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Philosophy and Life
111
even beyond the body, sense-orgens, breath and internal-organs there is an element which is an object of self-experience and is really l’. This l'is not something amenable to cognition on the part of a mere sense-oigan or internal-organ, but lying still deeper it is an object of cognition on its own part. When this much becomes clear to him then the differentiating coverage or imposition of the form of body, breath etc, is removed from before him and he realizes that just as his own 'l', even while residing in. side body etc., is of the form of a conscious soul lying beyond these body etc. so is also the case with the 'I' belonging to each and every living being. When this occurs then either of the two ideas gets a steady hold over him. Thus either he begins to regard his own conscious soul as akin to 'I' belonging to each and every living being -- that is, looks at the entire mass of living beings as something similar to himself to put it in Sanskrit, ātmavat sarvabbūteşu) -- or he begins to regard his own conscious soul as essentially non-different from l' belonging to the mass of living be. ings. This latter view of looking at things constitutes the idea of nondifference or idea-pertaining-to-Brahma (to put it in Sanskrit, saryam khalv idam brahma).
“Whatever is inside body the same is inside the world' – in conformity to this dictum just as a conscious soul lying deeper than body, senseorgan, breath etc. resides in the aggregate of body etc. similarly there ought to exist an all-pervading conscious soul which lies deeper than the gross elements like earth, water etc. constituting the gross world and deeper than the even subtler elements like air, ether and conscious souls. If there exists a conscious soul inside each and every body then why should there not exist inside the entire universe a conscious-soul which is even more noble and all-pervading ? In the absence of a conscious-soul of the latter type how should it be possible at all for the world to make a move in an intelligent fashion ? On account of tbis consideration the idea of the exist, ence of a Great Element lying at the root of the world as a whole too occupied a strong position within the fold of pbilosophical discipline, This idea constitutes the foundation of the position that one soul is non-different from another soul. Thus the idea that all souls are similar arising out of a consideration of body and the idea that all souls are one arising out of a consideration of the world - these two chief thought-currents alone bave provided inspiration to the philosophical discipline,
The view that all souls are similar gave currency in life to the feeling of equality, the view that all souls are one gave currency to the feeling of world-unity or the feeling of being one with Brahman. Both these feelings in common ultimately lend support to non-violence. Unless non-violence is given a corporate form in human life both these feelings remain but
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