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180 Saiva Philosophy in some Important Texts (CH. delusive statements. So God alone is both the instrumental and the substantial cause of the world, and the world as such is not false as the Sankarites suppose.
In the same way, the supposition that Iśvara or the jīva represents a being which is nothing else but Brahman as reflected through avidyā or māyā is also untenable. The so-called reflecting medium may be conditional or natural. Such a condition may be the māyā, avidyā or the antaḥkarana. The condition cannot be gross, for in that case transmigration to the other world would not be possible. The idea of reflection is also untenable, for the Brahman has no colour and therefore it cannot be reflected and made into Isvara. That which is formless cannot be reflected. Again if Isvara or jīva is regarded as a reflection in māyā or avidyā, then the destruction of māyā or avidyā would mean the destruction of God and of the individual soul. In the same way Srīpati tries to refute the theory of avaccheda or limitations, which holds that the pure consciousness as qualified or objectively limited by the mind would constitute the individual soul; for in that case any kind of limitation of consciousness such as we find in all material objects would entitle them to the position of being treated as individual souls.
The qualities of production and destruction, etc., belong to the world and not to Brahman. How then can the production and destruction of the world, of which God is the source, be described as being a defining characteristic of Brahman? The reply is that it cannot be regarded as an essential defining characteristic (svarūpalakṣaṇa), but only as indicative of Brahman as being the source of the world, so that even if there is no world, that would not in any way affect the reality of existence of God. This is what is meant by saying that the present definition (1. 1. 2), is not a svarūpa-lakṣaṇa, but only taţastha-lakṣaṇa. Siva alone is the creator of the world and the world is maintained in Him and it is dissolved back into Him.
In commenting upon the Brahma-sūtra 1. 1. 3, Śrīpati follows the traditional line, but holds that the Vedas were created by God, Siva, and that all the texts of the Vedas are definitely intended for the glorification of Siva. This is, of course, against the Mīmāṁsā view that the Vedas are eternal and uncreated, but it agrees with Sankara's interpretation that the Vedas were created by Iśvara. In Sankara's system Iśvara is only a super-illusion formed by the
