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INTRODUCTION
CIX
wara creates the world. His being a creator, his omniscience and omnipotence all depend on the limitations due to those very adjuncts whose nature is avıdya. From these passages extracted from Sankara Bhasya we have an idea of Sankara's philosophy. Ultimate reality is undivided and indivisible unity same as Upanishadıc Brahman. The several vedic gods are but fractional aspects of this. Sankara wants the reader not to confound his system with the Vedic theology. He clears away adhyasa or error. His system is a streneous atttempt at an accurate definition of atman. Through a very skilful dialectic all the qualities of the external. world are shown to be alien to Brahman Spatiality, objectivity, colour sound etc. all are with a psychological insight shown to be non-spiritual. By this process of elimination the essential nature of atman is clearly defined as Atman. It is the only thinking thing Chetanadravya. Thinking is not merely an attribute of the Self. Self is thought. Atman is Chit. Having gone thus far Sankara is tied down to a philosophical doctrine which appears to be inconsistent with his own standpoint and also with thought and general tradition. Such a result is probably due to the following reasons. The Upanishadic writers spoke of the Brahman as the spiritual essence the leaven which leavens all things. In these passages the doctrine of atman exactly corresponds to Cartesian thinking substance. The Upanishadic passages did not negate the reality of the phenomenal world. When Sankara took up the doctrine he was confronted with a difficulty. Sankara could not accept the naive Upanishadıc pantheism. He wants a clear definition of Atman. This naturally widened the gulf between subject and object. While these according to Upanishadic writers had vague common substratum. Not satisfied with this philosophic vagueness Sankara wanted to shift reality to the side of the subject or Chit. Hence Sankara not only finds atman identical with Chit but it is also identical with existence or Sat. If the Brahman is the soul and if the soul is the Brahman then the Sat must be Chit-existence and thought must be identical. If existence and thought are absolutely identical then anything other than thought will be unreal or Asat. The objective world is not Chit or thought. Hence it cannot be real or Sat. Sankara is compelled to pro
