Vedanta Sutra 4.4.10

Adhikarana VII.

Now the author shows that the Mukta gets a new Divine body.

Doubt: There arises the following doubt. Has the Mukta who has approached the Highest Light got any body, or has he not? Or has he a body whenever he desires to have one? Or can he not get any body?

Purvapaksa: On this point, the author first gives the opinion of Badari.

abhAvam bAdarir Aha hy evam

10. Badari (opines that the Mukta Jiva) has no
body, because thus the scripture declares. - 547.

COMMENTARY

Badari holds that there is an absence of body with regard to the freed. The body is always the outcome of one's good or bad or mixed Karmas. It is adRiSTa-made. In the state of Release, all Karmas being destroyed, there exists no adRiSTa, so there is no possibility of the origination of a body. Why? Because the Scripture declares thus: because the text of the Chandogya [8.12.1] says so.

maghavan, martyaM vA idam zarIram Attam mRtyunA, tad asyAmRtasyAzarIrasyAtmano'dhiSThanam, Atto vai sazarIraH, priyApriyAbhyAm, na vai sazarIrasya sataH priyApriyayor apahatir asti, azarIraM vA va santaM na priyApriye spRzataH.

azarIro vAyuH, abhram, vidyut, sthanayitnur azarIrANy etAni, tad yathaitAny amuSmAd AkAzAt samutthAya paraM jyotir upasampadya svena svena rUpeNAbhiniSpadyante.
evam evaiSa samprasAdo'smAc charIrAt samutthAya paraM jyotir upasampadya svena rUpeNAbhiniSpadyate, sa uttamaH puruSaH, sa tatra paryeti, jakSat krIDan ramamANaH strIbhir vA yAnair vA jJAtibhir vA nopajanaM smarann idaM zarIram: sa yathA prayogya AcaraNe yuktaH, evam evAyam asmin zarIre prANo yuktaH

"Maghavat, this body is mortal and always held by death. It is the abode of that Self which is immortal and without body. When in the body (by thinking this body is I amd I am this body) the Self is heald by pleasure and pain. But when he is free of the body (when he knows himself different from the body), then neither pleasure nor pain touches him.
"The wind is without body, the cloud, lightning, and thunder are without body, (without hands, feet, etc). Now as these arising from this heavenly ether (space), appear in their own form, as soon as they have approached the highest light.
"Thus does that serene being, arising from this body, appear in its own form, as soon as it approaches the Highest Light. He (in that state) is the highest person (uttama pUruSa). He moves about there laughing (or eating), playing, and rejoicing (in his mind), be it with women, carriages, or relatives, never minding the body into which he was born."

The above passage in the first verse shows that wherever there is a body, there must be pain. It, therefore, says further on "when the soul goes out of the body," etc., then it is above all pain, etc. Thus the Chandogya Upanishad clearly says that the soul in the state of Mukti is bodiless.

The Bhagavata Purana also says:-

"The dwellers of the city of Vaikuntha, devoid
of life-breaths, sense-organs and body."

This is the opinion of the sage Badari. The author next quotes the opinion of Jaimini.