CHAPTER III.

UNITY OF ATMAN.

Third Stanza of the Hymn.

To Him in the Effulgent Form Facing the South, whose light, which is Existence itself, shines forth entering the objects which are almost non-existent,--to Him incarnate in the Guru who instructs the disciples in the Vedic text "That thou art;"--to Him who being realized there will be no more return to the ocean of samsara, to Him (Siva) be this bow!

1. How have existence and light come to be conjoined with all existing things?

[paragraph continues] Thus questioning on the analogy of mirror and reflection, the disciple is enlightened (by the third stanza of the Hymn).

It has been said above that being and light manifested in objects do not inhere in the objects themselves, and that they are the attributes of the perceiver. Then the following question arises: If they do not inhere in the objects perceived, how is it that they are perceived in connection with them? It cannot be that they are manifested in objects, either by way of being reflected in them as in a mirror, or by way of actually conjoining with them as fire conjoins with a mass of iron; for existence and consciousness which are formless in themselves are incapable of being reflected in the objects or of conjoining with them.

The meaning of the stanza may be explained as follows:

Absolute unity of Atman.

2. The existence and light in all phenomenal things, which are insentient, momentary and almost non-existent, proceed from the eternal Isvara and become conjoined with them.

3. These things have their being in the being of Atman, and no more; and so also, the light by which they shine is the light of Atman and no more.

The questioner's standpoint may be either that the phenomenal things exist quite apart from Atman like the mirror existing apart from the objects which are reflected in it; or that they exist independently of Atman and shine by a light of their own, so that they do not depend on Atman for their existence and light. In the first case the Teacher answers as follows: The phenomena have no separate existence; they are unreal because they are inert and momentary, like the illusory serpent,--where a rope is mistaken for a serpent. Atman alone exists and appears as the things which we perceive, like a rope appearing to be a serpent. When we speak of the existence and light of Atman as conjoining with the phenomenal things, we mean only that Atman puts on the appearance of these phenomenal things. If these things could exist separately and shine by themselves, then they would have appeared independently of Atman, like the mirror appearing independently of the objects reflected in it. The

phenomenal things having thus no separate existence from that of Atman, we cannot speak of the existence and light of Atman either as being actually reflected in them or as actually conjoining with them.