The blessed Krishna is ever VIctorious

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First Pada

.. prathamaḥ pādaḥ ..

THE BLESSED KRISHNA IS EVER VICTORIOUS

We bow with reverence to the Blessed Govinda, the Faultless, the Inconceivable, the Cause of all, the True, the Self-luminous and the Infinity, the Brahman praised by Shiva and others, who is worshipped in manifold forms by his devotees.

Vyasa, the son of Satyavati, is verily Hari and is ever victorious, all-pervading and loved by His devotees. He, by the rays of his Vedanta Sutras, has dispelled the darkness of ignorance and revealed the Truth of things.

During the Dvapara age, when the Vedas were forgotten, Vishnu, the Supreme Person, being invited by Brahma and other limited intelligences, incarnated Himself in the form of Krishna Dvaipayana. He restored the Vedas and divided them into four parts, and composed the Brahma Sutras in four books, to explain the Vedas. It is so written in the Skandapurana.

Some persons of little intelligence, but wise in their own conceit, misunderstanding the sense of the Vedas, began to propound such mistaken theories as, that the Vedas teach that the performance of the ritualistic worship and sacrifices was the highest end of man; that Vishnu was no Supreme entity but subordinate to Karma: that the heaven, etc., and the fruits of Karmas were eternal: that the (Jiva or) Soul and Matter (or Prakriti) were independent in their activities and not subordinate to Ishvara; that Brahman itself was the Jiva (or human soul), and its manifestation as Jiva was only a reflection or illusion or illusive appearance [or limitation; that the wheel of birth and death is of the Jiva who was not separate from Brahman itself in pure intelligence — the Jiva being nothing but portion of Brahman called Buddhi, and that release is attained by the meditation on this truth.

All these theories have been put forward as Purvapaksha and set aside in the Vedanta Sutras, and it is established therein that the Supreme Vishnu is independent, is the Creator of all, has lordship over the whole creation, is Omniscient, is the Highest Goal of man, and is pure Consciousness. The Sutras speak about five Tattvas or eternal principles, (i) Ishvara or God, (ii) Jiva or Soul, (iii) Prakriti or Matter, (iv) Kala or Time, and (v) Karma or Action. Of these the consciousness of Ishvara is infinite, that of the Jiva is partial. However, both are eternal and have knowledge, etc., and are connoted by the word ‘I’. Consciousness cannot be separated from Self-Consciousness, as luminosity cannot but reveal its own form: so there is no conflict in the proposition that God is pure consciousness, and at the same time self-conscious.

(1) Ishvara creates the universe, entering into matter and controlling it; and He ordains the suffering and release of the souls in it, because he is Independent and All-powerful in His essential form. Though He is one, He has many aspects; though He is indivisible, He becomes the object of knowledge to the wise as having substance and attributes, and as having a form and the spirit within it; and though He is Unmanifest, He becomes manifest to His seekers through pure devotion. And though he is one essence, in and out, yet .He distributes Supreme bliss of His essential form to the Jivas.

(2) Jivatmans are many and are in different conditions. They are in bondage, which consists in turning its face away from Ishvara. When the Jiva turns its face towards God, then its bondage falls; and it realizes the form and attributes of God. The bondage is of two kinds: that which conceals the essential nature of God, and that which hides His attributes: both kinds of bonds fall off, when the soul turns its face towards God, when there is direct vision of the Supreme.

(3) Prakriti is the equilibrium of the three states in which matter exists, namely of Sattva or rhythm, Rajas or activity, and Tamas or stability. Other names of Prakriti are Tamas and Maya. Fertilized by being glanced at by Ishvara, she is the mother of the universe in all its variety.

(4) Kala or time consists of three states — present, past and future; and words like ‘simultaneous’ and ‘quick’, ‘slow’, etc., are used to denote time. It is measured by seconds, minutes, hours, days, years, cycles, Yugas, up to Parardha. It is in constant motion like a wheel, and is the cause of creation and destruction. It is an unintelligent substance, a Jadam.

The four substances, Ishvara, etc., are eternal, as says the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, VI, 13.

He is the Eternal among the eternals, the Thinker among thinkers, who, though one, fulfills the desires of many. He who has known that cause which is apprehended by Sankhya (Philosophy) and Yoga (religious discipline), he is freed from all fetters.

Note. — To the same effect is the following text of the Bhalvaveyas: «Verily the Spirit, Matter, the Souls, and the Time are eternal. The non-eternals are Prana, Shraddha, the elements and their compounds. Those which ‘are products are non-eternal. Those which are never produced are eternal».

So also in the Chulika Upanishad (verse 5):

Prakriti is like a cow but voiceless, the creatrix of all beings, black, white and red are her colours, and she is the cow of desire, belonging to the Lord.

Being (Sat) alone was in the beginning, as we find in Chhandogya Upanishad (VI. 2.-1).

‘…’ etc., ‘Being was in the beginning, O dear, etc’. Though one of the eternals, the Lord is the ruler of the other three, namely, the Jivas, etc., as they are controlled by Him, as says the Shvet. Up., VI., 16.:

He makes all, He knows all, the Self-caused, the Knower, the Maker of time, (i.e., the Destroyer of time), who assumes all qualities and knows everything, the master of nature and of man, the lord of the three qualities (Gunas), the cause of the bondage, the existence and the liberation of the world.

(5) Karma is non-intelligent and its synonyms are Adrishta, fate, etc. It is beginning less, but not everlasting, because it is subject to destruction.

The last four, i.e., Jiva, Prakriti, time and fate all possess energy, because of the energy of Brahman. The power that works, within them is the power of the Lord. Therefore, Brahman alone is the one that has power.

Hence the texts showing that Brahman alone exists also become harmonious; as there is no other force but that of Brahman alone. All those will be fully explained as we proceed.

The Vedanta Sutras, or Chaturlakshani, are so called, because they possess four characteristic marks or Lakshanas or Adhyayas or books. As it is described in Shri Bhagavata (Book I., Ch. VII., Verses 4 to 6), which in fact is a commentary on the Sutras:

«Vyasa, in his meditation, while his heart was pure, mind concentrated, spirit full of devotion, saw at first the Supreme Lord as all-pervading; and he next saw the Maya as subordinate to the Lord. He saw too the great round of Samsara and how deluded by this Maya, Jivas consider themselves as consisting of three Gunas, and not as portions of the Lord and how they fall into great calamity. He further saw means of destroying this calamity, which was entire, selfless devotion to the Supreme God. Hence Vyasa composed this Bhagavata Purana in order to teach ignorant mankind that devotion». «The Substance, the Karma, the Time, the Svabhava and the Jiva have their potencies to produce effect because of His grace — they have no power of their own, if He withdraws His energy from them».

That Bhagavata is a commentary on Brahma Sutras is expressedly stated in Garuda Purana, where it says:

«The Shri Bhagavata is an explanation of Brahma Sutras. It is also the commentary of Mahabharata. This contains as well the commentaries of Gayatri and the Vedas. The place of Shri Bhagavata amongst the Puranas is similar to that of the Sama Veda amongst the other Vedas».

In the First Book, the author shows that all the Vedic texts uniformly refer to Brahman and find their Samanvaya (reconciliation) in Him. In the Second Book, it has been proved that there is no conflict between Vedanta and other Shastras. In the Third Book the means of attaining Brahman are described. In the Fourth Book is described the result of attaining Brahman.

As regards the Adhikari. A person, who is of tranquil mind and has the attributes of Sama (quietude), Dama (self-control), etc., is full of faith, is constantly engaged in good thoughts and associates with the knowers of Truth, whose heart is purified by the duo discharge of all duties, religious and secular, without any idea of reward, is the Adhikari or one competent to understand and study the Shastra. Secondly, the Sambandha is the description of Brahman by this Shastra. Thirdly, the Vishaya or subject-matter of this Shastra is the Supreme Purusha, Being, Intelligence and Bliss, whose power is infinite and inconceivable, and who possesses innumerable attributes, and who is all pure. He is the subject treated of in this Shastra. Fourthly, the necessity (Prayojana) of this Shastra is to obtain realisation of the Supreme God, by the removal of all false notions that prevent that realisation.

This Shastra consists of several Adhikaranas or topics or propositions. Every proposition consists of five parts: (i) Thesis or Vishaya, (ii) Doubt or Samshaya, (iii) Anti-thesis or Purva Paksha, (iv) Synthesis or right conclusion or Siddhanta, and lastly, (v) Sangati or agreement of the proposition with the other parts of the Shastra. Sangati or consistency shows that there is no conflict in what precedes and what follows. It is of three sorts:

(i) Consistency with the scripture is called Shastra Sangati, (ii) consistency with the whole book or Adhyaya Sangati, (iii) consistency with the whole chapter or Pada, called Pada Sangati. Thus in the whole book of the Vedanta Sutras Brahman is its main theme, it is the subject-matter of discussion. Therefore, an interpretation of any passage, in order to fulfill the condition of Shastra Sangati, must not go away from the subject-matter of Brahman. Secondarily, with the Adhyaya or portion of the book of the Vedanta Sutra, each Adhyaya has a particular topic of its own and a passage must be interpreted consistently with the topic of that Adhyaya. Similar is the case with Pada Sangati. Besides these three sorts of Sangatis, there is a certain relation between Adhikaranas themselves. One Adhikarana leads to another through some particular association of ideas. In a Pada there are many Adhikaranas and they are not put together at haphazard. The Sangati which binds one Adhikarana with another is of six sorts:

(1) Akshepa Sangati or objection, (2) Drishtanta or illustration, (3) Prati-Drishtanta or counter-illustration, (1) Prasanga Sangati or incidental illustration, (5) Utpatti Sangati or introduction, and (6) Apavada Sangati or exception. All these various kinds will be shown in their proper place in explaining these Sutras. An Adhikarana or topic is also called Nyaya.

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