Page:The Vedanta-sutras, with the Sri-bhashya of Ramanujacharya.djvu/45

 whole universe, those who maintain that there i* both difference and non-difference at the same time between the Brahman and the individual souls, and also those who maintain that there is absolute difference between the individual souls and the Brahman will all find that such teachings regarding the sameness of the Brahman with the individual soul as are found in the Vcddnta are all aimless and meaningless (pp. 217-219.). However, to those who maintain that the whole world forms the body of the Brahman all those Veddntic teachings, which declare that the Brahman Himself constitutes the whole world, are sure to appear as appropriate explanations of the truth. Grammatical equations can and do point out the attributive character of material adjuncts ; and the equation that a man is an individual self cannot have a merely figurative significance, in as much as the human body has to form in this case a mode of the individual self. And the word which denotes a mode of the individual self denotes the individual self also. Accordingly the words god, man, &c., include the individual self in their import. The individual selves form the body of the Highest Self, and hence possess the character of being His modes. Thus all the words which denote individual selves include the Highest Self also in their import. Consequently all things may be grammatically equated with the Brahman (pp. 219-224.). This position is then more fully explained and supported. All non-intelligent things constitute the objects of enjoyment, the intelligent things are the enjoyers thereof, and the Brahman is their Supreme Ruler ; therefore they are distinct from one another in nature, as may be made out from various passages in the Upanishads and the Bhagavad-Glla (pp. 224-227,). Both the intelligent and the non-