1.2.7
Brahma Sūtra / Adhyāya 1 / 1.2.7
अर्भकौकस्त्वात् तद्व्यपदेशाच् च नेति चेन् न निचाय्यत्वादेवं व्योमवच् च
arbhakaukastvāt tadvyapadeśāc ca neti cen na nicāyyatvād evaṃ vyomavac ca
The line
If you say he is not Brahman (ब्रह्मन्) because a minute abode is stated, no: he is to be meditated on as such, and he is like space.
नेपालीमा
यदि अति सानो आश्रय भनिएकाले ऊ ब्रह्म होइन भन्छौ भने, होइन। उसलाई त्यस्तै ध्यान गरिने भनिएको छ, र ऊ आकाशजस्तै हो।
Where it sits
The being of 1.2.1 is still the subject. The smallness and the greatness are both in Śāṇḍilya (शाण्डिल्य)'s sentence. Śaṅkara (शङ्कर) takes the smallness as belonging to the meditation. Rāmānuja (रामानुज) takes the lord as present by his will in the small heart while remaining vast, and takes the space-comparison as a real presence that is not a real bound. Madhva takes the measure in the heart as Viṣṇu (विष्णु)'s form, which does not bound him.
Split: arbhaka-okas-tvāt (अर्भक-ओकस्-त्वात्) + tad-vyapadeśāt (तद्-व्यपदेशात्) + ca (च) + na (न) + iti (इति) + cet (चेत्) + na (न) + nicāyyatvāt (निचाय्यत्वात्) + evam (एवम्) + vyoman-vat (व्योमन्-वत्) + ca (च)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| arbhaka-okas-tvāt (अर्भक-ओकस्-त्वात्) | ablative singular, neuter | because of the fact of having a minute abode |
| tad-vyapadeśāt (तद्-व्यपदेशात्) | ablative singular, masculine | because that is stated |
| ca (च) | indeclinable | and |
| na (न) | indeclinable | not. The objection |
| iti (इति) | indeclinable | thus |
| cet (चेत्) | indeclinable | if |
| na (न) | indeclinable | no. The reply |
| nicāyyatvāt (निचाय्यत्वात्) | ablative singular, neuter | because he is to be regarded so, meditated on as such |
| evam (एवम्) | indeclinable | in this way |
| vyoman-vat (व्योमन्-वत्) | indeclinable | like space |
| ca (च) | indeclinable | and |
The phrases
The objection uses the text's own 'smaller than a grain of rice or barley'. arbhaka is minute. okas is a home. A minute home sounds like the soul, not the vast brahman (ब्रह्मन्). And the text does state that, so tadvyapadeśa (तद्व्यपदेश) is part of the objection.
The reply's na: nicāyya (निचाय्य) is 'to be observed, to be meditated'. Smallness is how he is to be regarded in the heart, not a limit on him. evam, in this same way, he is like space. Space is called small in a pot and is not small. The same sentence says he is greater than the earth and greater than heaven.
Sanskrit in this line
The pāṭha (पाठ) writes arbhakaustvāt (अर्भकौस्त्वात्), dropping a syllable. The word is arbhaka-okas-tva: a plus o becomes au, then okas plus tva gives arbhakaukastvāt (अर्भकौकस्त्वात्). nicāyya (निचाय्य) is the gerundive of ni-ci. -vat does not decline. Before the last ca, t of vat is heard as c: vyomavac ca.
Say it back
Say the objection from 'smaller than a grain', and the reply from 'greater than heaven', with space as the picture.
Next
1.2.8. One person's experience does not become everyone's, because the text keeps a distinction.