1.4.20
Brahma Sūtra / Adhyāya 1 / 1.4.20
प्रतिज्ञासिद्धेर् लिङ्गमाश्मरथ्यः
pratijñāsiddher liṅgam āśmarathyaḥ
The line
Āśmarathya (आश्मरथ्य) says the mark is there because of the fulfillment of the promise.
नेपालीमा
आश्मरथ्य भन्छन्, प्रतिज्ञा पूरा हुने भएकाले चिह्न त्यहाँ छ।
Where it sits
The Maitreyī (मैत्रेयी) sentences of 1.4.19 are the promise he is explaining. liṅgam (लिङ्गम्) is the mark of the individual inside them. Śaṅkara (शङ्कर) records this view and does not take it as the last word. Rāmānuja (रामानुज) is closer to a real difference that is still inseparable, though he will not blur the two substances. Madhva does not take the promise as identity at all.
Split: pratijñā-siddheḥ (प्रतिज्ञा-सिद्धेः) + liṅgam (लिङ्गम्) + āśmarathyaḥ (आश्मरथ्यः)
Sanskrit, in depth
The words
| Word | Grammar | Sense |
|---|---|---|
| pratijñā-siddheḥ (प्रतिज्ञा-सिद्धेः) | ablative singular, feminine | because of the fulfillment of the promise |
| liṅgam (लिङ्गम्) | nominative singular, neuter | the mark |
| āśmarathyaḥ (आश्मरथ्यः) | nominative singular, masculine | Āśmarathya (आश्मरथ्य) |
The phrases
The promise is: by knowing one, all is known. If the individual were simply other, knowing brahman (ब्रह्मन्) would not be knowing the soul, and the promise would fail. Āśmarathya (आश्मरथ्य) says the liṅga (लिङ्ग), the mark that speaks of the soul as the self to be seen, exists for pratijñā-siddhi (प्रतिज्ञा-सिद्धि), the coming-true of that promise.
His picture is difference and non-difference together, as sparks are of the fire. The soul is enough 'of brahman (ब्रह्मन्)' that one knowing covers it, and enough other that the text can speak of seeing the self. The sūtra (सूत्र) records this as his view.
Sanskrit in this line
siddhi is feminine, ablative -eḥ (-एः). liṅgam (लिङ्गम्) is neuter nominative, what he says the mark is for. The name is in the nominative, the verb of saying understood.
Say it back
Say Āśmarathya (आश्मरथ्य)'s reason in one line: the promise covers the soul only if the soul is not simply other.
Next
1.4.21. Auḍulomi (औडुलोमि) says the identity belongs to the one who is about to depart.