nātmā aśruternityatvācca tābhyaḥ ..2.3.16..

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SUTRA II. 3. 16.

नात्मा अश्रुतेर्नित्यत्वाच्च ताभ्यः॥२.३.१६॥

nātmā aśruternityatvācca tābhyaḥ ..2.3.16..

Na, not. … Atma, self, Jiva, soul, … Shruteh, on account of scriptural statement … Nityatvat, on account of the eternity. … Cha, and. … Tabhyah, from them, i.e., from the Shruti and Smriti.

16. The soul has no origin, because of the scriptural statement to that effect; it is eternal and intelligent, because from them (Shruti and Smriti) this is the conclusion. — 234.

COMMENTARY

The self or Atman here means the Jivatman or the soul. It has no origin. The Shruti declares it to be so — (Kath., Up., I., 2. 18).

This experiencer of different pleasure and pain is not born nor does it die; it sprang from nothing, nothing sprang from it. The ancient is unborn, eternal, everlasting; he is not killed though the body is killed.

So also in the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, I., 9.

There are two, one knowing (Ishvara), the other not-knowing (Jiva), both unborn, one strong, the other weak; there is she, the unborn, through whom each man receives the recompense of his works; and there is the infinite Self (appearing) under all forms, but Himself inactive. When a man finds out these three, that is Brahma.

This also shows that the Jiva is without any birth. Moreover, from these two, namely from the Shruti and the Smriti, we learn that the Jiva is eternal. The force of the word «Cha» in this Sutra is to indicate that the Jiva is intelligent also. The Shrutis like the following declare the soul to be eternal — (Kath., Up., II., 5. 13).

The Eternal among the eternals, the Consciousness among all consciousness’s, the One who bestow the fruits of Karmas to many Jivas, the tranquil-minded ones who see Him seated in their Atma, get eternal happiness, but not the others.

Similarly, it is unborn, eternal, everlasting; He is not killed though the body is killed.

This being the nature of the soul, the phrases like this, «Yajnadatta is born, he is dead»; and all worldly ceremonies relating to birth and death, have reference only to the bodies taken up by the Jivas and not to the Jivas themselves. In fact, the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad clearly says that a man is said to be born, when he assumes a body; and he is said to die, when he dissociates himself from the body. Thus birth and death are with reference to the body and not the soul. The text of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad is the following (IV., 3. 8):

On being born the soul assumes a body, and becomes united with all evils; on dying he departs from the body, and leaves all evils behind.

So also in the Chhandogya Upanishad, (VI., 11. 3.) we find:

This body verily dies when the Jiva abandons it, but the Jiva never dies.

If this is so, how do you reconcile the statement made by the scripture that by knowing one everything else is known, which implies that God is the only existence, and Jiva also is an effect and has an origin. This, however, we reconcile by saying that the word «effect» is only the name of the same Brahman, when existing in a different condition as a manifestation. Brahman has two energies. When both of them are latent in Him, they are said to be non-existent; when they come out of Him the world is said to originate. The difference, however, between the Jiva and the Pradhana is this. The non-sentient objects like Pradhana and the rest, which are the objects of enjoyment of the soul, undergo a change of essential nature when they originate from Brahman. But the souls (Jivas) being the enjoyers, do not undergo any such change of essential nature when they come out of Brahman. The only change in their case consists in the contraction and expansion of intelligence. In the state of Pralaya, the intelligence of the soul is in a state of contraction; and during the creation, the intelligence of the soul is in a state of expansion. In both cases, however, whether of contraction or expansion, the soul undergoes no change of essential nature. No doubt, both Souls and Matter are effects, or creatures of Brahman, as sent forth by Brahman; and hence they may be called as effects. And in this way, there is no contradiction in the statement that by knowing Brahman everything else is known. For by knowing the cause the effect is certainly known. This view harmonizes all the Shrutis. The conclusion is that the Jiva has no origin.

Adhikarana XII — The nature of the Jiva is that,

it is the knower and the knowledge both

Now the author determines the essential nature of the soul. There are some texts which show that the soul is the knower and others that it is knowledge. Thus the Antaryamin text of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad shows that soul is knowledge. — (Brihadaranyaka, III., 7. 22).

He who dwells in knowledge (Vijnana), and within knowledge, whom knowledge does not know, whose body knowledge is, and who pulls (rules) knowledge within, He is thy Self, the puller (ruler) within, the immortal.

In another text we find. «I slept soundly, I didn’t know any thing». It thus appears that in one place the soul is called Vijnana or knowledge, in another it is the knower; knowledge being only its temporary attribute, for, in deep sleep it has no knowledge.

Doubt: Therefore, arises the doubt whether the soul is merely knowledge, or whether its essential nature is that of a cognizing subject.

Purvapaksha: The essential nature of the soul is intelligence or knowledge, because the text of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad shows that the soul is Vijnana or intelligence. The self-consciousness or cognition is merely the attribute of Buddhi and the assertion «I slept soundly», is really the assertion of Buddhi, when in contact with the soul. The soul is not the knower.

Siddhanta: The soul is, however, the knower, and it is not the super-composition of Buddhi on the soul, that makes soul appear as a knower, as is shown in the next Sutra.

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