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Sometimes, it is said, she is there, every- where, sometimes she is not there, nowhere ; some- times she is called real, sometimes unreal; some- times she is entity, sometimes non-entity; &c. This 132 is explained as follows:— ‘As long as we are under the influence of ( Nescience, M&ya reigns supreme and Brahman remains hidden. As soon as the delusion of Nescience is removed and the light of ( f^Terr ) the true knowledge arises, May4 with her products becomes sublated and disappears and Brahman shines effulgent. 133 CHAPTER III. The Individual Soul- For this true knowledge the Vedanta asks man to study himself. Though every atom in the universe mirrors Brahman in its constitution, man is a minia- ture image offering special advantages for study. We thereby proceed from the Self — the nearest to be known, the knowable — to the most Unknowable. The Vedanta knowledge indicates us who have fallen down how to ascend to the highest Self. The Vedanta observes the curious fact that man, like the eye, is always ready to see and perceive all other outward things, but takes no notice of himself within ; that he often meddles with things beyond the reach of human capacity, but seldom sees into him- self. It directs him, therefore, to the knowledge of himself, and then of his Self, and promises that by this introspection he will get sufficient knowledge of the Highest Self, and secure his great concernments. This Self-knowledge gives him a basis of certitude — a starting point in himself — to ascend and remove the veil thrown by ( ) non-knowledge, and enables him to reveal truths. Like the line of the sailor, it is enough to give him a knowledge of the depth that is necessary for him. The Vedanta teaches that the true knowledge of one's Self leading to that of the Highest Self — God, is the only means which frees man from the miseries of Samsdra, the world, imposed by ignorance, and creates in him a serene felicity of combined reflection and satisfaction, and finally 12 134 secures for him liberation, recovery and eternal bliss. This right knowledge ( flrsn ) is obtained by the ascertainment of the true nature of the Self. It then becomes evident to the enlightened and a- wakened from Self-forgetfulness, that the Self ( 3n?*IT ) is free from all Avants and transmigratory existence Sams^ra ); the Self is the witness of all modifications, the mutual super-imposition of the Self and the non-Self, — the body, the senses, &c. — was quite erroneous ; the true Self is identical with the highest Self ; It is eternal, ever pure and blissful. Here is given, in a briefly summarised form, a portion bearing on the subject from (^ankara’s In- troduction to the Brahma-StUras, It declares : — ‘man super-imposes upon ( the Real, the Subject, the Ego, the Self — which is quite opposed to ( the unreal, the object, the non- Ego, the non-Self ( the body, senses and so on ) as light is to darkness, — the chai’acteristic nature and the attributes of the non-Self, the unreal, and vice versa. This super-imposition ( Adhydsa ) i. c. the notion of something in some other thing, or, the apparent presentation of the attributes of one thing in another, or, in the present case, the mutual super-imposition of the Self and the Non-Self, is called Avidyd) Nescience, on which all distinctions are based, and which is the cause of •wrong conceptions and all consequent evil. ‘ This mutual super-imposition of the Self and the Non-Self, which is the cause of all evil, is then Ne- 135 gcience ( ). What removes this Nescience is called ( firETT Vidyd, ) the knowledge which ascertains the true nature of the subject. Self, and the object, non-self, by means of the discrimination of that which is super-imposed on the Self. ‘The Vedanta philosophy, by means of (f^ETT) this knowledge, teaches us to free ourselves from the wrong notion which is the cause of all evil and to attain thereby the knowledge of the absolute unity of the Self, after which knowledge there no longer remains anything to be desired or avoided, as the conception of duality is destroyed thereby. * The knowledge of active religious duty, which is called lower knowledge ( ), has for its fruit transitory felicity; the knowledge of Brahman, which is called the higher knowledge ( ), has for its fruit eternal bliss. Thus ( ) the highest aim of men is realised by the higher knowledge of Brahman.’ 1 The nature of ( STRSfr ) Self, is ( SRTf^.) Existence, Intelligence, Bliss, Endlessness, Secondlessness, &c. Out of these the first two are through Nescience super-imposed on ( the non-Self, and consequently, though the latter does not really possess existence and intelligence yet it seems to possess them on account of the super-imposition. The nature of (aTrncJR.) non-Self is (?iT^rar^:^F5r- the negation of, or opposite to, (siTrJH.) Self, such as non-existence, (3T¥) non-intelligence, (^;gr) misery, ( ) limitedness, ( ) duality, &c. The last three of the non-self ( are super- 1. See the BrahmorSHtray I, 1, 1. Introduction by S^ankara. 136 imposed on the Self ( nc*T^), just as in a heated iron piece the heat and brightness of fire is super-imposed on the iron, and the form and malleability of the iron are super-imposed on the fire. They appear as one, the fire is not viewed as distinct from the iron, and vice versa. This mutual super-imposition is the cause of all evil from which man suffers. The Ved^lnta shows us how to free ourselves from the wrong notion, which is the cause of all evil, and how to attain the knowledge of the absolute unity of the Self. It is very important to the student of a philoso- phy to know the exact meaning of the principal terms used therein. Object and Subject ( ), bearing almost the same meaning as Jagat and Jtva, are most im- portant terms in the Vedanta philosophy, as well as in all others. The ordinary meaning of the object and subject is the Non-Ego and Ego, the object is what is per- ceived, and the subject is what perceives. The whole world is the object; and ‘ 1 / or the Ego, — the per- ceiver, including the body, the senses and all the environment in which we live, and determined by space, time, and cause, and by birth and death, — is the subject. But the subject of the Vedanta is quite different. According to the VedS.nta the Subject means (stTcHT) Atman, the Self (whether Divine or human, whether universal or individual), that which is (l?w) the invisible perceiver, the real; while . ( ) the object means ( Andtman, non- 137 self, ( the veil through which the Self looks at the universe, ) that which is ( ) the visible — per- ceived, unreal, the whole visible universe and the body with its organs. The subject is the knower ; the object is all the knowable. The subject the Self, could not be known as an object (^[^). To know it is to be it, to hwiv ourselves is, in the Vedanta sense, to he the eternal Self within us, that is to say, conceiving ourselves free from Nescience and the super-imposed wrong notions and adjuncts. Its knowing even in the case of object is its being present, i. c., Avhen it is present, then and then only can the senses know their objects ; just as when the sun shines or is present, it lightens all objects, the whole world, and then we can see them. Our true Self is ( ) unrelated. Like the sun, it may pass through ail — good, bad, and indifferent, and yet itself remains as pure and unrelated as before. This kind of knowing is the true knowing of the Self, ( 3TTrJT?rT*T ) the Self-knowledge. One knows all objects by his Self, the subject, but he cannot know the Self in the same sense. The knower cannot know the knower. His knowing the knower, is only his being the true knower. In this case ( ) the true knower ( SfMT ) is one in whom subject and object are one, or, one in whom there is no distinction between subject and object, between knowing and being known. He is the AIJ in All ; the eternal source of all existence. One who, destroying his nescience, reaches the complete comprehension of the Self which is identic- al with the Highest Self, Brahman, becomes Brahman. 138 This is the irresistible, universal, necessary, and exalted conception of the inevitable truth. The qualifications for the Vedanta Student. In order to qualify himself for the highest know- ledge, man must, according to the Ved^ntin doctrine, perform disinterested good actions which give ( ) purity to his ( ) internal organ, and must meditate on God, which gives ( ) concentration, serenity, to the same. These two qualities are essential to properly create in him the Brahma-inquisitiveness, e,, the desire of knowing Brahman, the only really exis- ting Being. But very few try to make themselves all they might be. Men are 'noble in reason, infinite in fa- culty ; in form and in movement express and admi- rable.’ A duly prepared and initiated Vedanta student feels that he is on the road to higher mental powers, and must make the most of his mind. Pro- blems, which seem to others beyond the range of human thought, receive their sol ution and open the way to still further advance for him. It becomes dearer to him to agree with the spirit of truth within him- self. He subdues his passions, and grows pure and steady in order that the sublime teaching may be properly understood. He devotes himself to the ennobling study of the Vedanta, treating of the one Brahman, which is present in all, just as one sun reflects upon many pools, and spreads through all creation, or just as the one ether does through many water-jars. The Brahma-inquisitiveness (siflBlirT^f) pre-supposes also, as its antecedents, the four spiritual 139 means, viz.