Vedanta Sutra 4.4.11

bhAvam jaiminir vikalpAmananAt

11. Jaimini holds that, because the Scripture declares
thus, therefore the Mukta has a body, as the passage
declaring the optional possession of many bodies. - 548.

COMMENTARY

Jaimini holds the view that the Mukta has a body. Why? Because of the declaration of option in the scripture. In the Chandogya Upanishad [7.26.2], where the bhUmA vidyA is described, there is the following:-

tad eSa zlokaH:

na pazyo mRtyum pazyati,
na rogaM nota duHkhatAm;
sarvaM ha pazyaH pazyati,
sarvam Apnoti sarvazaH.

iti.

sa ekadhA bhavati, tridhA bhavati, paJcadhA saptadhA navadhA caiva punaz caikAdazaH smRtaH, zataM ca daza caikaz ca sahasrANi ca viMzatiH.

"There is this verse, 'The Released does not see death, not illness, nor pain. The Released sees everything and obtains everything everywhere. He is one, he becomes three, he becomes five, he becomes seven, he becomes nine, then again he is called the eleventh, and hundred and ten and one thousand and twenty."

The above shows that the soul can assume various bodies simultaneously, and as the soul is atomic in its essential form, its becoming many can be only by its assuming diverse bodies.

Nor can it be said that the above description of the Chandogya Upanishad is not a fact, but an arthavAda. Because the description comes under the topic of Release, and is a bare statement of truth, not a figurative expression. This being so, the statement of the Chandogya Upanishad [7.12.1] regarding the soul being bodiless, in the state of Mukti, means that it has no body dependent on adRiSTa or Karmas. That the soul has a body, not of PrAkRitik matter but of celestial essence, is proved by the smRiti text also: vasanti yatra puruSAH sarve-vaikuNTha murtayaH, "where dwell released souls, all having celestial bodies (Vaikuntha Murti)."

Now the author gives his own opinion in contradistinction to that of Badari and Jaimini.