Pradhana cannot be the Source :: Finding Self

|| हेयत्वावचनाच्च || ब्रह्मसूत्र (१,१.८ )

|| Heyatvaavachanaachcha || Brahma Sutra ( 1.1.8 )

And (the Pradhana cannot be denoted by the word 'Self'), because it is not stated (by the scriptures) that It (Sat) has to be discarded.

Heyatva: fitness to be discarded; Avachanat: not being stated (by the scriptures); Cha: and.


If the preceptor intended to make his disciple understand the Self step by step from grosser to subtler truths through the non-self he would definitely state in the end that the Self is not of the nature of the Pradhana and that the Pradhana must be discarded. But no such statement is made in the scriptures. If ‘that’ or Sat means Pradhana (matter) the Srutis should teach us to turn away from it. But it is not the case.

If you want to point out to a man the small star Arundhati, you direct his attention at first to a big neighbouring star and say 'That is Arundhati' although it is really not so. Then you point out to him the real Arundhati. Even so if the preceptor intended to make his disciple understand the Self step by step from grosser to subtler truths through the non-self he would definitely state in the end that the Self is not of the nature of the Pradhana and that the Pradhana must be discarded. But no such statement is made. The whole chapter of the Chhandogya Upanishad deals with the Self as nothing but that Sat.

An aspirant has been taught to fix his mind on the cause and meditate on it. Certainly he cannot attain the final emancipation by meditating on the inert Pradhana. If the Sruti here meant the Pradhana to be the cause of the world, it would have surely asked the aspirant to abandon such a cause and find out something higher for his final emancipation. Hence Pradhana cannot be the end and aim of spiritual quest.

The word 'and' signifies that the contradiction of a previous statement is an additional reason for the rejection.

Further this chapter begins with the question, "What is that which being known everything is known? Have you ever asked, my child, for that instruction by which you hear what cannot be heard, by which you perceive what cannot be perceived, by which you know what cannot be known." Now if the term 'Sat' denoted the Pradhana, if the Pradhana were the first cause, then by knowing Pradhana everything must be known, which is not a fact. The enjoyer (soul) which is different from Pradhana, which is not an effect of the Pradhana cannot be known by knowing the Pradhana. If 'that' or Sat means Pradhana (matter) the Srutis should teach us to turn away from it. But it is not the case. It gives a definite assurance that by knowing that everything can be known. How can we know the soul by knowing matter? How can we know the enjoyer by knowing the enjoyed? Hence the Pradhana is not denoted by the term 'Sat'. It is not the first cause, knowing which everything is known, according to the Sruti.