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CHAPTER IX
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ABSOLUTE SELF
The Blessed Lord has said to Arjuna
in clear and unmistakable terms that : "as a result of MOHA
(ignorance) arising from the qualities of Prakrti, FOOLISH
PEOPLE consider the (imperceptible and qualityless) Atman
as the performer of Actions" ([1]; the Isvara does
nothing, and people are deceived as a result of IGNORANCE
[2] ; that is to say, though the imperceptible Atman or
the Absolute Isvara is fundamentally qualityless [3],
people as a result of 'confusion' or 'ignorance' foist on Him,
qualities like activity etc., and make Him qualityful and
imperceptible [4]. From this, it follows that the true-
doctrines of the Gita about the form of the Paramesvara are-
that : — (1) though there is any amount of description of the-
perceptible form of the Paramesvara in the Gita, yet. His
fundamental and superior form is imperceptible and qualityless
and people look upon Him as qualityful by IGNORANCE or
MOHA ; (2) the Samkhya Prakrti is His perceptible diffusion
that is to say, the whole of this cosmos is the ILLUSION of
the Paramesvara ; and (3) the Samkhya Purusa, that is, the
personal Self, is fundamentally of the same form as the
Paramesvara, and is qualityless and inactive -like the-
Paramesvara, but people consider him as a doer (kartaj as a
result of IGNORANCE. The same are the doctrines of Vedanta
philosophy. But in later Vedanta treatises, some amount
of distinction is made between Maya (illusion) and Avidya
(ignorance) in enunciating these doctrines. For instance, in
the Pancadasi, it is stated in the beginning, that the Atman
and the Parabrahman are originally identical, that is, are both
of the form of the Brahman, and that when this Brahman, in
the form of Consciousness (cit) is reflected in the form of Maya
(Illusion), Prakrti composed of the sattva, rajas and tamas--
constituents (the Saihkhya fundamental Prakrti) comes into
existence. But later on, this Maya is subdivided into 'maya'
(illusion) and 'avidya' (ignorance) ; and it is stated that we have
Pure maya when the pure (suddha) sattva component, out of the
three components of this Maya is preponderant, and the
Brahman which is reflected in this pure maya, is called the
qualityful or perceptible Isvara (Hiranya-garbha); and, if this
sattva component is impure (asuddha), that Maya becomes
'avidya' (ignorance^ and the Brahman which is reflected
in it is given the name of 'jiva' [5]. From
this point of view, it is necessary to make a two-fold
distinction between one and the same Maya, by looking
upon maya as the cause of the 'perceptible Isvara' springing
out of the Parabrahman, and 'avidya' as the cause of the
'Jiva' springing but of the Parabrahman. But, this
distinction has not been made in the Gita. The Gita says that
the Jiva becomes confused (7. 4-15) as a result of the same
Maya by means of which the Blessed Lord takes up his
perceptible or qualityful form (7. 25), or by means of which
the eight-fold Prakrti, that is, all the various objects in the world
are born from Him (4. 6). The word ' avidya ' does not occur
anywhere in the Gita, and where it appears in the Svetasva-
taropanisad, it is used to signify the diffusion of Maya
[6].
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