Is the soul, when it has reached the highest light and freed itself from
all bondage, conscious of itself as separate from the highest Self or as
non-separate in so far as being a mere 'mode' (prakâra) of that Self?--
The former view is the right one. For Scriptural and Smriti texts alike
declare that the released soul stands to the highest Self in the
relation of fellowship, equality, equality of attributes, and all this
implies consciousness of separation. Compare 'He attains all desires
together with the all-knowing Brahman' (Taitt. Up. II, 1, 1); 'When the
seer sees the shining maker, the Lord, the Person who has his source in
Brahman; then, possessing perfect knowledge, and shaking off good and
evil, free from all passions he reaches the highest equality' (Mu. Up.
III, 1, 3); 'Taking their stand upon this knowledge they, attaining to
an equality of attributes with me, are neither born at the time of a
creation nor are they agitated when a pralaya takes place' (Bha. Gî. XIV,
2).--Against this view the Sûtra declares itself 'in non-division.' The
released soul is conscious of itself as non-divided from the highest
Brahman. 'For this is seen,' i.e. for the soul having reached Brahman
and freed itself from the investment of Nescience sees itself in its
true nature. And this _true nature_ consists herein that the souls have
for their inner Self the highest Self while they constitute the body of
that Self and hence are _modes_ (prakâra) of it. This is proved by all
those texts which exhibit the soul and Brahman in co-ordination--'Thou
art that' 'this Self is Brahman'; 'In that all this has its Self'; 'All
this in truth is Brahman'; and by other texts, such as 'He who dwells
within the Self, whom the Self does not know, of whom the Self is the
body,' &c.; and 'He who abides within, the ruler of creatures, he is thy
Self; as explained by us under Sûtra I, 4, 22. The consciousness of the
released soul therefore expresses itself in the following form: 'I am
Brahman, without any division.' Where the texts speak of the soul's
becoming equal to, or having equal attributes with, Brahman, the meaning
is that the nature of the individual soul--which is a mere mode of
Brahman--is equal to that of Brahman, i.e. that on putting off its body
it becomes equal to Brahman in purity. The text declaring that the soul
'attains all its desires together with Brahman' intimates that the soul,
together with Brahman of which it is a mode, is conscious of the
attributes of Brahman. The different texts are thus in no conflict. Nor,
on this view of the soul being non-divided from Brahman in so far as
being its mode, is there any difficulty on account of what is said about
the soul under Sû. IV, 4, 8; or on account of the doctrines conveyed in
II, 1, 22; III, 4, 8.--Here terminates the adhikarana of 'non-division,
on account of its being seen.'
5. In (a nature like) that of Brahman, thus Jaimini thinks; on account
of suggestion and the rest.
Owing to the fact that different texts give different accounts, the
question now arises of what character that essential nature of the Self
is in which it manifests itself on reaching Brahman. Is that nature
constituted by freedom from evil and sin and the rest (i.e. the
attributes enumerated Ch. Up. VIII, 7, 1); or by mere intelligence
(vijñâna); or by both, there being no opposition between intelligence
and those other attributes?--The teacher Jaimini holds that the soul
manifests itself in its Brahman character, i.e. in a character
constituted by freedom from sin, and so on. These latter attributes are,
in the text of the 'small lotus,' mentioned as belonging to Brahman (Ch.
Up. VIII, 1, 5), and may hence be referred to as the 'Brahman' character.
And that this Brahman character is the character of the released soul
also follows from 'suggestion and the rest.' For freedom from all evil
and the rest are, in the teaching of Prajâpati, referred to as
attributes of the soul (VIII, 7, 1). The 'and the rest' of the Sûtra
refers to the activities of the released soul--laughing, playing,
rejoicing, and so on (mentioned in VIII, 12, 3)--which depend on the
power belonging to the soul in that state to realise all its ideas and
wishes. It is for these reasons that Jaimini holds that mere
intelligence does not constitute the true nature of the released soul.
6. In the sole nature of intelligence; as that is its Self. Thus
Audulomi thinks.
Intelligence (consciousness; kaitanya) alone is the true nature of the
soul, and hence it is in that character only that the released soul
manifests itself; this is the view of the teacher Audulomi. That
intelligence only constitutes the true being of the soul, we learn from
the express statement 'As a lump of salt has neither inside nor outside,
but is altogether a mass of taste; so this Self has neither inside nor
outside, but is altogether a mass of knowledge' (Bri. Up. IV, 5, 13).
When, therefore, the text attributes to the soul freedom from evil and
the rest, it does not mean to predicate of it further positive qualities,
but only to exclude all the qualities depending on avidyâ--change,
pleasure, pain, and so on--For these reasons Audulomi holds that the
released soul manifests itself as mere intelligence.--Next the teacher
Bâdarâyana determines the question by propounding his own view.
7. Thus also, on account of existence of the former qualities (as
proved) by suggestion, Bâdarayana holds absence of contradiction.
The teacher Bâdarâyana is of opinion that even thus, i.e. although the
text declares the soul to have mere intelligence for its essential
nature, all the same the previously stated attributes, viz. freedom from
all sin, and so on, are not to be excluded. For the authority of a
definite statement in the Upanishads proves them to exist ('That Self
which is free from sin,' &c.); and of authorities of equal strength one
cannot refute the other. Nor must you say that the case is one of
essential contradiction, and that hence we necessarily must conclude
that freedom from sin, and so on (do not belong to the true nature of
the soul, but) are the mere figments of Nescience (from which the
released soul is free). For as there is equal authority for both sides,
why should the contrary view not be held? (viz. that the soul is
essentially free from sin, &c., and that the kaitanya is non-essential.)
For the principle is that where two statements rest on equal authority,
that only which suffers from an intrinsic impossibility is to be
interpreted in a different way (i.e. different from what it means on the
face of it), so as not to conflict with the other. But while admitting
this we deny that the text which describes the Self as a mass of mere
knowledge implies that the nature of the Self comprises nothing whatever
but knowledge.--But what then is the purport of that text?--The meaning
is clear, we reply; the text teaches that the entire Self, different
from all that is non-sentient, is self-illumined, i.e. not even a small
part of it depends for its illumination on something else. The fact,
vouched for in this text, of the soul in its entirety being a mere mass
of knowledge in no way conflicts with the fact, vouched for by other
texts, of its possessing qualities such as freedom from sin and so on,
which inhere in it as the subject of those qualities; not any more than
the fact of the lump of salt being taste through and through--which fact
is known through the sense of taste--conflicts with the fact of its
possessing such other qualities as colour, hardness, and so on, which
are known through the eye and the other sense-organs. The meaning of the
entire text is as follows--just as the lump of salt has throughout one
and the same taste, while other sapid things such as mangoes and other
fruit have different tastes in their different parts, rind and so on; so
the soul is throughout of the nature of knowledge or self-illuminedness.--
Here terminates the adhikarana of 'that which is like Brahman.'