श्रुतत्वाच्च ॥ ११ ॥
śrutatvācca || 11 ||
śrutatvāt—Being declared by the Vedas; ca—also.
11. (The all-knowing Brahman alone is the First Cause of this world) because (it is so known directly) from the Vedas also.
“He is the Cause, the Lord of the ruler of the sense organs (Jivatman) and has neither parent nor Lord’ (Svet. 6. 9)—where ‘He’ refers to the all-knowing Lord described in that chapter.
Therefore it is established that the omniscient, omnipotent Brahman is the First Cause and not the insentient Pradhana or anything else.
From Sutra 12 onwards till practically the end of the first chapter a new topic is taken up for discussion, viz. whether certain terms found in the Upanishads are used in their ordinary sense? or as referring to Brahman. Again the Upanishads speak of two types of Brahman, the Nirguna or Brahman without attributes and the Saguna or Brahman with attributes. It is the latter which is within the domain of Nescience and is the object of meditation (Upasana). which is of different kinds yielding different results; while the Nirguna Brahman, which is free from all imaginary limiting adjuncts of the other type is the object of Knowledge. Meditation on the Saguna Brahman cannot lead to immediate Liberation. It can at best lead to gradual Liberation (Krama-Mukti). The knowledge of the Nirguna Brahman alone leads to immediate Liberation. Now in many places in the Upanishads Brahman is described apparently with qualifying adjuncts; yet the scriptures say that the knowledge of that Brahman leads to immediate Liberation. If Brahman is worshipped as limited by those adjuncts, it cannot lead to such Liberation. But if these qualifying adjuncts are regarded as not being ultimately aimed at by the Sruti, but used merely as indicative of Brahman, then these very texts would refer to the Nirguna Brahman and Liberation would be the immediate result of knowing that Brahman. So by reasoning we have to arrive at a conclusion as to the true significance of these texts, which obviously have a doubtful import.
The issue of the Saguna and Nirguna Brahman as shown above is not, however, kept up all through, for in many places it is not between them but between the Saguna Brahman and the individual soul or something else.