As ice and clouds are not different
from water, so the mind emanating from the soul is not different from it. The
mind (three states) emanating from the soul (consciousness) means mind being
the effect from the soul (consciousness) is not different from it. Analysis
shows it. Analysis needs thinking. The ice and clouds have form; but where is
the form in the water. Where did the form come from? All that one can say is
that the water is not different from the ice and cloud. The mind is same as the
soul, as the water produces the ice and clouds, so the soul (consciousness)
produces the experiences of the three states.
The unreal cannot have another unreality for its cause, nor can the real have the unreal for its cause. The real cannot be the cause of the real. And how utterly impossible it is for the real to be the cause of the unreal!
As a person within the waking
experience through false knowledge appears to handle objects, whose nature is
inscrutable, as if they were real, so also, in dreams, he perceives, through
false knowledge, objects whose existence is possible in the dream alone.
Scholars teach causality only for
the sake of those who, afraid of non creation, assert the reality of external
objects because they perceive such objects and also because they cling to
various social and religious duties.
Those who, because of their fear
of the truth of absolute non- creation and also because of their perception of
external objects, deny non-creation are not affected by the evil consequent on
the belief in creation. This evil, if there is any, is insignificant.
As the line made by a moving
fire-brand appears to be straight, crooked, etc., so Atman/consciousness when set in
motion, appears as the perceiver, the perceived and the like.
As the fire-brand, when not in
motion, is free from all appearances and remains changeless, so Atman/consciousness,
when not in motion, is free from all appearances and remains Changeless.
When the fire—brand is set in
motion, the appearances that are seen in it do not come from elsewhere. When it
is still, the appearances do not leave the motionless fire—brand and go
elsewhere, nor do they enter into the fire-brand itself.
The appearances do not emerge from
the fire-brand, because their nature is not that of a substance. This applies
likewise to Atman, because of the similarity of the appearances.
When Atman is associated with the
idea of activity, as in the waking /dream, the appearances that seem to arise
do not come from anywhere else. When Atman is none-active, as in deep sleep,
the appearances do not leave the non-active Atman and go elsewhere, nor do
they merge in it. The appearances do not emerge from Atman, for their nature
is not that of a substance. They are incomprehensible, because they are not
subject to the relation of cause and effect.
A substance may be the cause of
another substance and a non- substance, the cause of another non-substance. But
the individual cannot possibly be anything like a substance or a non-substance.
The three states are not caused by
the mind, nor is the mind caused by them because they are mind itself. The mind is myth on the standpoint of the Atman as self. Hence one has to hold to the principle of absolute
non-creation.
