CHAPTER I.

ATMAN AS THE EGO.

First Stanza of the Hymn.

To Him who by illusion of Atman, as by sleep, sees the universe existing within Himself--like a city seen to exist within a mirror--as though it were manifested without; to Him who beholds, when awake, His own very Self, the second-less; to Him who is incarnate in the Teacher; to Him in the Effulgent Form Facing the South, to Him (Siva) be this bow!

1. Felicity to me may Vinayaka grant!
Felicity to me may Sarasvati grant!
Felicity to me may Mahesvara grant!
Felicity to me may Sadasiva grant!

The purpose of the Hymn.

2. The sages hold that there is no greater gain. than the gain of Atman, the Self. With a view to this gain, the sage adores his own Self, the Paramesvara.

3. In this Hymn is adored the Paramesvara Himself, who, having entered into the Universe created by His own will, manifests Himself in the mind of every one.

The fundamental questions.

As a result of the accumulated good Karma of many past births, a man attains some control over his mind, conceives a certain amount of indifference to worldly objects, obtains slight glimpses of truth, is able to discriminate the real and permanent from the unreal and impermanent, and is led to a study of the scriptures. After a cursory study of the scriptural teaching and of human experience, he becomes the disciple of a Teacher and asks him the following questions:

4. Question 1.--We speak of things as existing and appearing. Wherein does this existence abide, as also the light by which they appear?

5. Is it in the things themselves severally, or in Isvara, the very Self of all?

Though the external phenomena themselves vary from moment to moment, the ideas of being and consciousness invariably associated with all of them do not vary. Hence the question as to

wherein they essentially abide. Do they inhere in each object separately like its specific size, etc., as it is quite natural to suppose that they abide where they are observed; or do they inhere in the one Isvara who is said to exist everywhere in the universe as the Self of all, like the genus in the individuals, as the Sruti declares in the Isavasyopanishad, "By Lord is all this to be dwelt in," no distinction being observed as to being and consciousness in all objects of perception except what prevails among the individual objects themselves?

Q. 2.--What is Isvara?

Is Isvara, the author of the universe, quite external to it? Or, does He form the very basis wherein the universe has its being?

Q. 3.--What is Jiva?

Is it in the very nature of Pratyagatman to be Jiva? Or, is it accidental, due to His connection with an upadhi?

Q. 4.--What is meant by "the Self of all?"

Is the Isvara, as a matter of fact, the Self of all? Or, is He so described by courtesy?

6. Q. 5.--How has Jiva to understand it?