________________
404 Jiva Gosrāmī and Baladeva Vidyābhūsaņa [CH. ated with it. If the whole were entirely different from the parts, the parts would have nothing to do with the whole; if the parts were inherent in the whole, then any part would be found anywhere in the whole. Therefore the relation between the parts and the whole is of a supra-logical nature. From this position the author of the Șat-sandarbha jumps to the conclusion that, wherever there is an appearance of any whole, such an appearance is due to the manifestation of Paramātman, which is the ultimate cause and the ultimate reality (tasmās aikya-buddhyālambana-rūpam yat pratīyate tat sarvatra paramātma-lakṣaṇam sarvakāraṇam asty eva, p. 252). All manifestations of separate wholes are, therefore, false appearances due to similarity; for wherever there is a whole there is the manifestation of God. In this way the whole universe may be regarded as one, and thus all duality is false?
Just as fire is different from wood, the spark and the smoke (though the latter two are often falsely regarded as being identical with the fire), so the self, as the separate perceiver called Bhagavān or Brahman, is also different from the five elements (the senses, the antahkarana and the pradhāna) which together pass by the name of jiva.
Those who have their minds fixed on the Supreme Soul (Paramātman) and look upon the world as its manifestation thereby perceive only the element of ultimate reality in it; whereas those who are not accustomed to look upon the world as the manifestation of the supreme soul perceive it only as the effect of ignorance; thus to them the Paramātman, who pervades the world as the abiding Reality, does not show Himself to be such. Those who traffic in pure gold attach no importance to the various forms in which the gold may appear (bangles, necklaces and the like), because their chief interest lies in pure gold; whereas there are others whose chief interest is not pure gold, but only its varied unreal forms. This world is brought into being by God through His inherent power working upon Himself as the material cause; as the world is brought
tasmāt sarvaikya-buddhi-nidānāt pythag dehaikya-buddhiḥ sādrśyabhramaḥ syāt, pūrvāparāvayavānusandhāne sati parasparam āsayaikatra-sthitatvenā'vayavatusádhāranyena caikyasādrśyāt praty-avayavam ekatayā pratiteh, so'yam deha iti bhrama eva bhavati'ty arthaḥ, prati-zykşam tad idam vanam itirat.
Şat-sandarbha, p. 253. yatholmukāt visphulingad dhūmād api svasambhavät apy åtmatvena vimatād yathāgniḥ prthag ulmukāt bhütendriyāntahkaranāt pradhānūj-jiva-samjñität ātmā tathā prthag drastā bhagavān brahma-samjñitaḥ. Ibid. p. 254.
