The Tattva-Muktavali | Page 3

the like; therefore there is a
difference between thee and Brahman as between the reflection and its

original.
13. Yonder Brahman is described by the words of the sacred texts as
not to be known, nor to be reasoned about, and as devoid of all desire;
but thou art within the range of speech and of thought; how shall there
be oneness of thee and Brahman?
14. Thou art verily bereft of thy understanding, O individual Soul, by
the darkness of this doctrine of Mâyâ, while thou constantly
proclaimest like a madman "I am Brahman"; where is thy sovereignty,
where thy empire, where thy omniscience? There is as vast a difference
between Brahman and thee as between mount Meru and a
mustard-seed!
15. Thou art a finite soul, He is indeed all-pervading; thou standest only
on one spot, while He is everywhere always; thou, being of a moment,
art happy and unhappy; He is happy at all times; how canst thou say "I
am He"? Fie! art thou not ashamed?
16. Glass is glass, and a gem is a gem; a shell is but a shell, and silver
is silver; there is never seen a transposition [Footnote: Dr. Banerjea
(__Dialogues__, p. 379) reads __kadâpy atyayajñânam, i.e.__
vyabhichâra; but all the MSS. which I have compared read __na kadâ
vyatyaya__ (or __vyatyaya.m__) __jñânam; kadâ__ seems irregularly
used for __kadâpi__, as it is also in šl. 113, __c.__] among them. But
wherever other things are imagined, to be found in something else, it is
through an error; and so it is when the soul utters such words as "that
art thou!"
17. The meaning of the word "__that__" (__tat__) is an ocean of
immortality, filled with manifest and supreme felicity; the meaning of
the word "__thou__" is a most miserable being, bewildered in mind
through the burden of the fear of existence; these two can never be one,
they are divided by the nature of things; the doctrine of Non-unity is
the truth for all worlds, thou art but His slave.
18. If Brahman were meant by these words, the power employed would
not be Denotation, for their literal meaning does not apply; [Footnote:
In such sentences as "That art thou," "I am Brahman," etc., the primary
power of the words, __i.e.__ " Denotation" (__abhidhâ__), could not
express the unconditioned Brahman destitute of all attributes; for
Denotation rests upon the ordinary conventional meaning, and how
could this take in an idea so far removed from ordinary experience?

Nor could it be the secondary power "Indication" (__laksha.nâ__), as in
the well- known instance of "the herd-station on the Ganges," where
the Ganges, by "indication," means the shore and not the stream. For
"indication" must be based on some connexion between the primary
and the indicated secondary meaning; but how can that which is
"without a second" be connected with anything?] consequently it must
be the second power of a word, Indication.
19. Yet if so, why should it be Indication? for this arises from some
association with the primary meaning; but with what can that substance
be associated which is disconnected with everything and without a
second?
20. That power of a word is Indication, by which, when the primary
meaning is precluded, some other meaning is indicated in connexion
therewith, through some motive or through common currency; and its
causes are thus three [Footnote: I suppose that these are (1) the
incompatibility of the primary sense; (2) the common currency of the
secondary meaning, __e.g.__ when "Europe" is used to imply its
inhabitants in the phrase "Europe makes war:" (3) a motive, as in "a
herd-station on the Ganges," where "Ganges" is used instead of "the
bank of the Ganges," in order to imply the coolness and purity of the
spot].
21. Now if there is no Denotation in a phrase, how can there arise any
Indication? First there should be some primary meaning precluded, and
then there may be the Indication of something else.
22. Where there is no accepted Denotation, how can you there have
Indication? If there is no village, how can there be a boundary?-- there
is no child without a father [Footnote: Cf. the Bengali proverb __mâthâ
nâi târ mâthâbyathâ__, "he has no head and yet he has a headache."]
23. "The lances enter, the swords, the bows and arrows,"--here we have
Indication; for the sentence must suggest something else to complete
itself, as there cannot be "entrance" in the case of an inanimate subject.
24. "A herd-station on the Ganges,"--here we have the self-sacrifice of
the primary to another meaning, since the Ganges, as being in the form
of water, cannot be the site of a herd-station.
25. In the example "ghî is life" there is produced the idea of sameness
of form; in the example "this is