extended to the region of the causes which have produced the phenomena we perceive, when they are resorted to in investigating the nature of Atman, the true Self who is quite unlike anything experienced by him for the very reason that He is the experiencer and all other things are experienced by Him,--when those laws which are based on the relations of phenomena to one another are appealed to in determining the relations between the phenomena on the one side and the Atman on the other, the conclusions arrived at cannot, of course, tally with truths exactly as they are declared in the scriptures which are the records of the ultimate verities realised by the Initiates in their Divine Samadhi. If some of the conclusions on transcendental matters arrived at by this method of investigation correspond to the reality, it is because the course of reasoning by which they have been arrived at is primarily, though perhaps unconsciously, inspired by the truths made known by Revelation. Not infrequently, the very line of argument adopted is already found sketched briefly in the scriptures; and, but for hints contained in the scriptures; the particular line of argument in question, as quite unique in itself, could not have occurred to the unaided reasoning. Hence it is that while the systems based on this method of investigation exhibit a tolerable degree of agreement in the analysis of

experience as to matters lying outside Atman who is the subject of all experiences, there is utmost divergence in their conclusions as to the First Cause of the Universe, as to the nature of Isvara and Atman, as to the cause of bondage, as to the nature and means of liberation.

16. The Tarkikas (Vaiseshikas and Naiyayikas) hold that the material universe is created out of the extremely fine atoms of matter acted on by the will of the Omniscient and Omnipotent Isvara. The soul is in itself an insentient entity rendered conscious by its union with manas through which it suffers pleasure and pain. The soul which is eternal identifies itself with the body, etc., on account of ignorance, and feels that it is born and dead with the body and thus suffers a lot of pain. The one means of attaining liberation is to destroy ignorance by knowledge of truth, obtained through the grace of the Divine Being, by meditating on the object of the right knowledge. By this knowledge of truth false notions disappear. When false notions disappear all the evil passions pass away; with them ceases activity; with it ceases birth, and with the cessation of birth, comes the annihilation of pain, which is the final bliss. The final bliss consists in perfect obliviousness to all: being freed from

manas, the soul is unconscious of anything, being in itself quite an insentient entity.