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forms of ajñâna remain as indefinite and hidden or veiled only so long as they do not come into relation to these v@rttis of anta@hkara@na, for the ajñâna can be destroyed by the cit only in the form of a v@rtti, while in all other forms the ajñâna veils the cit from manifestation. The removal of ajñâna-v@rttis of the anta@hkara@na or the manifestation of v@rtti-jñâna is nothing but this, that the anta@hkara@na states of avidyâ are the only states of ajñâna which can be superimposed upon the self-luminous âtman (adhyâsa, false attribution). The objective world consists of the avidyâ phenomena with the self as its background. Its objectivity consists in this that avidyâ in this form cannot be superimposed on the self-luminous cit but exists only as veiling the cit. These avidyâ phenomena may be regarded as many and diverse, but in all these forms they serve only to veil the cit and are beyond consciousness. It is only when they come in contact with the avidyâ phenomena as anta@hkara@na states that they coalesce with the avidyâ states and render themselves objects of consciousness or have their veil of âvara@na removed. It is thus assumed that in ordinary perceptions of objects such as jug, etc. the anta@hkara@na goes out of the man's body (s'arîramadhyât) and coming in touch with the jug becomes transformed into the same form, and as soon as this transformation takes place the cit which is always steadily shining illuminates the jug-form or the jug. The jug phenomena in the objective world could not be manifested (though these were taking place on the background of the same self-luminous Brahman or âtman as forms of the highest truth of my subjective consciousness) because the ajñâna phenomena in these forms serve to veil their illuminator, the self-luminous. It was only by coming into contact with these phenomena that the anta@hkara@na could be transformed into corresponding states and that the illumination dawned which at once revealed the anta@hkara@na states and the objects with which these states or v@rttis had coalesced. The consciousness manifested through the v@rttis alone has the power of removing the ajñâna veiling the cit. Of course there are no actual distinctions of inner or outer, or the cit within me and the cit without me. These are only of appearance and due to avidyâ. And it is only from the point of view of appearance that we suppose that knowledge of objects can only dawn when the inner cit and the outer cit unite together through the anta@hkara@nav@rtti, which makes the external objects
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translucent as it were by its own translucence, removes the ajñâna which was veiling the external self-luminous cit and reveals the object phenomena by the very union of the cit as reflected through it and the cit as underlying the object phenomena. The pratyak@sa-pramâ or right knowledge by perception is the cit, the pure consciousness, reflected through the v@rtti and identical with the cit as the background of the object phenomena revealed by it. From the relative point of view we may thus distinguish three consciousnesses: (1) consciousness as the background of objective phenomena, (2) consciousness as the background of the jîva or pramâtâ, the individual, (3) consciousness reflected in the v@rtti of the anta@hkara@na; when these three unite perception is effected.
Pramâ or right knowledge means in Vedânta the acquirement of such new knowledge as has not been contradicted by experience (abâdhita). There is thus no absolute definition of truth. A knowledge acquired can be said to be true only so long as it is not contradicted. Thus the world appearance though it is very true now, may be rendered false, when this is contradicted by right knowledge of Brahman as the one reality. Thus the knowledge of the world appearance is true now, but not true absolutely. The only absolute truth is the pure consciousness which is never contradicted in any experience at any time. The truth of our world-knowledge is thus to be tested by finding out whether it will be contradicted at any stage of world experience or not. That which is not contradicted by later experience is to be regarded as true, for all world knowledge as a whole will be contradicted when Brahma-knowledge is realized.
The inner experiences of pleasure and pain also are generated by a false identification of anta@hkara@na transformations as pleasure or pain with the self, by virtue of which are generated the perceptions, "I am happy," or "I am sorry." In continuous perception of anything for a certain time as an object or as pleasure, etc. the mental state or v@rtti is said to last in the same way all the while so long as any other new form is not taken up by the anta@hkara@na for the acquirement of any new knowledge. In such case when I infer that there is fire on the hill that I see, the hill is an object of perception, for the anta@hkara@na v@rtti is one with it, but that there is fire in it is a matter of inference, for the anta@hkara@na v@rtti cannot be in touch with the fire; so in the same experience there may be two modes of
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mental modification, as perception in seeing the hill, and as inference in inferring the fire in the hill. In cases of acquired perception, as when on seeing sandal wood I think that it is odoriferous sandal wood, it is pure perception so far as the sandal wood is concerned, it is inference or memory so far as I assert it to be odoriferous. Vedânta does not admit the existence of the relation calledsamavâya(inherence) orjâti(class notion); and so does not distinguish perception as a class as distinct from the other class called inference, and holds that both perception and inference are but different modes of the transformations of the anta@hkara@na reflecting the cit in the corresponding v@rttis. The perception is thus nothing but the cit manifestation in the anta@hkara@na v@rtti transformed into the form of an object with which it is in contact. Perception in its objective aspect is the identity of the cit underlying the object with the subject, and perception in the subjective aspect is regarded as the identity of the subjective cit with the objective cit. This identity of course means that through the v@rtti the same reality subsisting in the object and the subject is realized, whereas in inference the thing to be inferred, being away from contact with anta@hkara@na, has apparently a different reality from that manifested in the states of consciousness. Thus perception is regarded as the mental state representing the same identical reality in the object and the subject by anta@hkara@na contact, and it is held that the knowledge produced by words (e.g. this is the same Devadatta) referring identically to the same thing which is seen (e.g. when I see Devadatta before me another man says this is Devadatta, and the knowledge produced by "this is Devadatta" though a verbal (s'âbda) knowledge is to be regarded as perception, for the anta@hkara@na v@rtti is the same) is to be regarded as perception or pratyak@sa. The content of these words (this is Devadatta) being the same as the perception, and there being no new relationing knowledge as represented in the proposition "this is Devadatta" involving the unity of two terms "this" and "Devadatta" with a copula, but only the indication of one whole as Devadatta under visual perception already experienced, the knowledge proceeding from "this is Devadatta" is regarded as an example of nirvikalpa knowledge. So on the occasion of the rise of Brahma-consciousness when the preceptor instructs "thou art Brahman" the knowledge proceeding from the sentence is not savikalpa, for
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though grammatically there are two ideas and a copula, yet from the point of view of intrinsic significance (tâtparya) one identical reality only is indicated. Vedânta does not distinguish nirvikalpa and savikalpa in visual perception, but only in s'âbda perception as in cases referred to above. In all such cases the condition for nirvikalpa is that the notion conveyed by the sentence should be one whole or one identical reality, whereas in savikalpa perception we have a combination of different ideas as in the sentence, "the king's man is coming" (râjapuru@sa âgacchatî). Here no identical reality is signified, but what is signified is the combination of two or three different concepts [Footnote ref 1].
It is not out of place to mention in this connection that Vedânta admits all the six pramâ@nas of Kumârila and considers like Mîmâ@msâ that all knowledge is self-valid (svat@ah-pramâ@na). But pramâ has not the same meaning in Vedânta as in Mîmâ@msâ. There as we remember pramâ meant the knowledge which goaded one to practical action and as such all knowledge was pramâ, until practical experience showed the course of action in accordance with which it was found to be contradicted. In Vedânta however there is no reference to action, but pramâ means only uncontradicted cognition. To the definition of self-validity as given by Mîmâ@msâ Vedânta adds another objective qualification, that such knowledge can have svata@h-prâmâ@nya as is not vitiated by the presence of any do@sa (cause of error, such as defect of senses or the like). Vedânta of course does not think like Nyâya that positive conditions (e.g. correspondence, etc.) are necessary for the validity of knowledge, nor does it divest knowledge of all qualifications like the Mîmâ@msists, for whom all knowledge is self-valid as such. It adopts a middle course and holds that absence of do@sa is a necessary condition for the self-validity of knowledge. It is clear that this is a compromise, for whenever an external condition has to be admitted, the knowledge cannot be regarded as self-valid, but Vedânta says that as it requires only a negative condition for the absence of do@sa, the objection does not apply to it, and it holds that if it depended on the presence of any positive condition for proving the validity of knowledge like the Nyâya, then only its theory of self-validity would have been damaged. But since it wants only a negative condition, no blame can be
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[Footnote 1: SeeVedântaparibhâ@sâandS'ikhâma@ni.]
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attributed to its theory of self-validity. Vedânta was bound to follow this slippery middle course, for it could not say that the pure cit reflected in consciousness could require anything else for establishing its validity, nor could it say that all phenomenal forms of knowledge were also all valid, for then the world-appearance would come to be valid; so it held that knowledge could be regarded as valid only when there was no do@sa present; thus from the absolute point of view all world-knowledge was false and had no validity, because there was the avidyâ-do@sa, and in the ordinary sphere also that knowledge was valid in which there was no do@sa. Validity (prâmâ@nya) with Mîmâ@msâ meant the capacity that knowledge has to goad us to practical action in accordance with it, but with Vedânta it meant correctness to facts and want of contradiction. The absence of do@sa being guaranteed there is nothing which can vitiate the correctness of knowledge [Footnote ref 1].
Vedânta Theory of Illusion.
We have already seen that the Mîmâ@msists had asserted that all knowledge was true simply because it was knowledge (yathârthâ@h sarve vivâdaspadîbhûtâ@h pratyayâ@h pratyayatvât). Even illusions were explained by them as being non-perception of the distinction between the thing perceived (e.g. the conch-shell), and the thing remembered (e.g. silver). But Vedânta objects to this, and asks how there can be non-distinction between a thing which is clearly perceived and a thing which is remembered? If it is said that it is merely a non-perception of the non-association (i.e. non-perception of the fact that this is not connected with silver), then also it cannot be, for then it is on either side mere negation, and negation with Mîmâ@msâ is nothing but the bare presence of the locus of negation (e.g. negation of jug on the ground is nothing but the bare presence of the ground), or in other words non-perception of the non-association of "silver" and "this" means barely and merely the "silver" and "this." Even admitting for argument's sake that the distinction between two things or two ideas is not perceived, yet merely from such a negative aspect no one could be tempted to move forward to action (such as stooping down to pick up a piece of illusory silver). It is positive
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[Footnote 1: SeeVedântaparibhâ@sâ, S'ikhâma@ni, Ma@niprabhâand Citsukha on svata@hprâma@nya.]
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conviction or perception that can lead a man to actual practical movement. If again it is said that it is the general and imperfect perception of a thing (which has not been properly differentiated and comprehended) before me, which by the memory of silver appears to be like true silver before me and this generates the movement for picking it up, then this also is objectionable. For the appearance of the similarity with real silver cannot lead us to behave with the thing before me as if it were real silver. Thus I may perceive that gavaya (wild ox) is similar to cow, but despite this similarity I am not tempted to behave with the gavaya as if it were a cow. Thus in whatever way the Mîma@msâ position may be defined it fails [Footnote ref l]. Vedânta thinks that the illusion is not merely subjective, but that there is actually a phenomenon of illusion as there are phenomena of actual external objects; the difference in the two cases consists in this, that the illusion is generated by the do@sa or defect of the senses etc., whereas the phenomena of external objects are not due to such specific do@sas. The process of illusory perception in Vedanta may be described thus. First by the contact of the senses vitiated by do@sas a mental state as "thisness" with reference to the thing before me is generated; then in the thing as "this" and in the mental state of the form of that "this" the cit is reflected. Then the avidyâ (nescience) associated with the cit is disturbed by the presence of the do@sa, and this disturbance along with the impression of silver remembered through similarity is transformed into the appearance of silver. There is thus an objective illusory silver appearance, as well as a similar transformation of the mental state generated by its contact with the illusory silver. These two transformations, the silver state of the mind and external phenomenal illusory silver state, are manifested by the perceiving consciousness (sâk@sicaitanya). There are thus here two phenomenal transformations, one in the avidyâ states forming the illusory objective silver phenomenon, and another in the anta@hkara@na-v@rtti or mind state. But in spite of there being two distinct and separate phenomena, their object being the same as the "this" in perception, we have one knowledge of illusion. The special feature of this theory of illusion is that an indefinable (anirvacanîya-khyâti) illusory silver is created in every case where an illusory perception of silver occurs. There are three orders of reality in Vedânta, namely the
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[Footnote 1: SeeVivara@na-prameya-sa@mgrahaandNyâyamakarandaon akhyâti refutation.]
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pâramârthikaor absolute,vyavahârikaor practical ordinary experience, andprâtibhâsika,illusory. The first one represents the absolute truth; the other two are false impressions due to do@sa. The difference between vyavahârika and prâtibhâsika is that the do@sa of the vyavahârika perception is neither discovered nor removed until salvation, whereas the do@sa of the prâtibhâsika reality which occurs in many extraneous forms (such as defect of the senses, sleep, etc.) is perceived in the world of our ordinary experience, and thus the prâtibhâsika experience lasts for a much shorter period than the vyavahârika. But just as the vyavahârika world is regarded as phenomenal modifications of the ajñâna, as apart from our subjective experience and even before it, so the illusion (e.g. of silver in the conch-shell) is also regarded as a modification of avidyâ, an undefinable creation of the object of illusion, by the agency of the do@sa. Thus in the case of the illusion of silver in the conch-shell, indefinable silver is created by the do@sa in association with the senses, which is called the creation of an indefinable (anirvacanîya) silver of illusion. Here the cit underlying the conch-shell remains the same but the avidyâ of anta@hkara@na suffers modifications (pari@nâma) on account of do@sa, and thus gives rise to the illusory creation. The illusory silver is thusvivartta(appearance) from the point of view of the cit and pari@nâma from the point of view of avidyâ, for the difference between vivartta and pari@nâma is, that in the former the transformations have a different reality from the cause (cit is different from the appearance imposed on it), while in the latter case the transformations have the same reality as the transforming entity (appearance of silver has the same stuff as the avidyâ whose transformations it is). But now a difficulty arises that if the illusory perception of silver is due to a coalescing of the cit underlying the anta@hkara@na-v@rtti as modified by do@sa and the object—cit as underlying the "this" before me (in the illusion of "this is silver"), then I ought to have the experience that "I am silver" like "I am happy" and not that "this is silver"; the answer is, that as the coalescing takes place in connection with my previous notion as "this," the form of the knowledge also is "this is silver," whereas in the notion "I am happy," the notion of happiness takes place in connection with a previous v@rtti of "I." Thus though the coalescing of the two "cits" is the same in both cases, yet in one case the
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knowledge takes the form of "I am," and in another as "this is" according as the previous impression is "I" or "this." In dreams also the dream perceptions are the same as the illusory perception of silver in the conch-shell. There the illusory creations are generated through the defects of sleep, and these creations are imposed upon the cit. The dream experiences cannot be regarded merely as memory-products, for the perception in dream is in the form that "I see that I ride in the air on chariots, etc." and not that "I remember the chariots." In the dream state all the senses are inactive, and therefore there is no separate objective cit there, but the whole dream experience with all characteristics of space, time, objects, etc. is imposed upon the cit. The objection that since the imposition is on the pure cit the imposition ought to last even in waking stages, and that the dream experiences ought to continue even in waking life, does not hold; for in the waking stages the anta@hkara@na is being constantly transformed into different states on the expiry of the defects of sleep, etc., which were causing the dream cognitions. This is calledniv@rtti(negation) as distinguished frombâdha(cessation). The illusory creation of dream experiences may still be there on the pure cit, but these cannot be experienced any longer, for there being no do@sa of sleep the anta@hkara@na is active and suffering modifications in accordance with the objects presented before us. This is what is called niv@rtti, for though the illusion is there I cannot experience it, whereas bâdha or cessation occurs when the illusory creation ceases, as when on finding out the real nature of the conch-shell the illusion of silver ceases, and we feel that this is not silver, this was not and will not be silver. When the conch-shell is perceived as silver, the silver is felt as a reality, but this feeling of reality was not an illusory creation, though the silver was an objective illusory creation; for the reality in the s'ukti (conch-shell) is transferred and felt as belonging to the illusion of silver imposed upon it. Here we see that the illusion of silver has two different kinds of illusion comprehended in it. One is the creation of an indefinable silver (anirvacanîya-rajatotpatti) and the other is the attribution of the reality belonging to the conch-shell to the illusory silver imposed upon it, by which we feel at the time of the illusion that it is a reality. This is no doubt theanyathâkhyâtiform of illusion as advocated by Nyâya. Vedânta admits that when two things (e.g. red flower and crystal) are both present
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before my senses, and I attribute the quality of one to the other by illusion (e.g. the illusion that the crystal is red), then the illusion is of the form of anyathâkhyâti; but if one of the things is not present before my senses and the other is, then the illusion is not of the anyathâkhyâti type, but of the anirvacanîyakhyâti type. Vedânta could not avoid the former type of illusion, for it believed that all appearance of reality in the world-appearance was really derived from the reality of Brahman, which was self-luminous in all our experiences. The world appearance is an illusory creation, but the sense of reality that it carries with it is a misattribution (anyathâkhyâti) of the characteristic of the Brahman to it, for Brahman alone is the true and the real, which manifests itself as the reality of all our illusory world-experience, just as it is the reality of s'ukti that gives to the appearance of silver its reality.
Vedânta Ethics and Vedânta Emancipation.
Vedânta says that when a duly qualified man takes to the study of Vedânta and is instructed by the preceptor—"Thou art that (Brahman)," he attains the emancipating knowledge, and the world-appearance becomes for him false and illusory. The qualifications necessary for the study of Vedânta are (1) that the person having studied all the Vedas with the proper accessories, such as grammar, lexicon etc. is in full possession of the knowledge of the Vedas, (2) that either in this life or in another, he must have performed only the obligatory Vedic duties (such as daily prayer, etc. callednitya-karma) and occasionally obligatory duty (such as the birth ceremony at the birth of a son, callednaimittika-karma) and must have avoided all actions for the fulfilment of selfish desires (kâmya-karmas, such as the performance of sacrifices for going to Heaven) and all prohibited actions (e.g. murder, etc.ni@siddha-karma) in such a way that his mind is purged of all good and bad actions (no karma is generated by thenityaandnaimittika-karma, and as he has not performed thekâmyaand prohibited karmas, he has acquired no new karma). When he has thus properly purified his mind and is in possession of the four virtues or means of fitting the mind for Vedânta instruction (calledsâdhana) he can regard himself as properly qualified for the Vedânta instruction. These virtues are (1) knowledge of what is eternal
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and what is transient, (2) disinclination to enjoyments of this life and of the heavenly life after death, (3) extreme distaste for all enjoyments, and anxiety for attaining the means of right knowledge, (4) control over the senses by which these are restrained from everything but that which aids the attainment of right knowledge (dama), (a) having restrained them, the attainment of such power that these senses may not again be tempted towards worldly enjoyments (uparati), (b) power of bearing extremes of heat, cold, etc., (c) employment of mind towards the attainment of right knowledge, (d) faith in the instructor and Upani@sads; (5) strong desire to attain salvation. A man possessing the above qualities should try to understand correctly the true purport of the Upani@sads (calleds'rava@na), and by arguments in favour of the purport of the Upani@sads to strengthen his conviction as stated in the Upani@sads (calledmanana) and then bynididhyâsana(meditation) which includes all the Yoga processes of concentration, try to realize the truth as one. Vedânta therefore in ethics covers the ground of Yoga; but while for Yoga emancipation proceeds from understanding the difference between puru@sa and prak@rti, with Vedânta salvation comes by the dawn of right knowledge that Brahman alone is the true reality, his own self [Footnote ref 1]. Mîmâ@msâ asserts that the Vedas do not declare the knowledge of one Brahman to be the supreme goal, but holds that all persons should act in accordance with the Vedic injunctions for the attainment of good and the removal of evil. But Vedânta holds that though the purport of the earlier Vedas is as Mîmâ@msâ has it, yet this is meant only for ordinary people, whereas for the elect the goal is clearly as the Upani@sads indicate it, namely the attainment of the highest knowledge. The performance of Vedic duties is intended only for ordinary men, but yet it was believed by many (e.g. Vâcaspati Mis'ra and his followers) that due performance of Vedic duties helped a man to acquire a great keenness for the attainment of right knowledge; others believed (e.g. Prakâs'âtmâ and his followers) that it served to bring about suitable opportunities by securing good preceptors, etc. and to remove many obstacles from the way so that it became easier for a person to attain the desired right knowledge. In the acquirement of ordinary knowledge the ajñânas removed
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[Footnote 1: SeeVedântasâraand _Advaitabrahmasiddhi.]
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are only smaller states of ajñâna, whereas when the Brahma-knowledge dawns the ajñâna as a whole is removed. Brahma-knowledge at the stage of its first rise is itself also a state of knowledge, but such is its special strength that when this knowledge once dawns, even the state of knowledge which at first reflects it (and which being a state is itself ajñâna modification) is destroyed by it. The state itself being destroyed, only the pure infinite and unlimited Brahman shines forth in its own true light. Thus it is said that just as fire riding on a piece of wood would burn the whole city and after that would burn the very same wood, so in the last state of mind the Brahma-knowledge would destroy all the illusory world-appearance and at last destroy even that final state [Footnote ref l].
The mukti stage is one in which the pure light of Brahman as the identity of pure intelligence, being and complete bliss shines forth in its unique glory, and all the rest vanishes as illusory nothing. As all being of the world-appearance is but limited manifestations of that one being, so all pleasures also are but limited manifestations of that supreme bliss, a taste of which we all can get in deep dreamless sleep. The being of Brahman however is not an abstraction from all existent beings as thesattâ(being as class notion) of the naiyâyika, but the concrete, the real, which in its aspect as pure consciousness and pure bliss is always identical with itself. Being (sat) is pure bliss and pure consciousness. What becomes of the avidyâ during mukti (emancipation) is as difficult for one to answer as the question, how the avidyâ came forth and stayed during the world-appearance. It is best to remember that the category of the indefinite avidyâ is indefinite as regards its origin, manifestation and destruction. Vedânta however believes that even when the true knowledge has once been attained, the body may last for a while, if the individual's previously ripened karmas demand it. Thus the emancipated person may walk about and behave like an ordinary sage, but yet he is emancipated and can no longer acquire any new karma. As soon as the fruits due to his ripe karmas are enjoyed and exhausted, the sage loses his body and there will never be any other birth for him, for the dawn of perfect knowledge has burnt up for him all budding karmas of beginningless previous lives, and he is no longer subject to any
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[Footnote 1:Siddhântales'a.]
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of the illusions subjective or objective which could make any knowledge, action, or feeling possible for him. Such a man is calledjîvanmukta, i.e. emancipated while living. For him all world-appearance has ceased. He is the one light burning alone in himself where everything else has vanished for ever from the stage [Footnote ref 1].
Vedânta and other Indian Systems.
Vedânta is distinctly antagonistic to Nyâya, and most of its powerful dialectic criticism is generally directed against it. S'a@nkara himself had begun it by showing contradictions and inconsistencies in many of the Nyâya conceptions, such as the theory of causation, conception of the atom, the relation of samavâya, the conception of jâti, etc [Footnote ref 2]. His followers carried it to still greater lengths as is fully demonstrated by the labours of S'rîhar@sa, Citsukha, Madhusûdana, etc. It was opposed to Mîmâ@msâ so far as this admitted the Nyâya-Vais'e@sika categories, but agreed with it generally as regards the pramâ@nas of anumâna, upamiti, arthâpatti, s'abda, and anupalabdhi. It also found a great supporter in Mîmâ@msâ with its doctrine of the self-validity and self-manifesting power of knowledge. But it differed from Mîmâ@msâ in the field of practical duties and entered into many elaborate discussions to prove that the duties of the Vedas referred only to ordinary men, whereas men of higher order had no Vedic duties to perform but were to rise above them and attain the highest knowledge, and that a man should perform the Vedic duties only so long as he was not fit for Vedânta instruction and studies.
With Sâ@mkhya and Yoga the relation of Vedânta seems to be very close. We have already seen that Vedânta had accepted all the special means of self-purification, meditation, etc., that were advocated by Yoga. The main difference between Vedânta and Sâ@mkhya was this that Sâ@mkhya believed, that the stuff of which the world consisted was a reality side by side with the puru@sas. In later times Vedânta had compromised so far with Sâ@mkhya that it also sometimes described mâyâ as being made up of sattva, rajas, and tamas. Vedânta also held that according to these three characteristics were formed diverse modifications
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[Footnote 1: SeePañcadas'î.]
[Footnote 2: See S'a@nkara's refutation of Nyâya,S'a@nkara-bhâ@sya, II. ii.]
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of the mâyâ. Thus Îs'vara is believed to possess a mind of pure sattva alone. But sattva, rajas and tamas were accepted in Vedânta in the sense of tendencies and not as reals as Sâ@mkhya held it. Moreover, in spite of all modifications that mâyâ was believed to pass through as the stuff of the world-appearance, it was indefinable and indefinite, and in its nature different from what we understand as positive or negative. It was an unsubstantial nothing, a magic entity which had its being only so long as it appeared. Prak@rti also was indefinable or rather undemonstrable as regards its own essential nature apart from its manifestation, but even then it was believed to be a combination of positive reals. It was undefinable because so long as the reals composing it did not combine, no demonstrable qualities belonged to it with which it could be defined. Mâyâ however was undemonstrable, indefinite, and indefinable in all forms; it was a separate category of the indefinite. Sâ@mkhya believed in the personal individuality of souls, while for Vedânta there was only one soul or self, which appeared as many by virtue of the mâyâ transformations. There was an adhyâsa or illusion in Sâ@mkhya as well as in Vedânta; but in the former the illusion was due to a mere non-distinction between prak@rti and puru@sa or mere misattribution of characters or identities, but in Vedânta there was not only misattribution, but a false and altogether indefinable creation. Causation with Sâ@mkhya meant real transformation, but with Vedânta all transformation was mere appearance. Though there were so many differences, it is however easy to see that probably at the time of the origin of the two systems during the Upani@sad period each was built up from very similar ideas which differed only in tendencies that gradually manifested themselves into the present divergences of the two systems. Though S'a@nkara laboured hard to prove that the Sâ@mkhya view could not be found in the Upani@sads, we can hardly be convinced by his interpretations and arguments. The more he argues, the more we are led to suspect that the Sâ@mkhya thought had its origin in the Upani@sads. Sâ'a@nkara and his followers borrowed much of their dialectic form of criticism from the Buddhists. His Brahman was very much like the s'ûnya of Nâgârjuna. It is difficult indeed to distinguish between pure being and pure non-being as a category. The debts of S`a@nkara to the self-luminosity of the Vijñânavâda Buddhism
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can hardly be overestimated. There seems to be much truth in the accusations against S'a@nkara by Vijñâna Bhik@su and others that he was a hidden Buddhist himself. I am led to think that S'a@nkara's philosophy is largely a compound of Vijñânavâda and S'ûnyavâda Buddhism with the Upani@sad notion of the permanence of self superadded.