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408 OUTLINES OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY Bhagavata religion. He is also known as Para or the Supreme. In this form he dwells in his own citadel Vaikuntha which, as we said, occupies a corner in the domain of nitya-vibhūti. He manifests himself in various ways to help his devotees: One of the most important is known as vyuha. It is fourfold: Vasudeva-a differentiation within Para Vasudeva and therefore to be distinguished from him-Samkarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha. They are all incomplete manifestations, and God appears in them in different garbs. Another way in which the Supreme manifests himself is as
vatārs (p. 98) which are well known. They are classed together as vibhava. Still another manifestation is known as the antaryamin whose presence within is common to all the jivas and who guides them like a friend. It is God incorporate-possessing a rūpa—and should be distinguished from the one referred to above which bears the same name and which, as taught in the Brhadaranyaka Upanişad, is the essence (svarüpa) of God.3 The last of the manifestations, called arcāvatāra, is as holy idols worshipped in sacred places like Srirangam.
Now as regards the success with which the two teachings have been assimilated here: The attempt, so far as it aims at identifying the ultimate of philosophy with the ultimate of religion, has its undoubted excellences. But it is one thing to think of the two as the same and quite another to try combining a particular philosophic doctrine with a particular religious creed. The theistic creed that finds place in the present synthesis had, as the result of its long history, developed a host of concrete details, not all of which for lack of adequate rational support could fuse with philosophy. The philosophic doctrine included in it was, on the other hand, the result of one of the most daring speculations in the whole field of thought; and its conception of Reality was the least personal. Hence there are some discrepancies in the doctrine resulting from the synthesis, such as those we had occasion to mention in speaking of the notions of antaryāmin and nitya-vibhūti. Another instance of the Yatindra-mata-dipika, p. 88.
II. vii. 3 See Rahasya-traya-sära, v. Pp. 283-4.
