athāto brahmajijñāsā ..1.1.1..

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SUTRA I. 1. 1.

अथातो ब्रह्मजिज्ञासा ॥१.१.१॥

Word meaning: — … Atha, now. … Atah, therefore. … Brahma Jijnasa — enquiry into Brahman.

1. Now therefore enquiry should be made into Brahman — 1.

BALADEVA’S COMMENTARY

The word ‘Atha’ means immediate sequence: ‘Atah’ means therefore. The sense of the Sutra is that enquiry into Brahman should be made now.

The immediate sequence is the acquisition of the following qualifications. A person, who has properly studied the Vedas, who has understood their meaning in a general way, who has performed his duties in the proper stage of life or Ashrama, who is truthful, etc., whose mind has boon purified by such actions, who has the good fortune of coining into contact with a knower of truth, should then commence to enquire into Brahman. Why should he do so? Because he realizes that all Kamyakarmas or religious duties performed for getting certain desires, produce fruits which are transitory and limited; while the Supreme Brahman, realised through knowledge, is the cause of eternal happiness, unending mental joy, and eternal true knowledge. Thus convinced, he renounces all Kamyakarmas, and enters into the enquiry and study of the Vedanta Sutras called Chaturlakshani.

Objection: An objector may say, «By the more study of the Vedas, one can understand Brahman; for study of the Vedas means not merely parrot-like utterances of the Vedic Mantras, but understanding their sense also. Therefore, there is no necessity for the study of the Vedanta Sutras, as the study of the Vedas will refine the heart and incline the mind towards the knowledge of Brahman».

Answer: To this we reply, «True, he will have the general understanding of the senses of the Vedas; but when doubts will arise in his mind, his intellect will be clouded and his faith will be shaken. Therefore, the study of the Vedanta Sutras is necessary, so that by proper arguments and reasoning, he may strengthen his position and be firm in his understanding».

The sense is this. The duties of one’s Ashrama properly performed go to refine the heart, etc. Thus they become indirectly means of attaining knowledge: as the following text shows:

The seekers of Brahman try to know Him by the study of the Vedas, by sacrifice, by gifts, by penances, by fasting, (Br. Up., IV., 4. 22).

The following texts show that truth, prayer and austerity are also essential qualifications:

This Self is to be obtained by Truth, by Penance, by perpetual celibacy and complete knowledge. (Mund. Up., III., 1. 5).

But undoubtedly a Brahmana reaches the highest goal by reciting prayers only; whether he performs other (rites) or neglects them, he who befriends all creatures is declared to be the true Brahmana. (Manu., II., 87).

The association with those who know Brahman (the truth) also produces Brahma-knowledge. As we see that Narada and others, by their association with Sanat Kumara and others, first came to enquire into Brahman and ultimately understood it. As says the (Gita: (IV, 34).

Learn thou this by discipleship, by investigation, and by service. The wise, the seers of the essence of things, will instruct thee in wisdom.

The fruits of Kamyakarmas are transitory and non-eternal, as we find from the following text:

And as here on earth, whatever has been acquired by exertion perishes, so perishes whatever is acquired for the next world by sacrifices and other good actions performed on earth. Those who depart from hence without having discovered the Self and those true desires, for them there is no freedom in all the worlds. But those who depart from hence, after having discovered the Self and those true desires, for them there is freedom in all the worlds. (Chh. Up., VIII., 1-6).

The Brahman is comprehended by Jnana alone and not by Karma, as says the Mundaka Upanishad:

Let a Brahmana, after he has examined all these worlds which are gained by works, acquire freedom from all desires. Nothing that is eternal (not made) can be gained by what is not eternal (made). Let him, in order to understand this, take fuel in his hand and approach a Guru who is learned and dwells entirely in Brahman. (Mund. Up., 1., 2-12).

The Brahman gives, moreover, undecaying and infinite happiness, as says Taittiriya Upanishad: …

Truth, the knowledge, the infinity is Brahman. (Tai. Up., II., 1-1).

«He understood that Brahman was bliss».

The Lord possesses Eternal Knowledge and other such attributes as we learn from the following texts of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad:

He has neither body nor sense organs; no one is found equal or superior to Him. His various transcendental powers are sung in the Vedas, namely, wisdom, strength, and action which are natural to Him. (VI., 8).

«They know him to be the source of the power of all the senses, but Himself devoid of all senses; the Lord and Guide of all, the Great, Refuge, and Friend of all». (III., 17.)

Those who have known the God who is to be obtained by truth, whose name is the Incorporeal, who is the cause of creation and destruction, the Good, the maker of the parts (that form the body), have abandoned the body. (V., 14).

He is the giver of eternal joy, as we find from the following text of the Gopala Upanishad:

‘…’ (another reading is … Gopala, Purvatapani, verse 5.)

«The wise who worship the Lord seated on the throne (of the heart) have the joy eternal and not the others».

The worthlessness of acts performed through a motive of obtaining rewards (Kamyakarmas) will be described in the third book.

Thus to sum up. One who has mastered the Vedas, along with their six auxiliary sciences and the Upanishads, and has obtained a general knowledge of their meaning, who through associating with the knowers of truth has acquired the faculty of discriminating between the permanent and the transitory, and is disgusted with the impermanent things of the world and wishes to know the permanent more in detail, enters into the study of the Vedanta Sutras called the Chaturlakshani, (in order to understand in detail and more comprehensively that which he had understood in a general way before).

It is not possible here to say, that the enquiry info Brahman should be undertaken after one has acquired the knowledge of the Karma Kanda (by the study of the Purva Mimansa) and that one who has mastered Karma Kanda naturally enters into the enquiry of Brahman. For it is seen, that those who do not associate with the good, and are deprived of the benefit of their company, are not found to enquire into Brahman; while on the contrary those who do not know Karma Kanda, but who are purified by truthfulness, prayer, etc., and have the merit of associating with the good, naturally enter into such enquiry. Nor is it right to say that, the sequence alluded to by the word Atha, refers to the acquisition of the four qualifications, (namely, the right discrimination, right dispassion, right conduct and right earnestness to know Brahman). For these four qualifications are impossible to get prior to the association with the holy; and it is well-known that these come after such association with the holy, and after getting knowledge and teaching from them: for then these qualifications (Viveka, Vairagya, Sat Sampatti and Mumukshuttva) arise in man.

Those who have acquired such knowledge, by associating with good people, and who are devoted to their teacher, are divided into the three classes called Sanishtha, etc. The Sanishtha or devoted is he who performs all acts with zeal and faith (Nishtha). The higher devotee or the Parinishthitha is he who performs all works, merely for the sake of the good of humanity (and as an example to others). The third class is the dispassionate sage, ever immersed in meditation; uninfluenced by anything. All these roach the Supreme Brahman, through Divine wisdom, according to their nature; all this will be made clear further on.

But says an objector: «The word ‘Atha’ is a term denoting auspiciousness», for says a Smriti: «The words Om and Atha came out of the throat of Brahma in the beginning, hence both these are auspicious words». «All good men employ these words in the beginning of every Scripture, in order to destroy all obstacles». To this we reply: «It is not so». There can be no apprehension of danger to the Lord (and the Vedanta Sutras being the production of the Lord in His incarnation as Vyasa, are not open to any adverse obstacles). That Vyasa is the Lord incarnate, we learn from the following text: «Know that Krishna Dvaipayana Vyasa is the Lord Narayana Himself». Still he has employed the word ‘Atha’, as the first word of the Sutras, because it is an auspicious term inherently, as the sound of a conch-shell is naturally auspicious. Therefore, if it denotes auspiciousness here, there is no harm. The author has followed in it the usage of ordinary people. Therefore, a person whose heart is purified, by the performance of Nishkama Karmas, and by Sat Sanga or association with holy men, and by being taught by them, should enter into an enquiry into Brahman.

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