1.2.1
Brahma Sūtra / Adhyāya 1 / 1.2.1
सर्वत्र प्रसिद्धोपदेशात्
sarvatra prasiddhopadeśāt
The line
It is the one well known everywhere, because that is what is taught.
नेपालीमा
यो सर्वत्र प्रसिद्ध एक हो, किनकि सिकाइएको त्यही हो।
Where it sits
A new passage. brahman (ब्रह्मन्) from 1.1.1, marked in 1.1.2, is the prasiddha. Śaṅkara (शङ्कर) takes the qualities as set down for meditation. Rāmānuja (रामानुज) takes them as real attributes of the lord. Madhva takes the being in the heart as Viṣṇu (विष्णु).
Split: sarvatra (सर्वत्र) + prasiddha-upadeśāt (प्रसिद्ध-उपदेशात्)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| sarvatra (सर्वत्र) | indeclinable | everywhere |
| prasiddha-upadeśāt (प्रसिद्ध-उपदेशात्) | ablative singular, masculine | because of the teaching of what is well known |
The phrases
The passage is Śāṇḍilya (शाण्डिल्य)'s teaching. All this is brahman (ब्रह्मन्). One should meditate on it as tajjalān (तज्जलान्), as that from which things arise, into which they return, and by which they breathe. Then the text describes a being made of mind, with breath as body, light as form, true resolve, space as self, possessing all works, all desires, all smells, all tastes, silent, unconcerned. This is my self within the heart, smaller than a grain, greater than the earth, greater than heaven.
prasiddha is what is already established. The brahman (ब्रह्मन्) of the opening definition is that well-known one. The teaching, upadeśa (उपदेश), is of him, not of the soul who happens to be in a chest.
Sanskrit in this line
sarvatra is an indeclinable in -tra. prasiddha-upadeśa (प्रसिद्ध-उपदेश) is a tatpuruṣa (तत्पुरुष), masculine, ablative -āt (-आत्).
Say it back
Sketch Śāṇḍilya (शाण्डिल्य)'s sentence far enough to include 'smaller' and 'greater'. The next lines use both.
Next
1.2.2. The qualities the text cares about fit Brahman (ब्रह्मन्).