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CONSCIOUSNESS IS THE DIFFERENTIA OF THE SOUL
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From the point of view of its pure nature the soul is incorporeal. Again it is contended that, if the soul becomes one with the body because of the influence of karma, then it cannot be considered separate from the body. But it is not so. Though the soul is one with the body in the embodied state, it is different from the body because of its distinctive characteristics. It has been said so in the scripture. “From the point of view of bondage, the soul is one with the body. Still it is different from the body bocause of its distinguishing characteristic. Hence the incorporeal nature of the soul is predicated in a non-absolutistic or relativistic sense only. From one point of view it is incorporeal. But from another point of view it is not incorporeal.”
If so let the distinguishing characteristic of the soul be mentioned.
उपयोगो लक्षणम् Upayogo laksanam
(8) 8. Consciousness is the differentia (distinctive characteristic) of the soul.
That, which arises from both internal and external causes and concomitant with consciousness, is upayoga (active or attentive consciousness). By this the soul is distinguished from the body, though it is one with the body from the point of view of bondage, just as gold and silver are distinct by their colour etc. though mixed together. The divisions of consciousness are described next
स द्विविधोऽष्टचतुभेदः Sa dvividho astacaturbhedaḥ
(9) 9. Consciousness is of two kinds. And these in turn are of eight and four kinds respectively.
Consciousness is of two kinds, knowledge and perception. Knowledge is of eight kinds, sensory knowledge, scriptural knowledge, clairvoyance, telepathy, omniscience, wrong sensory knowledge, wrong scriptural knowledge and wrong clairvoyance. Perception is of four kinds, perception through the
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