Second Section (द्वितीयः परिच्छेदः)
Om.
“Brahmā, Śiva, and the gods beginning with them are perishable because their bodies decay. Lakṣmī is imperishable because she has an imperishable body; Hari is superior to her. By his limitlessness in independence, power, knowledge, bliss, and all other qualities, they are all indeed always subject to him. He alone can effect the creation, maintenance, destruction, control, illumination, concealment, and bondage of all perishables, and the liberation of the sāttvika beings. With respect to the imperishable one, he bestows creation, maintenance, control, illumination, and eternal bliss; he also bestows activity upon all. Hari alone is supreme. No one else is the agent of creation or the other functions with respect to him, and he is faultless.”
Thus says the Parama Śruti.
Brahmā, Śeṣa, Suparṇa, Īśa, Śakra, Sūrya, Guha, and all the others are perishable; but Śrī alone is imperishable, and Hari is higher than her.
Thus, in the Skānda.
“Whomever I desire, I make that person formidable, a brahman-priest, a seer, and wise. For Rudra I stretch the bow, so that the arrow may indeed slay the hater of sacred formulation. I make conflict for the people; I have entered heaven and earth. I bring forth the father at the summit of this world. My womb is in the waters, within the ocean.” — Rigveda Samhita 10/125/5-7
“Whom the seers discern within the ocean; creatures are in that supreme imperishable. From whom the source of the world was born, he sent forth living beings on the earth through water. Which entered human beings and animals through plants, as well as moving and stationary beings. Indeed, there is nothing else subtler or higher than this—the one higher than the high and greater than the great; the one, unmanifest, of infinite forms, the All, ancient, beyond darkness. They call that alone ṛta and that indeed truth; that alone is the seers’ supreme Brahman.” — Mahānārāyaṇa Upaniṣad 1/3-6
“The branches of this bounteous god, of swift-moving Viṣṇu, at the presentation with oblations; for Rudra knows Rudra’s own greatness. May you two, O Aśvins, travel a path rich in nourishment.” — Ṛgveda Saṃhitā 7/40/5 “The Moon was born from the mind, and the Sun was born from the eye. From the mouth came Indra and Agni, and from the vital breath Vāyu was born.” — Ṛgveda Saṃhitā 10/90/13
“Nārāyaṇa alone existed—not Brahmā, not Īśāna, not Agni and Soma, nor these two, Heaven and Earth.” — Mahopaniṣad 1
Nārāyaṇa alone existed—not Brahmā, nor Śaṅkara. Having become a sage, he reflected. Then these were born: Viśva, Hiraṇyagarbha, Agni, Yama, Varuṇa, Rudra, and Indra.
Vāsudeva indeed was all this in the beginning; Brahmā was not, nor was Śaṅkara—neither Indra nor Sūrya, nor Guha, nor Soma, nor Vināyaka.
and from śruti passages beginning thus.
“There is nothing higher than whom; something inferior exists.” — Śvetāśvataropaniṣad 3/9
Here too, the meaning is precisely, “Something inferior exists.” Otherwise…
“By him, this is filled.” — Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 3/9
“That which is still higher than that is formless and free from affliction.” — Śvetāśvataropaniṣad 3/10
because this conflicts with the continuation of the passage.
“By him, this…” — Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 3/9
Thus indeed it is stated.
“Than that …” — Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 3/10
It is referred back to in this way. Otherwise …
“Than whom no higher…” — Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 3/9
because this contradicts the statement, “thus.”
Him whom all names enter, they indeed declare to be the supreme Viṣṇu.
All names belong to him alone, who is distinct from everything. He who is always the sole independent one—he, Viṣṇu, is held to be supreme.
From śruti passages such as these, it follows that names belonging to others are his alone; lordship over all and the like are not stated of others. For in all the Vedas he is declared faultless, his nonexistence in the beginning is not stated, and that nonexistence is stated of all the others in all the Vedas; and it is not stated that all names belong to them.
“Vāsudeva’s origination is manifestation and nothing else. The bodily origination of those other than Him—Brahmā and the rest—is through His prompting. Hari’s body is beginningless and eternal; those of Brahmā and the rest are non-eternal. Origination in the primary sense belongs to those other than Him; Hari’s birth is manifestation.”
And thus also from the Paramaśruti.
Thus ends the Second Section of the Śrī Viṣṇutattvanirṇaya, composed by the venerable Ānandatīrtha Bhagavatpāda.
