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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
www.kobatirth.org
Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
522
Ātman and Moksa
the attribute (guna) of the soul and the possessor of the guna is (guņin). The Self extends through the whole body by means of its quality, viz., knowledge or consciousness. As the light of things abiding in one place ---such as gems, the sun, and, so on-is seen to extend to many places, so the consciousness of the Self dwelling in the heart pervades the entire body.' Thus Rāmānuja does not identify the soul with knowledge like Samkara who had made soul and knowledge identical. Rāmānuja, on the contrary, makes a distinction and maintains that the soul is different from knowledge and that the knowledge is a quality (guņa) that belongs to the (guņin) the subject. The soul is frequently designated as knowledge simply for the reason that knowlege is its essential quality and it cannot appear without knowledge. The jiva is thus, not consciousness itself but the knower (Far), the knowing subject. Its consciousness is not lost even during deep sleep. As Ghate says "The individual soul is the subject of consciousness or knower and not mere consciousness itself. It is, however, often called consciousness, simply because consciousness is its essential attribute. Even in the dreamless sleep though there is no consciousness of objects, still the sense of “I” (37672) persists "3 Rāmānuja holds that the consciousness is always there, but is felt only in the waking state when it relates to objects. Rāmānuja further
1 Ibid. 2.3.26. p. 549, Catuḥsūtri. a Ibid. 2. 3. 29, p. 550. 3 Ghate V. S. : Vedānta, p. 27.
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