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THE PHILOSOPHY OF ISHVARA
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they are identical substantially; but when formed, and so long as the form remains, they are separate and different; the clay-mouse can never become a clay-elephant, because, as manifestations, form alone makes them what they are, though as unformed clay they are all one. Ishvara is the highest manifestation of the Absolute Reality, or, in other words, the highest possible reading of the Absolute by the human mind. Creation is eternal and so also is Ishvara.
In the fourth Pâda of the fourth chapter of his Sutras, after stating the almost infinite power and knowledge which will come to the liberated soul after the attainment of Moksha, Vyasa makes the remark, in an aphorism, that none, however, will get the power of creating, ruling, and dissolving the universe, because that belongs to God alone. In explaining the Sutra it is easy for the dualistic commentators to show how it is ever impossible for a subordinate soul, Jiva, to have the infinite power and total independence of God. The thorough dualistic commentator Madhwâchârya deals with this passage in his usual summary method by quoting a verse from the Varâha-Purâna.
In explaining this aphorism the commentator Ramanuja says:-"This doubt being raised, whether among the powers of the liberated souls is included that unique power of the Supreme One, that is, of creation, etc., of the universe and even the Lordship of all, or whether, without that, the glory of the liberated consists only in the direct perception of the
