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THE SYSTEMS OF INDIAN PHILOSOPHY
usual gods of the Veda. This Brahma is reached by the pious on the path of the gods; he can be worshipped and it is he who rewards the pious for their good works. Still, even he is in that character the result of TET (ignorance, nescience), of the same ignorance which prevents the soul of man, the 3HT, from distinguishing itself from its incumbrances, the so-called 341157s such as body, the organs of sense and their works.
(i) This nescience can be removed by knowledge only and this knowledge is imparted by the Vedanta which shows that all our ordinary knowledge is simply the result of ignorance or nescience, is uncertain, deceitful and perishable or, as we should say, phenomenal, relative and conditioned. The true knowledge called arreta or complete insight cannot be gained by sensuous perception (417) or by inference 3774FT, nor can obedience to the law of the Veda produce more than temporary enlightenment or happiness. According to the orthodox Vedanta, sa alone or what is called revelation can impart that knowledge and remove that nescience which is innate in human nature.
(i) Of the higher Brahma nothing can be predicated but that it is and that through our nescience it appears to be this or that.
When a great Vedantist was asked to describe Brahma, he was simply silent--that was his answer. But when it is said that Brahma is, that means at the same time that Brahma is not, that is to say, that Brahma is nothing of what is supposed to exist in our sensuous perceptions.
There are two other qualities which may safely be assigned to Brahma, namely, that it is intelligent and that it is blissful, or rather that it is intelligence and
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