17. According to some of the Sankhyas, the material universe is evolved out of the one all-pervading insentient essence of matter called Pradhana, acting under the influence of a sentient Isvara who enters into it by way of being reflected in it; while there are other Sankhyas who hold that there is no such Being called Isvara, and that the one Pradhana evolves, of itself, into the universe of manifold existence. Creation, they say, is effected by mutually dependent Nature (Prakriti) and Soul, Prakriti not evolving without the conscious Soul, and the Soul not achieving its emancipation without Nature's evolution. All pain is due to the Soul--which is in itself free from pain--falsely identifying itself with the intellect which is evolved out of Nature (Prakriti). By contemplation of truth the Soul is enabled to discriminate between Nature and Soul, and then a final separation takes place. Kaivalya or absolute isolation has been attained: the result is final bliss. In this state of bliss the Soul remains pure consciousness, Nature manifesting itself never more to the vision of the soul.

18. The Nyaya and Sankhya schools have based their intellectual speculation on the teaching of the accepted Revelation, never disputing the matters of fact detailed therein: and they may be

so far considered orthodox. The heterodox thinkers, who find themselves unable to subscribe to the elaborate doctrine of Vedic ritual, lay the axe of speculation at the very root of it by way of denying the persistent existence of the soul, so that there is none who, doing an act at present, will, in a future period, reap the fruits thereof. They attach no value to the time-honored Veda which teaches among other things a long and to them indefensible course of rituals; but they substitute in its place scriptures containing a body of teachings treating mostly of pure morality and purporting to have been delivered by an Omniscient Teacher, a Buddha or an Arhat. Such are the Buddhists and the Arhats. The former hold as follows: There is no Isvara, no one eternally existent God who is the creator of the universe. Everything in the universe including the soul is sui generis, born of itself, and exists only for an instant, not having existed before nor existing after that one instant of its existence. All is pain; and the bondage of the soul consists in looking upon the self and the universe, by ignorance and consequent karma, as something continuously existent. When, by deep meditation of the truth that everything is painful, momentary, sui generis, and non-existent before and after, the soul recognises its own momentariness as well as the momentariness of all else, liberation is attained. Liberation consists in pure detached states of consciousness