________________
214
VEDÂNTA-SOTRAS.
by means of their different characteristic attributes, says in the end 'knowledge and non-knowledge,' meaning thereby that which possesses the attribute of knowledge and that which does not. An analogous case is met with in the so-called antaryami-brahmana (Bri. Up. III, 74 There the Kanvas read, 'He who dwells in knowledge' (vigñana; III, 7, 16), but instead of this the Madhyandinas read 'he who dwells in the Self,' and so make clear that what the Kaxvas designate as 'knowledge' really is the knowing Sell.That the word vigñana, although denoting the knowing Self, yet has a neuter termination, is meant to denote it as something substantial. We hence conclude that he who is different from the Self consisting of knowledge, ie. the individual Self, is the highest Self which consists of bliss.
It is true indeed that the sloka, Knowledge performs the sacrifice,' directly mentions knowledge only, not the knowing Self; all the same we have to understand that what is meant is the latter, who is referred to in the clause, different from this is the inner Self which consists of knowledge.' This conclusion is supported by the sloka referring to the Self which consists of food (II, 2); for that sloka refers to food only, 'From food are produced all creatures,' &c., all the same the preceding clause 'this man consists of the essence of food' does not refer to food, but to an effect of it which consists of food. Considering all this the Satrakâra himself in a subsequent Sutra (I, 1, 18) bases his view on the declaration, in the scriptural text, of difference. We now turn to the assertion, made by the Pârvapakshin, that the cause of the world is not different from the individual soul because in two Khåndogya passages it is exhibited in co-ordination with the latter having entered into them with this living Sell,''Thou art that'); and that hence the introductory clause of the Taitt. passage ( He who knows Brahman reaches the Highest ') refers to the individual soul-which further on is called 'consisting of bliss,' because it is free from all that is not pleasure.—This view cannot be upheld; for although the individual soul is intelligent, it is incapable of producing through its volition this infinite and wonderful Universe-a process described in texts such
Digitized by
Digitized by Google