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614
VEDÂNTA-SÚTRAS.
between the thing compared (the highest Self) and the thing to which it is compared (the reflected image).
20. The participation (on Brahman's part) in increase and decrease, due to its abiding within (is denied); on account of the appropriateness of both (comparisons), and because thus it is seen.
The comparison of the highest Self to the reflected sun and the rest is meant only to deny of the Self that it participates in the imperfections such as increase, decrease, and the like-which attach to the earth and the other beings within which the Self abides.—How do we know this ?—From the circumstance that on this supposition both comparisons are appropriate. In the scriptural text quoted above Brahman is compared to ether, which although one becomes manifold through the things-jars and so on—within it; and to the sun, which is multiplied by the sheets of water in which he is reflected. Now the employment of these comparisons—with ether which really does abide within the jars and so on, and with the sun which in reality does not abide in the water-is appropriate only if they are meant to convey the idea that the highest Self does not participate in the imperfections inherent in earth and so on. Just as ether, although connecting itself separately with jars, pots, and so on, which undergo increase and decrease, is not itself touched by these imperfections; and just as the sun, although seen in sheets of water of unequal extent, is not touched by their increase and decrease ; thus the highest Self, although abiding within variously-shaped beings, whether non-sentient like earth or sentient, remains untouched by their various imperfections—increase, decrease, and so on-, remains one although abiding in all of them, and ever keeps the treasure of its blessed qualities unsullied by an atom even of impurity.The comparison of Brahman with the reflected sun holds good on the following account. As the sun is not touched by the imperfections belonging to the water, since he does not really abide in the water and hence there is no reason for his sharing those imperfections, thus the highest Self,
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