English
The fourth part, called Pray oj ana imports, that this part of the Vedanta was written to destroy completely that illusion by which this body and this organized world were formed, and to point out the means of obtaining [re-union to] the ever- blessed Bramha. This is called liberation. A person, vexed with the necessity of transmigrations^ with anger, envy, lust, wrath, sorrow, worldly intoxication, pride &c. takes some flowers, fruits, &c. to an initiating priest, who understands the Vedanta, and has obtained the knowledge of spirit, and requests his instructions. The guide, by endeavouring to excite in his mind a contempt of the world, leads him to the knowledge of Bramha. Worldly attachment is thus illustrated : a person observes a string on the ground, and imagines it to be a snake : his fears are excited as much as though it were in reality a snake, and yet he is wholly under the power of error ; so the hopes, fears, desires, pride, sorrow, &c. of the man who is under the influence of worldly attachment, are excited by that which has no substance ; and he is therefore placed among the ignorant. But the wise, the everlasting; the blessed Bramha, is unchangeable and has no equal. All things past, present, and to come ; of g Union. h The Pythagoreans taught, that " the soul of man consists of two parts ;. the sensitive, produced from the first principles with the elements ; and the rational, a demon sprung from the divine soul of the world, and sent down into the body as a punishment for its crimes in a former state, to remain there till it is sufficiently purified to return to God. In the course of the transmi gration to which human souls are liable, they may inhabit not only different human bodies, but the body of any animal or plant. All nature is subjt to the immutable atd eternal law of necessity." Enjield, page 406. ( 89 ) every class and description, whether in the earth, or in the air, are Bramha, who is the cause of all things, as well as the things themselves. If it be not admitted, that he is both the potter and the clay, it will follow, that for clay (inanimate matter) he was beholden to another. The meaning of the word Bramha is, the Ever Great. Molasses deposited in a quantity of rice diffuse their sweetness through the whole : so Bramha, by diffusing through them his own happiness, makes all souls happy ; hence, in all the shastias he is called the Ever-Blessed. Wherefore the ever-blessed/ the everlasting, the incomparable Bramha — he is entity. That which is without wisdom and without life, is called Awasta [non-entity]. We cannot call illusion entity, for as soon as a person obtain^ discriminating wisdom, illusion is destroy ecT; nor can it be called non-entity, for the universe which is an effect of this illusion^ is an object of sight; we cannot therefore say whether it is- entity or non-entity ; it is something which cannot be des cribed. This illusion resembles the tempoiary blindness under which the owl and other creatures labour, so that they can see nothing after the sun has arisen. This blindness cannot be called real, nor can it be unreal, for to these creatures it is real, and [during the day] constant blindness. In the same manner, illusion does not belong to the wise ; but it constantly belongs to him, who, owl-like, is destitute of discriminating wisdom. This illusion is identified with Satwa, Raja, and Tama gunas : it is r.ot merely the absence of wisdom ; but as being opposed to tn. Irnu knowledge of Brahma is called Adnyana. The whole mass of this illusion is one ; individuated, it assumes different shapes ; and in this respect resernBTes the trees in a forest, and single trees. The mass of illusion forms the inconceivable and unspeakable energy of God, which is the cause of all things, Individuals. God and individuated sou Is are life. Property and its possessor are not equivalent terms ; therefore wisdom is not the energy of spirit, since wisdom and spirit are the same ; but illusion forms its energy. ( 90 ) Light is not the ener y of spirit, since light and spirit are the same ; but darkness forms its energy ; not that darkness which arises from the absence of light, but that which sur rounds a person in a profound sleep. We call the mass of illusion, which equally contains the three Gunas, and in which the Satwa Guna prevails, excellent because it is the cause of all things. This mass of illusion takes refuge in the ever-living, or the ever-blessed Bramha, who is called, in the Vedas and all the Shastras, the all-wise, the sovereign of all, the disposer and the director of all ; the accomplisher of all his desires, of "all he appoints; he assumes the forms of his works ; and is known as the cause of all ; he knows, and, as the charioteer directs the chariot, directs the hearts of all. This mass of illusion is identified with God, and creates all things : it is the cause of vacuum and all other things which compose the atomic and material world ; it is therefore called the material cause and the universal cause. At the dissolution of the universe, all things take refuge in the aggregate of illusion ; therefore the aggregate of illusion is represented by a state of deep sleep. This illusion, in its individuated state, is pervaded by the three Gunas in equal proportions ; but in individual bodies, on account of the diminutiveness of the receptacle, there is a depression of the Satwa Guna, and a greater manifestation of the other two Gunas. The living principle, which becomes that in which this individuated illusion takes refuge, is called in all the Shastras Pradanya. The state of a person in a heavy sleep, when every earthly object is excluded from the mind, is called Pradonya,or subjection to false ideas. We are not to suppose that during profound repose the soul departs; the soul is present ; for when the person awakes he says, " I have been quite happy; I was not conscious of anything:" from these expressions it appears, that the person was conscious of personal existence, of happiness, and yet had no ideal intercourse with material things ; for had he not previously tasted of happiness, he could have had no idea of happiness in sleep. If it be ( 91 ) asked, from whence does this knowledge arise which a persor* possesses in a state of profound repose ; does it not arise from the operations of the understanding ? To this we answer, if this were the case, why should not the understanding be employed on outward object likewise? The fact is, that in the time of heavy sleep, the operations of the understanding are withheld, and are buried in illusion Adnyana ; but the knowledge possessed in deep sleep is constant : the Vedanta identifies this knowledge with the living spirit. That during the time of profound repose pleasure is enjoyed, is proved from the care with which the bed. is prepared, that comfort may be enjoyed in sleep. In the time of profound repose, all the pow ers are absorbed in illusion, and therefore, having no intercourse with material objects, the pleasure enjoyed at that time can have no connection with these objects. Therefore this pleasure the Vedanta identifies with the living spirit. This then ia clear, that spirit is the fulness of constant joy and knowledge. In the time of profound sleep, all material objects being thus buried in illusion, this illusion is called the co-existent energy of spirit ; it is the producing cause of consciousness, of the un derstanding, intellect, the five senses, the five organs, the five breaths, crude matter and of all other material things ; and hence the Vedanta speaks of this energy as the material cause of all things. It is called profound repose, inasmuch as in deep sleep all things are lost in this illusion, as salt in water ; or the state of our ideas in waking and sleeping hours may be compared to the projection or drawing in of the head and feet of the turtle. The absorption of all things in the mass of illusion is called the great pruluya, or destruction ; and the manifestation or procession of all things from this illusion, is called creation. The illusion in which individual souls take refuge, and that in which the aggregate body of spirit, that is the Great Spirit, takes refuge, is the same, resembling indivi dual trees and a forest.