________________
I ADHYAYA, I PÂDA; 1.
essential nature, which is knowledge, but view themselves as having the character of material things. The outcome of all this is that we have to cognise Brahman as carrying plurality within itself, and the world, which is the manifestation of his power, as something real.
When now the text, in the sloka'where all difference has vanished '(Vi. Pu. VI, 7, 53), declares that the Self, although connected with the different effects of Prakriti, such as divine, human bodies, and so on, yet is essentially free from all such distinctions, and therefore not the object of the words denoting those different classes of beings, but to be defined as mere knowledge and Being ; to be known by the Self and not to be reached by the mind of the practitioner of Yoga (yogayug); this must in no way be understood as denying the reality of the world. But how is this known ? As follows, we reply. The chapter of the Purana in which that sloka occurs at first declares concentration (Yoga) to be the remedy of all the afflictions of the Samsara ; thereupon explains the different stages of Yoga up to the so-called pratyahara (complete restraining of the senses from receiving external impressions); then, in order to teach the attainment of the perfect object' (subhasraya) required for dhåranå, declares that the highest Brahman, i.e. Vishnu, possesses two forms, called powers (sakti), viz, a defined one (marta) and an undefined one (amarta); and then teaches that a portion of the defined' form, viz. the embodied soul (kshetragña), which is distinguished by its connexion with matter and involved in Nescience-that is termed'action,' and constitutes a third power-is not perfect. The chapter further teaches that a portion of the undefined form which is free from Nescience called action, separated from all matter, and possessing the character of pure knowledge, is also not the perfect object,' since it is destitute of essential purity; and, finally, declares that the 'perfect object' is to be found in that defined form which is special to Bhagavat, and which is the abode of the three powers, viz. that non-defined form which is the highest power, that non-defined form which is termed embodied soul, and constitutes the secondary (apara) power, and
Digitized by
Digitized by Google