PREPEACE. 1X १ The Purvapaksin says, “किमिह मनोमयवादिभिर्घर्मैः शारीर आस्मोपास्यत्वेनोपदिश्यत आहोस्वित्परं ब्रह्मेति । किं तावत्प्राप्तम् । शारीर इति । कुतः । तस्य हि कार्यकारणाधिपतेः प्रसिद्धो मनआदिभिः सम्बन्धो न परस्य ब्रह्मणः ” । To this the siddhantin replies ‘‘एवं प्राप्ते ब्रूमः । परमेव ब्रह्म मनत्वादिभिर्घर्मैरुपास्यम् । कुतः । सर्वत्र प्रसिद्धो- पदेशात् । यत्सर्वेषु वेदान्तेषु प्रसिद्धे ब्रह्मशब्दस्यालम्बनं दगत्कारणं इह च ‘सर्वं खल्विदं ब्रह्म’ इति वाक्योपक्रमे श्रुतं, तदेव मनोमयत्वादिधर्मैर्विशि ष्टमुपदिश्यत इति युक्तम् । एवं च प्रकृतहानाप्रकृतप्रक्रिये न भविष्यतः ॥ The first thing to be noticed here is the statement that Chha . 8. 14, 1, 2 refers to परं ब्रह्म, whereas in the definition given above of the distinction between परं ब्रह्म and अपरं ब्रह्म, the very same Scripture is declared to relate to the latter ! Again, in the discussion now before us परं ब्रह्म is identified with the जगत्कारणं, or, in other words, with ईश्वर,-for we read in 3. 2. 41 “सर्ववेदान्तेषु चेश्वरहेतुका एव सृष्टयो व्यपदिश्यन्ते ,११ and in 4. 4, 17 ‘जगव्यापारस्तु नित्यसिद्धस्यैवेश्वरस्य । कुतः । तस्य तत्र प्रकृतत्वात् ‘असन्निहितत्वाच्च' इतरेषाम् । पर एव हीश्वरो जगद्व्यापारेऽधिकृतः” । Therefore, according to Sankara's own showing, the terms परं ब्रह्म, अपरं ब्रह्म, पर ईश्वरः and ईश्वरः are all exactly synonymous, and there is no difference after all between his views and those of Ramanuja in this respect ! The same remarkable interchange of terms, the funda mental difference between which forms one of the pillars of the system, occurs again and again; but I will merely refer briefly to two further instances. In 1. 3. 1 the द्युभ्वाद्यायतनं is said to be परं ब्रह्म, whilst in 1. 3.7 it is ईश्वर; and in 1. 3. 10-12 the अक्षरं of Brih. B. 8. 8 is said to be पर आत्मा, परमेश्वरः, and परं ब्रह्म. To me therefore, it seems impossible to come to any other conclusion than that the visistadvaitavadins or some similar school, were in possession of the field in Sankara's time, and that his own mind was so saturated with their doctrines as to be unable to shake them off even when propounding an antagonistic system. IV. "The manuscripts and editions on which this volume is based are as under :-
