1.3.9
Brahma Sūtra / Adhyāya 1 / 1.3.9
अक्षरमम्बरान्तधृतेः
akṣaram ambarāntadhṛteḥ
The line
The imperishable is Brahman (ब्रह्मन्), because it holds everything up to the sky.
नेपालीमा
अक्षर ब्रह्म हो, किनकि यसले आकाशसम्म सबैलाई धारण गर्छ।
Where it sits
A new passage. Śaṅkara (शङ्कर) takes the negations that follow as the main teaching, qualities falling away. Rāmānuja (रामानुज) takes the command of sun and moon, in the next line, as the mark of a lord, the negations denying defects. Madhva takes the imperishable as Viṣṇu (विष्णु). This line itself only gives the holding.
Split: akṣaram (अक्षरम्) + ambara-anta-dhṛteḥ (अम्बर-अन्त-धृतेः)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| akṣaram (अक्षरम्) | nominative singular, neuter | the imperishable |
| ambara-anta-dhṛteḥ (अम्बर-अन्त-धृतेः) | ablative singular, feminine | because of the holding of what ends with the sky, the whole world |
The phrases
The passage is Gārgī (गार्गी)'s question to Yājñavalkya (याज्ञवल्क्य). In what is space woven, warp and woof? In the imperishable. At its command sun and moon stand apart, heaven and earth stand. It is not coarse, not fine, not short, not long.
ambara is the sky. ambara-anta is all that is bounded by the sky, the world. dhṛti (धृति) is the holding. The imperishable holds that. The element does not. The pradhāna (प्रधान) is not what Gārgī (गार्गी) is answered with. akṣaram (अक्षरम्) is brahman (ब्रह्मन्).
Sanskrit in this line
akṣara (अक्षर) is neuter. dhṛti (धृति) is feminine, so the ablative reason is -eḥ (-एः). The compound is 'the dhṛti (धृति) of the ambara-anta'.
Say it back
Say Gārgī (गार्गी)'s question and the one-word answer: the imperishable.
Next
1.3.10. That holding belongs to Brahman (ब्रह्मन्), because the text speaks of a command.