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I ADHYAYA, 4 PÂDA, 3.
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pradhana doctrine. What we admit is, however, only a previous state dependent on the highest Lord, not an independent state. A previous stage of the world such as the one assumed by us must necessarily be admitted, since it is according to sense and reason. For without it the highest Lord could not be conceived as creator, as he could not become active if he were destitute of the potentiality of action. The existence of such a causal potentiality renders it moreover possible that the released souls should not enter on new courses of existence, as it is destroyed by perfect knowledge. For that causal potentiality is of the nature of Nescience; it is rightly denoted by the term 'undeveloped ;' it has the highest Lord for its substratum; it is of the nature of an illusion; it is a universal sleep in which are lying the transmigrating souls destitute for the time of the consciousness of their individual character. This undeveloped principle is sometimes denoted by the term åkåsa, ether; so, for instance, in the passage, 'In that Imperishable then, O Gârgî, the ether is woven like warp and woof' (Bri. Up. III, 8, 11). Sometimes, again, it is denoted by the term akshara, the Imperishable; so, for instance (Mu. Up. II, 1, 2), 'Higher, than the high Imperishable.' Sometimes it is spoken of as Måyå, illusion; so, for instance (Sve. Up. IV, 10), Know then Prakriti is Mâyâ, and the great Lord he who is affected with Måyå.' For Måyå is properly called undeveloped or non-manisested since it cannot be defined either as that which is or that which is not.—The statement of the Kathaka that 'the Undeveloped is beyond the Great
Nanu na bîgasaktir vidyaya dahyate vastutvâd âlmavan nety âha avidyeti. Kekit tu pratigîvam avidyasaktibhedam ikkhanti tan na avyakta vyakritâdisabdâyâs tasya bhedakâbhavad ekatve spi svasaktyâ vikitrakaryakaratyâd ity aha avyakteti. Na ka tasya gîvâsrayatvam givasabdavâkyasya kalpitatvad avidyârūpatvât takkhabdalakshyasya brahmâvyatirekâd ity âha paramesvareti. Mâyâvidyayor bhedad isvarasya mayasrayatvam gîvânâm avidyâsrayateti vadantam pratyâha mâyâmayîti. Yathâ mâyâvino mâyâ paratantra tathaishậpîty arthah. Pratîtau tasyâs ketanâpekshâm âha mahâsuptir iti. Ananda Giri.
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