Key of Knowledge

SR No.: 006702
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Champat Rai Jain
Publisher: ZZZ Unknown
Publication Year: 1919
Total Pages: 1204
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 25 MB

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THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
God is but One, and within and without the universe, where is there room for a second to come in? It is in this sense that Vivekananda maintains :
“There is but one Soul in the universe, not two. It neither comes nor goes. It neither reincarnates, nor dies, nor is reborn. How can it? How to die? Where to go? Where am .I' not already ?" (Swami Vivekananda on Atman.)
The argument that because the contents of different minds are different, therefore, every mind is a separate entity or spirit in itself, does not find favour with Vedanta, on the ground that they differ only in respect of their contents, not with regard to their nature or essence, showing that consciousness is common to all minds, and, for that reason, only one and all-pervading. In dreaming, too, urges Vedanta, it appears that the contents of individual minds are different from one another, yet when we wake up we discover that the variety of minds and contents was an illusion, pure and simple, and that it was the mind of the dreamer which alone was the reservoir of consciousness for all the multitude of minds in the dream.
Such is the nature of the argument wbich Vedanta advances in support of its philosophy. What is meant by soul in Vedanta is not a self-existent unit of consciousness, but a very fine and enduring body, the sukshma sharira, which is the vehicle of transmigration. Selfconsciousness is, however, not regarded as the property of even this extremely subtle body, but is said to be the lustre which it borrows from the Essence of Consciousness.
In this manner does Vedanta proceed to establish its monistic doctrine. It first of all eliminates the