The Tattva-Muktavali | Page 2

modern."

TRANSLATION.
1. Victorious is the garland-wearing foster-son of Nanda,--the protector

of his devotees,--the destroyer of the cruel king,-- dark-blue like the
delicate tamâla blossoms,--formidable with his many outspread
rays,--mighty with all his attendant powers, [Footnote: The Bengali
translation explains these as the internal powers (__antara"ngâ__)
Hlâdinî, etc., and the external (__bahira"ngâ__) Prahvâ, etc.]--and
having his forehead radiant like the moon.
2. This follower of the Purâ.nas, who holds by his own belief, reads to
his heart's content the Purâ.na in the morning, and he listens devotedly
with profound meditation, his whole mind intent on the meaning of the
book.
3. Having abandoned the doctrine of the oneness of the individual and
the Supreme Soul, he establishes by argument their mutual difference;
having used Šruti and Šm.riti as a manifold proof, he employs
Inference in many ways in the controversy.
4. This individual soul must be different from Brahman because it is
always circumscribed,--many are the similar arguments which are to be
acknowledged in the course of our reasonings.
5. "Might we not say that a jar and a web could be called identical
because both are cognizable?" [Footnote: There is a favourite Naiyâyik
example of a __kevalânvayi__ middle term, "a jar is nameable because
it is cognizable as a web is."] But we cannot say so in regard to these
two things in question, for Brahman alone is that which cannot be
cognized.
6. The sentence "Thou art That" (__tat tvam asi__) which is understood
in its primary meaning as referring to the object of the Veda, [Footnote:
Or __vedavishaye__ may perhaps simply mean __vede__, cf. šl.
112.]--the author thus explains its meaning, as he knows his own
doctrine, and has fixed his mind on the system of Duality; since the
word 'that' (__tat__) is here indeclinable and implies a difference, and
the word 'thou' (__tvam__) means that which is to be differentiated, the
sign of the genitive case has been elided; [Footnote: The author here
explains the sentence __tat tvam asi__, as really meaning __tasya tvam
asi__ "thou art Its."] "thou only," such is not the meaning of the
sentence [Footnote: In "Thou art that," 'thou' and 'that' would refer to
the same subject (__sâmânâdhikara.nya__)].
7. He is all-knowing, all-seeing, Himself the three worlds, in whose
belly thou art thyself contained,--He causes at once by a movement of

the brow the creation, preservation, and absorption of all beings! Thou
art ignorant, and only seest relatively, He is the adorable, the one
Witness of all worlds; thou art changing, He is One; thou art all dull
and stained, not such is He.
8. As for the text "I am Brahman," you must take the nominative case
as only used there for the genitive by the licence of an inspired speaker.
How, if it were otherwise, would there be a genitive in the illustration,
[Footnote: This is often used as an illustration in Vedânta works, as
__e.g.__ B.rihad Âra.ny. Up. ii. 1. 20, "as the spider proceeds with his
web, as the little sparks proceed from fire, so from this Soul proceed all
vital airs, all worlds, all gods, all beings."] as in the sentence "as the
sparks of the fire"?
9. The poets call a lad fire (from his hot temper), the face the orb of a
full moon, the eye a blue lotus, the bosom mount Meru, and the hand a
young shoot; by a confusion of the superimposed appearance we may
thus have the idea of identity where there is still a real difference; and
so too must we deal with those words of Šruti "I am Brahman."
[Footnote: This is another suggested method of interpreting the words
"I am Brahman." It may be only a common case of "qualified
superimponent indication," as "the man of the Panjâb is an ox" (cf.
Kâvya Prakâša, ii. 10-12). Cf. the definition of upachâra in the Sâhitya
Darpa.na: __upachâro hi nâmâtyanta.m višakalitayoh
šâd.rišyâtišayamahimnâ bhedapratîtisthaganamâtram__].
10. As there are many waves in the sea, so are we many individual
souls in Brahman; the wave can never become the sea; how then wilt
thou, the individual soul, become Brahman?
11. In the depths of all Šâstras the two things are both recognized,
knowledge and ignorance; so too virtue and vice; and thus also science,
and next to it closely clinging behind, but other than it, appears false
science; thus everywhere there are opposite pairs, and similar is the
notorious pair, Brahman and the soul. How can these two have oneness?
Let the good answer with an upright mind.
12. Thou, O Soul, art the reflection of the Supreme Being, who
possesses the power of illusion and is the substratum of all, while He,
the adorable, shines forth as Himself the original; the one moon in the
sky is seen manifold in water and