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CHAPTER IX
THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE ABSOLUTE SELF
From this it will be seen how difficult and subtle are the ideas in the philosophy
of the Absolute Self. If one considers the matter merely from-
the logical point of view, one is forced to admit this un-
knowability of the Parabrahman or of the Atman. But
although the Parabrahman may, in this way, be qualityless
and unknowable, that is, beyond the reach of the organs, yet,.
as every man has a self-experience of his own Atman, it is-
possible for us to get the self-experience that the indescribable
form of this qualityless Atman which we realise by means of a
visionary experience (saksatkara), is the same as of the
Parabrahman ; and therefore, the proposition that the-
Brahman and the Atman are uniform does not become meaning-
less. Looking at the matter from this point of view, it is
impossible to Bay more about the form of the Brahman than-
that : "the Brahman is the same in form as the Atman" : and
one has to depend for all other things on one's own self-
experience. But, in a scientific exposition which has to appeal-
to Reason, it is necessary to give as much explanation as is-
possible, by the use of words. Therefore, although the-
Brahman is all-pervasive, unknowable, and indescribable, yet,,
in order to express the difference between the Gross World 1
and the Brahman-Element (which is the same in nature as the
Atman), the philosophy of the Absolute Self considers the-
quality of caitanya (Consciousness), which becomes visible to
us in Gross Matter after its contact with the Atman, as the
pre-eminent quality of the Atman, and says that both the
Atman and the Parabrahman are cidrupi or caitanya-rupi
(Conscious or Knowing, in form) ; because, if you do not do so,
then, in as much as both the Atman and the Brahman are
qualityless, invisible, and indescribable, one has, in describing
them either tosit quiet, or, if someone else gives some description
of them by means of words, one has to say : "neti neti I eta mad
anyat param asti I ", i. e., "It is not this, this is not It (Brahman),
(this is a Name and Form), the true Brahman is something
else, which is quite beyond that", and in this way, do nothing
else except restricting oneself to negatives [1]. It
is, therefore, that cit (Knowledge), sat ('sattamatratva or
Existence) and ananda (Joy) are commonly mentioned as the-
attributes of the Brahman. There is no doubt that these-
attributes are much higher than all other attributes ; neverthe-
less, these attributes have been mentioned for the only purpose
of acquainting one with the form of the Brahman, as far as
it is possible to do so by words ; and it must not be forgotten
that the true form of the Brahman is qualityless, and that onfr
has to get a self-experience (aparoksanubhava) of it in order to-
understand it. I shall now concisely explain what our
philosophers have said regarding the way in which this self-
experience can be had, that is to say, in what way and when-
this indescribable form of the Brahman is experienced by the
brahma-nistha (the devotee of the Brahman).
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