Srimad Bhagavad Gita -Ramanujacharya 177

Srimad Bhagavad Gita -Ramanujacharya

Chapter-5 Karma Sanyāsa Yogaḥ

Refutation of the Doctrine of the Absolute Unity of the Jīva The essential plurality of the Jīvas in their original state is expressly mentioned in connection with the enlightened or fully realized ones by the expression 'those' in the above text. In the beginning it was said — “There never was a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor any of these kings of men. Nor will there be any time in future when all of us shall cease to be” — this statement is clarified here. Moreover, this plurality [of Jīvas] cannot be due to limiting factors imposed on a single universal ātman [as taught by the Advaitins]. For, as stated here, there is no residual trace of such limiting adjuncts (such as ignorance) for those that are fully enlightened, and yet still, they are described [by Krishna] as a plurality. Here consciousness is taught as an attribute inseparable from the essential nature of the Self, because a difference between the Self and its consciousness is indicated by the statement, 'Knowledge, in their case illuminates like the sun’. By the illustration of the sun, the relationship of the knower to its knowledge is likened to the luminous object and its luminosity. Therefore, it is appropriate to consider that one’s consciousness contracts through Karma, in the condition of Samsāra (transmigration) and expands in the stage of Mokṣa (liberation).