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about those that have been liberated in the past, if any? Are they still in existence or have they totally The confusion is disappeared from all existence? further confounded by the doctrine of transmigration which Vedanta subscribes to. It is a vain endeavour to construct an infinity of transmigrating souls out of one solitary individual, or, what is the same thing in other words, from one partless individuality. If the Liberated Souls are all parts or phases or aspects of one and the same reality, are we not forced to the . conclusion that certain parts of a partless entity are liberated while certain others are still undergoing the pain and misery of repeated births and deaths? There can also be no significance of liberation if the liberated soul is to remain what it already is (not "thou wilt be that", but "thou art that").
These observations also apply to Sufi-ism which marks the nearest approach of Muslim speculation to Vedanta. The Shahudiaus, for instance, maintain that the alam (world) is a reflection of God,
METAPHYSICS
"A man enters a glass-house and sees himself reflected in a hundred directions. These reflections virtually depend on the man and have no existence of their own. The attributes and the ego of man are thus the reflection of the attributes and essence of God. The alam (the world) is the rupee of the juggler, which - in reality is a piece of pottery (a nothing); but by the skill of the juggler shows itself like the silver of the Thus everyrupee. thing is with him '." (The Philosophy of Islam, pp. 5 and 6).
We have already seen in our last lecture that the souls are eternal, being simple, that is to say indes.
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