and arguments. Sankara holds that Chándogya, vi. 1. 1,
1 sata utpattiḥ saseșa-vināšaś ca hi loke drstaḥ. Madhva-bhāşya, 11. 1. 10.
* It is pointed out by Vyāsa-tirtha that Sankara's interpretation is wrong, both with regard to the supposed opponent's view (purva-pakşa) and as regards the answer (siddhanta). The illustration of the sea and the waves and foam (phenatarariga-nyāya) is hardly allowable on the vitarta view. Tātparya-candrikā, p. 872.
