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The Sankara School of Vedanta
[CH.
manas, which is of the stuff of pure sattva: on the occasion of sense-object contact this manas, being propelled by the moral destiny (adṛṣṭādi-kṣubdham), transforms itself into the form of a long ray reaching to the object itself1. The pure consciousness, as conditioned or limited by the antaḥkarana (antaḥkaraṇāvacchinnam caitanyam), does by such a process remove its veil of avidyā, (though in its limited condition as individual soul this avidya formed its own body), and the object also being in contact with it is manifested by the same process. The two manifestations of the subject and the object, having taken place in the same process (vṛtti) there, are joined together in the same cognition as "this object is known by me" (vṛtter ubhayasamlagnatvāc ca tad-abhivyakta-caitanyasyāpi tathātvena mayedam viditam iti samśleṣa-pratyayaḥ); and, as its other effect, the consciousness limited by the antaḥkaraṇa, transformed into the form of the process (vṛtti) of right knowledge (pramā), appears as the cognizer (vṛtti-lakṣaṇa-pramāśrayāntaḥkaraṇāvacchinnas tat-pramātetyapi vyapadiśyate)2. The object also attains a new status in being manifested and is thus known as the object (karma-kārakābhivyaktam ca tat prakāśātmanā phalavyapadeśa-bhāk). In reality it is the underlying consciousness that manifests the vṛtti transformation of the antaḥkarana; but, as it is illusorily identified with the antaḥkarana (antaḥkaraṇa-caitanyayor aikyādhyāsāt), like fire and iron in the heated iron, it is also identified with the vṛtti transformation of the antaḥkarana, and, as the vṛtti becomes superimposed on the object, by manifesting the vṛtti it also manifests the object, and thus apart from the subjective illumination as awareness, there is also the objective fact of an illumination of the object (evam vṛtti-vyañjakam api taptăyah-pinda-nyayena tad-ekatām ivāptam vṛttivad-viṣaya-prākaṭyātmana sampadyate)3. The moments in the cognitive process in perception according to Rāmādvaya may thus be described. The
the self as the only reality which through avidya manifests itself as individual souls and with its removal reveals itself in its real nature in right knowledge as parameśvara, just as an illusory snake shows itself as a piece of rope. Parameśvara, the eternal unchangeable and upholding consciousness, is the one reality which, like a magician, appears as many through avidya. There is no consciousness other than this (eka eva paramesvaraḥ kūṭastha-nityo vijñāna-dhātur avidyayāmāyayā māyāvivad anekadhā vibhāvyate nānyo vijñāna-dhātur asti).
1 This passage seems to be borrowed directly from the Prakaṭārtha, as may be inferred from their verbal agreement. But it may well be that both the Vedantakaumudi and the Prakaṭārtha borrowed it from the Pañca-padikā-vivaraṇa.
2 Vedanta-kaumudi, MS. transcript copy, p. 36.
3 Ibid. p. 37.
