आवृत्तिरसकृदुपदेशात् । लिङ्गाच्च ।
āvṛttir asakṛd upadeśāt | liṅgāc ca |
(Vedānta-sūtra: 4.1.1–2)
“Repetition [of sādhana practices] should be done repeatedly because of instructions [to do so in the śāstra]. And because of indicators [i.e., because it is observed to be done repeatedly by mahājanas].”
Commentary
śravaṇāder āvṛttir āvaśyakī | … atrātma-sākṣātkāra-lakṣaṇasya dṛṣṭa-phalasya sambhavāt vaituṣya-dṛṣṭa-phalakāvaghātādivat phala-paryantaṁ śravaṇādy-āvartanīyam iti | … idam āvṛtti-vidhānam aparādha-sattvāpekṣayeti bodhyam |
(Excerpt from the Govinda-bhāṣya)
“Repetition of hearing and so forth is necessary. … Here, because of the possibility of a visible result in the form of realization of the Ātmā, hearing and so forth are to be repeated until the result [is attained], just like, for example, threshing [is repeated] until the visible result of unhusking occurs. … This injunction for repetition [furthermore] should be understood to be because of the existence of aparādha [i.e., simply engaging in the practices of śravaṇa and so forth once would result in realization of the Ātmā if the sādhaka were free from aparādha, so an injunction to perform such practices repeatedly must be understood to apply to those who are not free from aparādha].”