1.2.25
Brahma Sūtra / Adhyāya 1 / 1.2.25
वैश्वानरः साधारणशब्दविशेषात्
vaiśvānaraḥ sādhāraṇaśabdaviśeṣāt
The line
Vaiśvānara (वैश्वानर) is Brahman (ब्रह्मन्), because a specifying word fixes the common name.
नेपालीमा
वैश्वानर ब्रह्म हो, किनकि विशेष शब्दले साझा नामलाई तोक्छ।
Where it sits
A new passage. Śaṅkara (शङ्कर) takes Vaiśvānara (वैश्वानर) as Brahman (ब्रह्मन्) directly, the belly-fire words being usable inside the meditation. Rāmānuja (रामानुज) takes him as the lord whose body is the cosmic fire, so the word applies without being a mere symbol. Madhva takes the word as Viṣṇu (विष्णु). The next lines record older teachers on how the belly-fire language is to be saved.
Split: vaiśvānaraḥ (वैश्वानरः) + sādhāraṇa-śabda-viśeṣāt (साधारण-शब्द-विशेषात्)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| vaiśvānaraḥ (वैश्वानरः) | nominative singular, masculine | Vaiśvānara (वैश्वानर), the one common to all persons, also a name of fire |
| sādhāraṇa-śabda-viśeṣāt (साधारण-शब्द-विशेषात्) | ablative singular, masculine | because of a specifying word applied to a common term |
The phrases
The passage is the Chāndogya (छान्दोग्य) teaching of Aśvapati (अश्वपति) to the householders who had each meditated on one piece: heaven, sun, wind, space, water, earth. He says their meditation ate food as if it were only a head, only an eye, and so on. The full Vaiśvānara (वैश्वानर) self has heaven as head, the sun as eye, the wind as breath, space as the trunk, wealth as the bladder, the earth as the feet.
vaiśvānara (वैश्वानर) is a common word. It is said of fire, of the fire in the belly, and of the person in all men. sādhāraṇa-śabda (साधारण-शब्द) is that shared word. viśeṣa (विशेष) is the specification the text adds: the self, the one common to all persons, with the worlds as limbs. That specification yields brahman (ब्रह्मन्).
Sanskrit in this line
vaiśvānara (वैश्वानर) is masculine. The reason is one compound ablative: a viśeṣa (विशेष) of a sādhāraṇa (साधारण) śabda (शब्द).
Say it back
Name the limbs: heaven the head, sun the eye, earth the feet. Say that each householder had stopped at one limb.