http://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/kena-upanishad-shankara-bhashya/d/doc145036.html
The Sruti says:
“Travelling by neither of these two paths, these small creatures are constantly returning, of whom it may he said: ‘Be horn and die.’ This is the third course.”Another Sruti says
“The three kinds of living beings (going by neither of these two paths) reach this miserable state.”The desire to know the Brahman springs only in the person whose mind is pure, who is free from desires and who, free from deeds done in this birth or in previous ones, becomes disgusted with the external, ephemeral medley of ends and means.
This Brahman is depicted in the Upanishad beginning with Keneshitam. etc., appearing in the form of questions and answers. Kataka says
“The self-existent has made the senses external in their activity and man therefore looks outward, not at the self within.”Some wise man having turned his eyes inward and being desirous of immortality saw the inner self.
“Having examined [Page 3] the worlds reached by Karma, let the Brahmin grow disgusted (and learn to think that) nothing which is not made can be reached by Karma. In order to know that, let him, Samidh (sacrificial sticks) in hand, approach a preceptor, who is well read in the Vedas and who is centred in Brahman.”Thus in the Atharvanopanishad. In this way, and not otherwise, a man free from desires becomes qualified to hear, contemplate and acquire knowledge of the inner self.
By the knowledge of the inner self, ignorance, which, is the seed of bondage, and the cause of Karma performed for the realisation of desires, is entirely removed.
The Srutis say:
“There is no grief or delusion to one who sees this unity.”
“He who knows the Atman overcomes grief.”
“When He. that is both high and low, is seen, the knot of the heart is cut, all doubts are resolved and all Karma is consumed.”
If it be urged that even by knowledge coupled with Karma this result is attained, we say no; for the Vajasaneyaka shows that that combination produces different results.
Beginning with “Let me have a wife,” the texts go on to say,
“by a son should this world be gained, not by any other means: [Page 4] by Karma, the abode of the manes (Pitris); and by Knowledge, the world of the deities;”thus showing how the three worlds different from the Atman are reached. In the same place we find the following reason urged for one becoming a Sanyasin: “What shall we, to whom this world is not the Atman, do with offspring?” The meaning is this: What shall we do with offspring, Karma, and Knowledge combined with Karma, which are the means to secure the world of the mortals, the world of the manes, and the world of the Gods; and which do not help us in securing the world of the Atman? For, to us none of the three worlds, transitory and attainable by these means, is desirable. To us that world alone which is natural, unborn, undecaying, immortal, fearless and neither augmented nor diminished by Karma, and eternal, is covetable; and that being eternal cannot be secured by any other means than the removal of ignorance. Therefore, the renunciation of all desires preceded by the knowledge of the Brahman who is the inner Self should alone be practised by us. Another reason is that the knowledge of the inner Self is antagonistic to Karma and cannot therefore coexist with it. It is well known that the knowledge of the Self, the one Atman of all, which abhors all [Page 5] perception of difference, cannot possibly co-exist with Karma whose basis is the perception of the difference of agent, results, etc. As knowledge relating to the reality, the knowledge of the Brahman is independent of human efforts. Therefore, the desire of a person, who is disgusted with visible and invisible fruits achievable by external means, to know the Brahman which is connected with the inner Self, is indicated by the Sruti beginning with Keneshitam, etc. The elucidation of the Brahman in the form of a dialogue between the preceptor and the disciple is, considering the subtle nature of the theme, for the easy understanding thereof. It will also be clearly pointed out that this knowledge is not to be attained solely by logical discussion.
The Sratis say
“This state of mind cannot be obtained by logical discussion.”The Smriti lays down also “Learn That by prostration.”
“He knows who lias studied under a preceptor.”
“Such knowledge only as is acquired by studying under a preceptor does good.”
It should be inferred that some one duly approached a preceptor centred in Brahman and finding no refuge except in bis inner Self and longing for that which is fearless, eternal, calm and unshakable, questioned the preceptor as expressed in ‘Keneshitam. etc.’
The Atharvana Upanishad says “This Atman cannot be attained by one devoid of strength.”
The strength gained by wealth, retinue, mantras, medicinal herbs, devotion and yoga cannot overcome mortality, because that is produced by things themselves mortal. The strength gained by the knowledge of the Atman can be acquired by the Atman alone and not by any other means. Because the strength produced by the knowledge of the Atman does not require any other aid, that strength alone can overcome death. And [Page 39] because one acquires by bis Atman alone the strength produced by the knowledge of the Atman, therefore he attains immortality by the knowledge of the Atman. The Atharvana Upanishad says “This Atman cannot be attained by one devoid of strength.”
It is said: “One desirous of emancipation should always renounce karma and all its aids. It is only by one that so renounces that the highest place (can he reached).
Therefore, knowledge cannot consistently with itself require karma as its concomitant help or its complement. Therefore, the distribution on the analogy of the invocation in Suktavaka is certainly unsound. Therefore, it is sound to say that the question and answer were intended only to make sure. The meaning is “what was explained is all the Upanishad, which does not require anything else for ensuring emancipation.”
Shankara's commentary continued-
http://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/kena-upanishad-shankara-bhashya/d/doc145067.html
Of the Upanishad about Brahman which has been already taught, devotion, etc., are helps to the acquisition. ‘Tapas’ means, ‘control of the body, the sensory organs and the mind.’ ‘Dama’ means ‘freedom from passions.’ ‘Karma’ is Agnihotra, etc. It has been seen that knowledge of the Brahman arises indirectly through the purification of the mind in the person, who has been refined by these.
Therefore, it is said that Truth is the resting place of knowledge. The mention again of Truth as the resting place of knowledge, notwithstanding its implied mention as ‘the leg on which knowledge stands’ along with devotion, etc., is to indicate that Truth excels others as a help to knowledge; for, the Smriti says:
“If a thousand Asvamedha sacrifices and Truth were weighed in the balance, one Truth spoken will outweigh the thousand sacrifices.”
It has been seen that knowledge of the Brahman arises indirectly through the purification of the mind in the person, who has been refined by these. Even when Brahman is [Page 57] explained, those who have not been purged of their faults, either disbelieve or misbelieve in it, as in the cases of Indra, Virochana, etc. Therefore, knowledge as inculcated arises only in him who has, by tapas, etc., performed either in this birth or in many previous ones, purified his mind. The Sruti says: “To that high-souled man whose devotion to the Lord is great and whose devotion to his preceptor is as great as that to the Lord, these secrets explained become illuminated.” The Smriti says: “Knowledge arises in men by annihilation of sinful deeds.” The word ‘iti’ is used to show that the mention of tapas, etc., is only by way of illustration; for it will show that there are other aids than those mentioned to the acquisition of knowledge, as freedom from pride, hatred of pomp, etc. ‘Pratishta’ means ‘legs.’ For, when they exist, knowledge is firmly seated just as a person goes about with his legs, the four Vedas, all the six supplements, i.e., Siksha, etc. The Vedas being the enlighteners of the knowledge of karma and the supplementary scriptures being intended for their protection are called ‘legs’ of the knowledge of Brahman
34 ||34. He who knows this thus, having shaken off all sin, lives firmly seated in the endless, blissful and highest Brahman. He lives firmly seated. (34)
The purport is that he is firmly seated in the unconditioned Brahman, i.e., does not again revert to Samsara [worldly existence].
Yogavashishta
http://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/yoga-vasistha-volume-1/d/doc118024.html
14. Things that are not real, are believed as real, and have become the cause of our pride, by hardening us in untruth, and keeping us from the light of truth.
The purport is that he is firmly seated in the unconditioned Brahman, i.e., does not again revert to Samsara [worldly existence].
Yogavashishta
http://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/yoga-vasistha-volume-1/d/doc118024.html
14. Things that are not real, are believed as real, and have become the cause of our pride, by hardening us in untruth, and keeping us from the light of truth.
37. People are still deluded in their minds in wishing to attain the state of their superiors; but they fall down still lower like beasts (goats) from the top of a hill, in wishing to lay hold on the fruits of a verdant creeper out of their reach.
38. The mind that gets delighted in a moment and becomes dejected in the next, and assumes likewise its equanimity at another, is indeed as changeful as an actor.
42. Time is a skilful player and plays many parts with ease; but he is chiefly skilled in tragedy, and often plays his tragic part in the affairs of men.
10. The chain of (repeated) births is a bond that binds fast all men by its strong knots of the senses; those striving to break loose from this bondage for their liberation, are (said to be) the best of men.
23. Life is as fickle as a drop of water pending on a mass of clouds blown away by the winds. Our enjoyments are as unsteady as the lightning that flickers in the midst of clouds. The pleasures of youth are as slippery as water. With these reflections in my mind, I have subdued them all under the province of peace and tranquility.
Rāma said:—I have no reliance on the durability of life, which is as transient as a drop of water that sticks to the point of a shaking leaf on a lofty tree; and as short as the cusp of the moon on Siva's forehead.
2. I have no credit in the durability of life, which is transient as the swelling that take place in the pouch of a frog while it croaks in the meadow. Nor have I any trust in the company of friends, which are as dangerous as the treacherous snare of hunters.
22. I will refrain from eating and drinking even of water, and from clothing myself with apparels; I will cease from all my actions of bathing and making my offerings, as also from my diet and the like.
23. I will attend to no duty, nor care about prosperity or calamity. I will be free from all desires except that of the abandonment of this body.
24. I must remain aloof from all fears and sympathies, from selfish feelings and emulation, and continue to sit quietly as a figure in painting.
25. I will gradually do away with the inspiration and respiration of my breath and outward sensations; till I part with this trifle—the seat all of troubles—this the so called body.
26. I do not belong to this body, nor does it belong to me, nor is any thing else mine; I shall be null and void like the oil-less lamp, and abandon every thing with this body.
chp 2
33. "That the world is a creation of volition, and loses itself with the absence of our desires; and that it is an accursed and unsubstantial world after all, is the conclusion arrived at by all sages.
35. Janaka replied: "There is nothing more certain, O sage! than what you have known by yourself and heard from your father.36. "There is but one undivided intelligent spirit known as the universal soul and nothing besides; it becomes confined by its desires, and freed by its want of them.
37. "You have truly come to the knowledge of the knowable, whereby your great soul has desisted from its attachment to objects of enjoyment and vision.
38. "You must be a hero to have overcome your desire in the lengthening chain of attractive enjoyments from your early youth. What more do you want to hear?
6. Spiritual knowledge is easily obtainable by most men here, but a distaste to (pleasurable) objects is hard to be had (however painful it is to procure them).
7. He who fully comprehends a thing, is said to know it, and who so knows what is knowable, is called a learned man; no earthly enjoyments can be delectable to such high minded men.
8. The mind that has no zest for earthly pleasures, except the glory of disinterested deeds, is said to be liberated even in the present life.
9. As there grows no vegetable in a sterile soil, so there grows no disinclination to worldliness, until one comes to know the knowable reality (i. e. to say: neither the godly can be worldly, nor the worldly be godly).
10. Hence know this supporter of Raghu's race to have verily known the knowable, which has made him disgusted with his princely enjoyments.
9. The mind is called to be ever-fluctuating, and gives rise to (all things in) the three worlds in itself. It resides in vacuity in the form of the heart, and the increate (God) also residing in the vacuous soul (gives the mind the power to realize the latent ideas of the soul).
The unreality of the world best appears to one at the point of and after his death
14. But this knowledge of (the unreality of the world) becomes darkened upon one's being reborn on earth, when the shadow of this world falls again on the mirror of his sentient soul.
15. Thus there is a struggle for repeated births and deaths here, and a fancy for the next world after one's death.
37. "You have truly come to the knowledge of the knowable, whereby your great soul has desisted from its attachment to objects of enjoyment and vision.
38. "You must be a hero to have overcome your desire in the lengthening chain of attractive enjoyments from your early youth. What more do you want to hear?
6. Spiritual knowledge is easily obtainable by most men here, but a distaste to (pleasurable) objects is hard to be had (however painful it is to procure them).
7. He who fully comprehends a thing, is said to know it, and who so knows what is knowable, is called a learned man; no earthly enjoyments can be delectable to such high minded men.
8. The mind that has no zest for earthly pleasures, except the glory of disinterested deeds, is said to be liberated even in the present life.
9. As there grows no vegetable in a sterile soil, so there grows no disinclination to worldliness, until one comes to know the knowable reality (i. e. to say: neither the godly can be worldly, nor the worldly be godly).
10. Hence know this supporter of Raghu's race to have verily known the knowable, which has made him disgusted with his princely enjoyments.
9. The mind is called to be ever-fluctuating, and gives rise to (all things in) the three worlds in itself. It resides in vacuity in the form of the heart, and the increate (God) also residing in the vacuous soul (gives the mind the power to realize the latent ideas of the soul).
The unreality of the world best appears to one at the point of and after his death
14. But this knowledge of (the unreality of the world) becomes darkened upon one's being reborn on earth, when the shadow of this world falls again on the mirror of his sentient soul.
15. Thus there is a struggle for repeated births and deaths here, and a fancy for the next world after one's death.
17. The dead have no sensation of the earth and other elementary bodies, nor of the course of the world; but they fall again to these errors upon their being reborn here.
29. Happiness and misery destroy and succeed each other by turns, and are as fleeting as flashes of lightnings. Hence it is impossible to be happy for ever.
30. Those great souls who are indifferent and well judging like yourself, are known as the most honourable of men, and worthy alike both of temporal enjoyments and spiritual emancipation.
31. By reliance upon right reasoning joined with a habit of dispassionateness, men are enabled to get over the dark and dangerous torrents of this world.
32. No man of reason should allow himself to sleep (in negligence) amidst the illusions of the world, well knowing their noxious property to derange the understanding.
33. Whoso remains neglectful in his worldliness, resembles a man sleeping negligent on a grassy bed when his house is on fire.
34. What being arrived at, there is no returning from it; and what being gained, there is no cause of sorrowing; that state is undoubtedly attainable by divine knowledge only; and is a certain truth.
29. It is by means of reason and its evident influence on the deprivation of (physical) gratifications, that there rises an unshaken and exalted disinterestedness in the mind, like the cooling beams of the moon.
30. When the saint has reached his perfection by means of the elixir of judgement seated in his mind, he neither desires for more nor leaves (what he has).
31. The mind relying on that state of equanimity and perceiving the clear light (of truth within itself), has neither its fall nor elevation, but enjoys its inward expansion as that of vacuum for ever.
41. He who is blind to reason is as one born blind, and a demented man is an object of universal pity; but the man with a reasoning soul is said to be possessed of divine eye-sight, and becomes victorious in all things (he undertakes).
http://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/yoga-vasistha-volume-1/d/doc118049.html
18. Contentment, society of the virtuous, ratiocination and quietism, are the several means for crossing over the ocean of the world by mankind.
19. Contentment is reckoned as the best gain, good company the right course, reasoning the true knowledge, and quietism the highest bliss (of man).
20. These are the four surest means to break off the trammels of the world, and whoever is practiced in these, has surely passed over the erroneous waters of the terrestrial sea.
33. The mind is a wilderness of errors, in which the stream of our desires is running with full force, amidst its two banks of good and evil whereon we hold our stand.
28. The man whose mind is purified by a knowledge of the precepts of liberation, neither repines nor rejoices at the loss or gain of the objects of enjoyment.
9. Let the wise continue their inquiries until they can obtain their internal peace, and until they may arrive at the fourth stage (turya) of felicity known by the name of indestructible tranquility.
10. Whoso has gained this fourth state of tranquil felicity, he has really passed beyond the limits of the ocean of the world, whether he is alive or not, or a house-holder or an ascetic.
11. Such a man remains steady at his place like the calm sea undisturbed by the Mandara mountain, whether he has performed his duties according to the Srutis and Smritis or not.
http://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/yoga-vasistha-volume-1/d/doc118055.html
22. The intimate relation of the spectator with the spectacle is called his bondage to the same, because the looker's mind is fast bound to the object of his sight. It is the absence of the visible objects, therefore, from the mirror of the mind, which is the only means of his liberation. (So also is the removal of the objects of the other senses from the mind).
26. It is hard to avoid the sight of the phenomenal world, and to repress one's ardour for the same. But it is certain that, the visibles can not lead us to the Reality, nor the Real mislead us to unreality (i. e. the spiritual and physical knowledge are mutually repugnant to each other).
chp 3 part 4
56. Thus when the observer comes to know the unreality of the phenomena of the three worlds, as well as of his own entity, it is then that his pure soul attains to the knowledge of kaivalya or solity of divine existence.
22. It is by means of right discrimination derived from the keeping of good company and study of holy works, that our understanding is cleared of its ignorance, as dirty water is purified by Kata seeds, and as the minds of men are expurgated by the Yoga philosophy.
10. He who has seen the all surpassing Supreme Being, has his heartstrings all cut asunder, and the doubts of his mind all driven away. The sequences of his acts are washed away, (and leave no fear of his transmigration).
39. Vasishtha replied:—This false knowledge or prejudice of the reality of the world, has been long prevalent like a chronic disease (among mankind); and requires to be removed by the specific charm (mantra) of reasoning only.
http://www.wisdomlib.org/hinduism/book/brahma-sutras/d/doc62935.html
“This person, embraced by the supremely intelligent Self, knows nothing that is without or within” (Brih. 4. 3. 21),
“They who know the vital force of the vital force, the eye of the eye, the ear of the ear, the food of the food, the mind of the mind,” etc. (Brih. Mâdhy. 4. 4. 21).
ज्योतिषैकेषामसत्यन्ने ॥ १३ ॥
![Brahmasutra 23]()
jyotiā—By light; ekeṣām—of some; asati anne—food not being mentioned.
13. (In the text) of some (the Kânva recension) food not being mentioned (in the complementary passage referred to in the previous Sutra) (the number is made up) by ‘light’ (mentioned in the previous verse).
In the texts of the Taittiriyâ Upanishad Brahman is definitely described as not being nonexistence.
“The Self, my dear Maitreyi, should be realized —should be heard of, reflected on, and meditated upon. By the realization of the Self, my dear, through hearing, reflection, and meditation, all this is known” (Brih. 2 . 4. 5).
“That Itself manifested Itself” (Taitt. 2. 7), which shows that Brahman alone created the world, out of Itself, which is possible only by undergoing modification
“These seeds, almost infinitesimal” (Chh. 6. 12. 1);
“This was indeed non-existent at the beginning” (Chh. 3. 19. 1);
“Some learned men being deluded, speak of nature, and others of time, as the cause of everything” (Svet. 6. 1).
http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/panch/panch_13.html
Vivarta-Upadana is that kind of material cause which appears as an effect without actually undergoing any change in itself, and yet appearing as something different, as, for example, a rope appearing as a snake. Here, the cause has not become the effect, but merely appears as the effect. This may happen even in the case of partless or shapeless objects, because we see that a thing like Space, which has no shape at all, appears to be blue in colour, inverted like a dome, touching the horizon, etc., and it also appears to be affected by the qualities of the earth on account of which we attribute to it clearness as well as its opposite. In a similar manner, it may be said that this world is a Vivarta (appearance) of Brahman, of the Divine Ananda, and this appearance is made possible due to a power, or Sakti, called Maya, indescribably present, as a special kind of power is seen in a magician. This power is actually not different from the substance in which it inheres, nor is it totally identical with it. We find, in ordinary life, that the burning capacity which is the power of fire cannot be said to be either identical with fire or different from it. When the effect of burning in fire is not seen actually, even when it is flaming forth, we infer that the absence of its burning power is due perhaps to the application of some Mantras, or incantations, on fire. If heat is the same as fire, fire itself ought to have ceased to exist when its heat is suppressed; nor is it possible for us to say that there is no such thing as fire apart from mere heat. The Divine Power of Brahman, called Maya, is likewise inscrutable (Anirvachaniya) and its relation to Brahman is difficult to ascertain, or understand.
Sages endowed with intuition recognise in meditation that the Divine Power, or Sakti, is hidden by its own properties, that the Supreme Power inherent in Brahman manifests itself in various ways, especially as knowledge (Jnana), action (Kriya), and will or desire (Ichha). There are those who think that there is no cause at all for the world and that it just exists by its own nature. Others think that the world has come out of nothing (Sunya), or void. Some think that the world is a conglomeration of invisible atoms which combine themselves in a peculiar way to form this world. The astronomers and the astrologers opine that it is all Time factor that is operating everywhere and there cannot be any other cause of the world than the movement of Time in various ways creating different conditions and situations. The materialists are of the opinion that matter is everything and there is no such thing as Consciousness, and even if the latter is conceded, it is only an exudation of matter. The Mimamsakas, or ritualists, think that the potency of Karma, called Adrishta, is the real cause of the world-manifestation, and nothing can exist other than Karma, as the operative cause. The Samkhyas hold that the cause of the world is Prakriti in conjunction with Purusha, and the diversity of the world is only the evolution of Prakriti. The Yoga school posits an Isvara in addition to Prakriti and the many Purushas of the Samkhya, because it is impossible to conceive of the dispensation of justice and the proper allocation of the fruits of the Karmas of Jivas if there is no such Being who is independent of Prakriti and the Purushas. The Vedanta school of dualism (Dvaita) accepts the supremacy of God above all things, making the Goal within the aspirations of the Jivas, unlike Samkhya and the Yoga, but never thinks that there is any intrinsic relation among God, the world and the souls. According to them, the relation is only extrinsic. The Visishta-Advaita school of Vedanta accepts the intrinsic relationship existing among God, the world and the souls, making the latter two integral parts of Isvara, in the manner of qualifications, or Viseshanas, of Isvara, who is the Substance. The Advaita-Vedanta does not accept any relationship at all, because it never feels that there are three things as God, world and soul. For it, the Truth is one and whatever appears in this world is only the way of the revelation of this one Truth.
jyotiṣaikeṣāmasatyanne || 13 ||
/abbyy/brahmasutra_files/brahmasutra-23.png)
jyotiā—By light; ekeṣām—of some; asati anne—food not being mentioned.13. (In the text) of some (the Kânva recension) food not being mentioned (in the complementary passage referred to in the previous Sutra) (the number is made up) by ‘light’ (mentioned in the previous verse).
“That immortal Light of lights the gods worship as longevity” (Brih. 4. 4. 16).
In the texts of the Taittiriyâ Upanishad Brahman is definitely described as not being nonexistence.
“He who knows Brahman as nonexisting becomes himself non-existing. He who knows Brahman as existing is known by sages as existing” (Taitt. 2 . 6).
“The Self, my dear Maitreyi, should be realized —should be heard of, reflected on, and meditated upon. By the realization of the Self, my dear, through hearing, reflection, and meditation, all this is known” (Brih. 2 . 4. 5).
“That Itself manifested Itself” (Taitt. 2. 7), which shows that Brahman alone created the world, out of Itself, which is possible only by undergoing modification
“These seeds, almost infinitesimal” (Chh. 6. 12. 1);
“This was indeed non-existent at the beginning” (Chh. 3. 19. 1);
“Some learned men being deluded, speak of nature, and others of time, as the cause of everything” (Svet. 6. 1).
http://www.swami-krishnananda.org/panch/panch_13.html
Vivarta-Upadana is that kind of material cause which appears as an effect without actually undergoing any change in itself, and yet appearing as something different, as, for example, a rope appearing as a snake. Here, the cause has not become the effect, but merely appears as the effect. This may happen even in the case of partless or shapeless objects, because we see that a thing like Space, which has no shape at all, appears to be blue in colour, inverted like a dome, touching the horizon, etc., and it also appears to be affected by the qualities of the earth on account of which we attribute to it clearness as well as its opposite. In a similar manner, it may be said that this world is a Vivarta (appearance) of Brahman, of the Divine Ananda, and this appearance is made possible due to a power, or Sakti, called Maya, indescribably present, as a special kind of power is seen in a magician. This power is actually not different from the substance in which it inheres, nor is it totally identical with it. We find, in ordinary life, that the burning capacity which is the power of fire cannot be said to be either identical with fire or different from it. When the effect of burning in fire is not seen actually, even when it is flaming forth, we infer that the absence of its burning power is due perhaps to the application of some Mantras, or incantations, on fire. If heat is the same as fire, fire itself ought to have ceased to exist when its heat is suppressed; nor is it possible for us to say that there is no such thing as fire apart from mere heat. The Divine Power of Brahman, called Maya, is likewise inscrutable (Anirvachaniya) and its relation to Brahman is difficult to ascertain, or understand.
Sages endowed with intuition recognise in meditation that the Divine Power, or Sakti, is hidden by its own properties, that the Supreme Power inherent in Brahman manifests itself in various ways, especially as knowledge (Jnana), action (Kriya), and will or desire (Ichha). There are those who think that there is no cause at all for the world and that it just exists by its own nature. Others think that the world has come out of nothing (Sunya), or void. Some think that the world is a conglomeration of invisible atoms which combine themselves in a peculiar way to form this world. The astronomers and the astrologers opine that it is all Time factor that is operating everywhere and there cannot be any other cause of the world than the movement of Time in various ways creating different conditions and situations. The materialists are of the opinion that matter is everything and there is no such thing as Consciousness, and even if the latter is conceded, it is only an exudation of matter. The Mimamsakas, or ritualists, think that the potency of Karma, called Adrishta, is the real cause of the world-manifestation, and nothing can exist other than Karma, as the operative cause. The Samkhyas hold that the cause of the world is Prakriti in conjunction with Purusha, and the diversity of the world is only the evolution of Prakriti. The Yoga school posits an Isvara in addition to Prakriti and the many Purushas of the Samkhya, because it is impossible to conceive of the dispensation of justice and the proper allocation of the fruits of the Karmas of Jivas if there is no such Being who is independent of Prakriti and the Purushas. The Vedanta school of dualism (Dvaita) accepts the supremacy of God above all things, making the Goal within the aspirations of the Jivas, unlike Samkhya and the Yoga, but never thinks that there is any intrinsic relation among God, the world and the souls. According to them, the relation is only extrinsic. The Visishta-Advaita school of Vedanta accepts the intrinsic relationship existing among God, the world and the souls, making the latter two integral parts of Isvara, in the manner of qualifications, or Viseshanas, of Isvara, who is the Substance. The Advaita-Vedanta does not accept any relationship at all, because it never feels that there are three things as God, world and soul. For it, the Truth is one and whatever appears in this world is only the way of the revelation of this one Truth.
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