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Sastrayonitvat I.1.3 (3)
The scripture being
the source of right knowledge.
Sastra: the scripture; Yonitvat: being the
source of or the means of the right knowledge.
The Omniscience of Brahman follows from His being the source
of scripture. The aphorism clearly points out that the Srutis
alone are proof about Brahman. As Brahman is the cause of the world we have to infer that
Brahman or the Absolute is Omniscient. As the scripture
alone is the means of right knowledge with reference to
Brahman the proposition laid in Sutra 2 becomes confirmed.
Brahman is not merely the Creator, Sustainer and Destroyer
of the world, He is the source or womb of scriptures and
is revealed by scriptures. As Brahman is beyond the reach
of the senses and the intellect, He can be apprehended only
on the authority of the Srutis which are infallible and
contain the spiritual experiences of realised seers or sages.
The Srutis declare that Brahman Himself breathed forth the
Vedas. Therefore He who has brought forth the Srutis or
the Vedas which contain such wonderful divine knowledge
must be all-knowledge and all-powerful.
The scriptures illumine all things like a search light.
Scripture is the source or the means of right knowledge
through which you have a comprehensive understanding of
the nature of Brahman. Srutis furnish information about
what is not known from other sources. It cannot be known
by other means of knowledge independently of the Srutis.
Brahman is formless, colourless, attributeless. Hence it
cannot be grasped by the senses by direct perception. You
can infer the existence of fire by its accompanying smoke
but Brahman cannot be established by inference or analogy,
because it is attributeless and there cannot be a second
thing which is similar to Brahman. Brahman is Infinite and
secondless. He who is ignorant of the Srutis cannot know
that Supreme Being. There are other means of knowledge also
which have got a place but they are not independent. They
supplement after Brahman is established by the Srutis.
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