ato’nantena tathā hi liṅgam ..3.2.27..

SUTRA III. 2. 27.

 

अतोऽनन्तेन तथा हि लिङ्गम्॥३.२.२७॥

ato’nantena tathā hi liṅgam ..3.2.27..

 

Atah, hence. … Anantena, through (the grace of) the Lord who is infinite. … Tatha, thus (i.e., direct vision), .. Hi, because, …. Lingam, the indication or authority (of the scripture).

 

27. Hence the direct vision is possible through the infinite grace of the Lord; and there is scriptural authority for the same. — 340.

 

COMMENTARY

 

There are authorities to support both the statements, that the Lord is unmanifest, and becomes manifest to tin; sight of the devoutly meditating worshipper. Hence though the Lord is unmanifest, infinite and unbounded, yet when he is pleased with His devotee, He manifests His essential Form to him, through His mysterious power of grace.

But how do you say this? Because there is scriptural authority for the same. As says the Atharvana Shruti:

«That Form of Intelligence and Bliss — one muss of Being and Bliss — becomes visible to the devotee through the meditation of love».

Similarly, in the Narayana Adhyatma:

«Though the Lord is ever manifest, yet He becomes visible through His own powers (to the elect). Without the grace of that Supreme Self, who can see Him, the Unbounded, Infinite Lord».

The Lord Himself has said so in the Gita (VII., 24):

Those devoid of reason think of Me, the unmanifest, as having manifestation, knowing not My supreme nature, imperishable, most excellent.

Though the Lord is thus manifest to the eye of love, yet this fact does not detract from the essential invisibility of Hi Self. For this manifestation to His Lovers is an exercise of His mysterious power of Self. But with regard to persons devoid of love, the Lord never manifests in His essential form, but as a reflection. For says He in the (Gita, (VII., 25):

Nor am I of all discovered, enveloped in My creation-illusion. This deluded world knoweth Me not, the unborn, the imperishable.

Therefore, though the Lord is essentially all love, mercy and supreme joy, yet to the worldly He appears as a Being of all Terrible Power, a God of Vengeance and Wrath.

Thus the term «unmanifest», when applied to the Lord, means that He is unmanifest to the eyes of those who have no love for Him; [but He suffuses the eyes of His lovers as the tire suffuses through an iron ball, and they see nothing but the Lord].

Adhikarana XIV — Attributes are the substance of the Lord

 

Now the author establishes that the attributes of the Lord are not different from the essential nature of the Lord. For if the attributes wore different from the Lord, then they would become secondary, and the Bhakti for the Lord would also become secondary (for the man loves the Lord for His attributes). But this is not the case. The love for the attributes of the Lord, is a love for the sake of the attributes themselves as something principal and loveable in themselves, and not for something as secondary.

Vishaya: We have the texts:

‘…’ The Brahman is intelligence and bliss.

‘…’ He who is Omniscient and All-knowing.

‘…’ Knowing that Brahman as bliss.

Doubt; Now arises the doubt, is this Brahman who is to be adored and loved, mere intelligence and bliss, or one possessed of intelligence and bliss? (In other words, is He a personal God having the attributes of intelligence and bliss, or is it pure intelligence and bliss?)

Purvapaksha: As there are texts of both sorts, some showing Brahman to be personal, others impersonal, it is not possible to determine what is the true nature of Brahman —-whether it is pure intelligence and bliss, or whether He is the all-intelligent and the blissful one.

Siddhanta: The next Sutra shows that the Lord is a personal being.