ESSENTIAL UNITY AND IDENTITY OF THE 'SELF' IN ALL THE STATES OF THE BEING
At this stage we need to emphasize a point of fundamental importance. All the principles or elements we have been speaking about, which are described as distinct, are indeed so when viewed from the individual standpoint, but only from that standpoint, for in reality they merely constitute so many manifested modalities of the 'Universal Spirit' (Ātmā). In other words, although accidental and contingent insofar as they are manifested, they serve as the expression of certain essential possibilities of Ātmā (those which, from their very nature, are possibilities of manifestation); and these possibilities, in principle and in their basic reality, are in no wise distinct from Ātmā. This is why they must be considered, in the Universal (and no longer in relation to individual beings), as being in reality Brahma itself, which is 'without duality', and outside of which there is nothing, either manifested or unmanifested. [1] Besides, anything which leaves something outside itself cannot be infinite, being limited by that very thing which it excludes; and thus the World, taking this expression as meaning the whole of universal
manifestation, is only distinguishable from Brahma in an illusory manner, while on the contrary Brahma is absolutely 'distinct from that which It pervades', [2] that is, from the World, since we cannot apply any of the determinative attributes to It which pertain to the World, and since universal manifestation in its entirety is rigorously nil in relation to Its Infinity.
As we have already pointed out elsewhere, this irreciprocity of relationship entails the formal condemnation of 'pantheism', as well as of 'immanentism' of any sort; and the Bhagavad-Gītā also asserts the same thing very clearly in the following terms: 'All beings are in Me and I am not Myself in them.... My Being upholds beings and, without being Itself in them, it is through It that they exist. [3] Again, one may say that Brahma is the absolute Whole for the very reason that it is infinite, while, on the other hand, though all things are in Brahma, they are not Brahma when viewed from the standpoint of distinction, that is to say in their quality of relative and conditioned things, their existence as such being moreover nothing but an illusion from the standpoint of supreme Reality. That which is asserted of things and which cannot apply to Brahma is but an expression of relativity, and at the same time, this relativity being illusory, all distinction is equally illusory, because one of its terms vanishes when brought into the presence of the other, nothing being capable of entering into correlation with the Infinite. It is solely in principle that all things are Brahma, but also it is that alone which constitutes their fundamental reality; this it is that must never be lost sight of if there is to be a proper understanding of what is to follow. [4]
No distinction [bearing upon contingent modifications, such as the distinction between the agent, the act, and the end or the
result of that act] invalidates the essential unity and identity of Brahma as cause [kārana] and effect [kārya]. [5] The sea is the same as its waters, and does not differ (in nature) in any way from them, although the waves, the foam, the spray, the drops, and other accidental modifications which these waters undergo exist apart or conjointly as different from one another [when considered distinctively, either under the aspect of succession or of simultaneity, but without their nature ceasing on that account to be the same]. [6] An effect is not other [in essence] than its cause [although the cause, on the contrary, is more than the effect]; Brahma is one [as Being] and without duality [as Supreme Principle]; Itself, It is not separated [by any limitations] from Its modifications [formal as well as formless]; It is Ātmā [in every possible state], and Ātmā [in itself, in the unconditioned state] is It [and not other than It]. [7] The same earth yields diamonds and other precious minerals, crystal rocks and common worthless stones; the same soil produces a diversity of plants offering the
greatest variety of leaves, flowers, and fruits; the same nutriment is converted in the organism into blood, flesh, and various excrescences, such as hair and nails. As milk is spontaneously changed into curds and water into ice [but without this conversion from one state into another implying any change of nature], so Brahma modifies Itself in diverse ways [in the indefinite multiplicity of universal manifestation], without the aid of instruments or external means of any kind whatever [and without Its unity and identity being affected thereby, without it being possible to say, therefore, that It is modified in reality, although all things only exist in effect as Its modifications]. [8] Thus the spider spins its web out of its own substance, subtle beings take diverse [incorporeal] forms, and the lotus grows from marsh to marsh without organs of locomotion. That Brahma is indivisible and without parts [as It is], is no objection [to this conception of universal multiplicity in Its unity, or rather in Its 'nonduality']; it is not Its totality [eternally immutable] which is modified in the appearances of the World [nor any of Its parts, since It has none], but it is Itself viewed under the special aspect of distinction or of differentiation, that is, as saguna or savishesha: and, if It can be
viewed thus, that is because It comprises all possibilities within Itself, without their being in any sense parts of Itself. [9]
Diverse changes [of condition and modes of existence] are presented to the same [individual] soul while dreaming [and in this state perceiving internal objects which belong to the domain of subtle manifestation]; [10] diverse illusory forms [corresponding to different modalities of formal manifestation, other than the corporeal modality] are assumed by this same subtle being without in any respect altering its unity [such illusory forms, māyāvirüpa being considered as purely accidental and not belonging, of themselves, to the being who assumes them, so that the latter must be regarded as unaffected by this merely apparent modification]. [11] Brahma is almighty [since It contains all things in principle], capable of every activity [although 'actionless', or rather on that very account], without organ or instrument of action of any sort; therefore no motive or special end [such as pertains to an individual act] other than Its own will [which is indistinguishable from Its omnipotence] [12] must be assigned to
the determination of the Universe. No accidental differentiation must be imputed to It [as in the case of a particular cause], because each individual being is modified [while developing its possibilities] in conformity with its own nature; [13] thus the raincloud distributes rain with impartiality [without regard to the special results which arise from secondary circumstances], and this same fertilizing rain causes different seeds to grow in various ways, producing a variety of plants according to their species [by reason of the different potentialities proper to these seeds respectively]. [14] Every attribute of a first cause is (in principle) in Brahma, which [in Itself] is nevertheless devoid of every [distinct] quality. [15]
That which was, that which is and that which will be, truly all is Omkära [the Universe principially identified with Brahma, and, as such, symbolized by the sacred monosyllable Om]; and all else which is not subjected to threefold time [trikäla, that is to say the
temporal condition viewed under its three modalities of past, present, and future] is also truly Omkāra. Assuredly, this Ātmā [of which all things are but the manifestation] is Brahma, and this Ātmā [relatively to the various states of the being] has four conditions [pādas, a word signifying literally 'feet']; in truth, all this is Brahma. [16]
'All this', (as moreover the continuation of this latter text, which we shall give later on, clearly shows), must be understood as referring to the different modalities of the individual being regarded in its integrality, as well as to the non-individual states of the total being; that is what is meant here by the conditions of Ātmā, although, in itself, Ātmā is truly unconditioned and never ceases to be so.