1.2.22
Brahma Sūtra / Adhyāya 1 / 1.2.22
अदृश्यत्वादिगुणको धर्मोक्तेः
adṛśyatvādiguṇako dharmokteḥ
The line
The one whose qualities begin with invisibility is Brahman (ब्रह्मन्), because those attributes are stated.
नेपालीमा
जसका गुण अदृश्यताबाट सुरु हुन्छन् त्यो ब्रह्म हो, किनकि ती गुण भनिएका छन्।
Where it sits
A new passage, the Muṇḍaka (मुण्डक)'s akṣara (अक्षर). It is not the inner ruler's 'unseen seer', though the adjective looks alike. Śaṅkara (शङ्कर) takes the negations as removing qualities, the imperishable being Brahman (ब्रह्मन्) without attributes. Rāmānuja (रामानुज) takes the negations as removing defects, not knowledge and lordship, and takes 'higher than the high imperishable' as this same lord above the subtle elements. Madhva takes the imperishable as Viṣṇu (विष्णु), the negations denying what is limited.
Split: adṛśyatva-ādi-guṇakaḥ (अदृश्यत्व-आदि-गुणकः) + dharma-ukteḥ (धर्म-उक्तेः)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| adṛśyatva-ādi-guṇakaḥ (अदृश्यत्व-आदि-गुणकः) | nominative singular, masculine | the one who has the qualities beginning with invisibility |
| dharma-ukteḥ (धर्म-उक्तेः) | ablative singular, feminine | because the attributes are stated |
The phrases
The passage is the Muṇḍaka (मुण्डक)'s higher knowledge, that by which the imperishable is reached. It is invisible, ungraspable, without lineage, without color, without eye or ear, without hand or foot, eternal, pervading, subtle, the source of beings. The wise see it as what stands before them.
guṇakaḥ (गुणकः) means 'having those qualities'. The qualities begin with adṛśyatva (अदृश्यत्व), invisibility. What has them is brahman (ब्रह्मन्), because the same passage states the attributes that belong to him: he knows all, and from him beings arise. dharma (धर्म)-ukti is the statement of those attributes.
Sanskrit in this line
guṇaka (गुणक) is a possessive suffix on the compound that ends in the list of qualities. ukti is feminine, ablative -eḥ (-एः). The two words are nominative subject and ablative reason.
Say it back
List three negations from the passage: unseen, unseized, without eye or ear. Then say the positive mark: source of beings.