Moreover, the distinctive qualities mentioned in the text agree only
with the individual Self and the highest Self. For in a subsequent
passage (I, 3, 3), 'Know the Self to be the charioteer, the body to be
the chariot,' which contains the simile of the chariot, the individual
soul is represented as a charioteer driving on through transmigratory
existence and final release, while the passage (9), 'He reaches the end
of his journey, and that is the highest place of Vish/n/u,' represents
the highest Self as the goal of the driver's course. And in a preceding
passage also, (I, 2, 12, 'The wise, who by means of meditation on his
Self, recognises the Ancient who is difficult to be seen, who has
entered into the dark, who is hidden in the cave, who dwells in the
abyss, as God, he indeed leaves joy and sorrow far behind,') the same
two beings are distinguished as thinker and as object of thought. The
highest Self is, moreover, the general topic. And further, the clause,
'Those who know Brahman call them,' &c., which brings forward a special
class of speakers, is in its place only if the highest Self is accepted
(as one of the two beings spoken of). It is therefore evident that the
passage under discussion refers to the individual soul and the highest
Self.
The same reasoning applies to the passage (Mu. Up. III, 1, 1), 'Two
birds, inseparable friends,' &c. There also the Self is the general
topic, and hence no two ordinary birds can be meant; we therefore
conclude from the characteristic mark of eating, mentioned in the
passage, 'One of them eats the sweet fruit,' that the individual soul is
meant, and from the characteristic marks of abstinence from eating and
of intelligence, implied in the words, 'The other looks on without
eating,' that the highest Self is meant. In a subsequent mantra again
the two are distinguished as the seer and the object of sight. 'Merged
into the same tree (as it were into water) man grieves at his own
impotence (anî/s/â), bewildered; but when he sees the other Lord
(î/s/a.) contented and knows his glory, then his grief passes away.'
Another (commentator) gives a different interpretation of the mantra,
'Two birds inseparable,' &c. To that mantra, he says, the final decision
of the present head of discussion does not apply, because it is
differently interpreted in the Pai@ngi-rahasya Brâhma/n/a. According to
the latter the being which eats the sweet fruit is the sattva; the other
being which looks on without eating, the individual soul (j/ñ/a); so
that the two are the sattva and the individual soul (kshetraj/ñ/a). The
objection that the word sattva might denote the individual soul, and the
word kshetraj/ñ/a, the highest Self, is to be met by the remark that, in
the first place, the words sattva and kshetraj/ñ/a have the settled
meaning of internal organ and individual soul, and are in the second
place, expressly so interpreted there, (viz. in the Pai@ngi-rahasya,)
'The sattva is that by means of which man sees dreams; the embodied one,
the seer, is the kshetraj/ñ/a; the two are therefore the internal organ
and the individual soul.' Nor does the mantra under discussion fall
under the pûrvapaksha propounded above. For it does not aim at setting
forth the embodied individual soul, in so far as it is characterised by
the attributes connected with the transmigratory state, such as acting
and enjoying; but in so far rather as it transcends all attributes
connected with the sa/m/sâra and is of the nature of Brahman, i.e. is
pure intelligence; as is evident from the clause, 'The other looks on
without eating.' That agrees, moreover, with /s/ruti and sm/ri/ti
passages, such as, 'That art thou,' and 'Know me also to be the
individual soul' (Bha. Gîtâ XIII, 2). Only on such an explanation of the
passage as the preceding one there is room for the declaration made in
the concluding passage of the section, 'These two are the sattva and the
kshetraj/ñ/a; to him indeed who knows this no impurity
attaches[142].'--But how can, on the above interpretation, the
non-intelligent sattva (i.e. the internal organ) be spoken of as an
enjoyer, as is actually done in the clause, 'One of them eats the sweet
fruit?'--The whole passage, we reply, does not aim at setting forth the
fact that the sattva is an enjoyer, but rather the fact that the
intelligent individual soul is not an enjoyer, but is of the nature of
Brahman. To that end[143] the passage under discussion metaphorically
ascribes the attribute of being an enjoyer to the internal organ, in so
far as it is modified by pleasure, pain, and the like. For all acting
and enjoying is at the bottom based on the non-discrimination (by the
soul) of the respective nature of internal organ and soul: while in
reality neither the internal organ nor the soul either act or enjoy; not
the former, because it is non-intelligent; not the latter, because it is
not capable of any modification. And the internal organ can be
considered as acting and enjoying, all the less as it is a mere
presentment of Nescience. In agreement with what we have here
maintained, Scripture ('For where there is as it were duality there one
sees the other,' &c.; B/ri/. Up. IV, 5, 15) declares that the practical
assumption of agents, and so on--comparable to the assumption of the
existence of elephants, and the like, seen in a dream--holds good in the
sphere of Nescience only; while the passage, 'But when the Self only is
all this, how should he see another?' declares that all that practically
postulated existence vanishes for him who has arrived at discriminative
knowledge.
13. The person within (the eye) (is Brahman) on account of the agreement
(of the attributes of that person with the nature of Brahman).
Scripture says, 'He spoke: The person that is seen in the eye that is
the Self. This is the immortal, the fearless, this is Brahman. Even
though they drop melted butter or water on it (the eye) it runs away on
both sides,' &c. (Ch. Up. IV, 15, 1).
The doubt here arises whether this passage refers to the reflected Self
which resides in the eye, or to the individual Self, or to the Self of
some deity which presides over the sense of sight, or to the Lord.
With reference to this doubt the pûrvapakshin argues as follows: What is
meant (by the person in the eye) is the reflected Self, i.e. the image
of a person (reflected in the eye of another): for of that it is well
known that it is seen, and the clause, 'The person that is seen in the
eye,' refers to it as something well known. Or else we may appropriately
take the passage as referring to the individual Self. For the individual
Self (cognitional Self, vij/ñ/ânâtman) which perceives the colours by
means of the eye is, on that account, in proximity to the eye; and,
moreover, the word 'Self' (which occurs in the passage) favours this
interpretation. Or else the passage is to be understood as referring to
the soul animating the sun which assists the sense of sight; compare the
passage (B/ri/. Up. V, 5, 2), 'He (the person in the sun) rests with his
rays in him (the person in the right eye).' Moreover, qualities such as
immortality and the like (which are ascribed to the subject of the
scriptural passage) may somehow belong to individual deities. The Lord,
on the other hand[144], cannot be meant, because a particular locality
is spoken of.
Against this we remark that the highest Lord only can be meant here by
the person within the eye.--Why?--'On account of the agreement.' For the
qualities mentioned in the passage accord with the nature of the highest
Lord. The quality of being the Self, in the first place, belongs to the
highest Lord in its primary (non-figurative or non-derived) sense, as we
know from such texts as 'That is the Self,' 'That art thou.' Immortality
and fearlessness again are often ascribed to him in Scripture. The
location in the eye also is in consonance with the nature of the highest
Lord. For just as the highest Lord whom Scripture declares to be free
from all evil is not stained by any imperfections, so the station of the
eye also is declared to be free from all stain, as we see from the
passage, 'Even though they drop melted butter or water on it it runs
away on both sides.' The statement, moreover, that he possesses the
qualities of sa/m/yadvâma, &c. can be reconciled with the highest Lord
only (Ch. Up. IV, 15, 2, 'They call him Sa/m/yadvâma, for all blessings
(vâma) go towards him (sa/m/yanti). He is also vâmanî, for he leads
(nayati) all blessings (vâma). He is also Bhâmanî, for he shines (bhâti)
in all worlds'). Therefore, on account of agreement, the person within
the eye is the highest Lord.