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242 :: Structure and Functions of Soul in Jainism
real and the unreal would be impracticable without their common basis in the category of being."! This implies that the two worlds and their common basis must be simultaneously true. Perhaps for some similar reasons Rāmānuja and Aurobindo both think of māyā to be a real power of Brahma. It seems that all the differences and distinctions in the absolute have been summed up under the term māyā, and then māyā is held responsible for their existence and perceptions. The very fact that the empirical world is not a chaos gives a hint that it is not based on something absolutely unreal. There must be something in the Absolute itself which accounts for distinctions. Consciousness, existence and bliss are not random ascriptions of the absolute, it is the absolute itself which gives us these three views along with its all inclusiveness. The absolute is one in such a way that it takes the manifold into its womb.
A satisfactory description of the absolute, it is said, is effected by the term neti, i.e., not this. It is true that whatever we predicate of the absolute does not give us a full picture of the absolute; but it cannot be held absolutely false. The truth that is seen in such predications is due to the absolute itself. Existence, consciousness and bliss do not give an absolutely false description of the absolute. A.C. Mukerjee thinks that satyam-sivam-sundaram (true, good and beautiful) is the fittest description of the absolute.? He further holds: "It is true that the absolute is indescribable; but in spite of this it may be indirectly described by using the highest categories of thought when the latter are not taken in their individual meaning." The same fact is further confirmed in the following words. “We cannot be said to advance a single step in the way of establishing the truth of the absolute by raising it entirely above all categories. Samkara's absolute is not such a transcendent principle, though it is
1. Ibid., p. 268 2. Ibid., p. 265 3. Ibid., p. 267
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