The Tattva-Muktavali | Page 7

thou say, I am He with whom are filled
all the vast stores of this universe in its entirety? Collect thy faculties
calmly in thy heart and consider thine own power; can a host of fierce
world-supporting elephants enter into the belly of a gnat?
71. Whose art thou? whence art thou come? how is the course of this
mundane bondage? Ponder this matter in thy heart and forsake the path
of the erring. Say not "I am He"; but worship Hari continually in the
relation of adorer and adored; by this thou mayst attain the happy
journey, but otherwise thou wilt assuredly fall.
72. Great is the misery which thou hast experienced, O Soul, while
dwelling in the womb in various births, and thou hast wandered again
and again in heaven or in hell; this theory "I am He" is an error of
thine,--worship thou Hari's lotus feet; thou art His worshipper, He is the
adorable, for He is the lord of the three worlds.
73. Renouncing the so-called theory of identity, forthwith devote
thyself to duality, if there now dwells in thy heart a supreme feeling of
faith in Hari; and, having learned the doctrine in Nârada's Pañcharâtra
and everywhere else, let all the hymns of the Vaish.nava sacred books
be thoroughly examined, as is truly for thy good.
74. By what foolish teacher hast thou been instructed, that thou utterest
these words "I am Brahman"? How art thou that being who is
continually worshipped by Rudra and all the gods? O fool, consider it
and see aright.
75. The wicked cannot understand the difference between the embodied
and the Supreme Souls; the great reason for this is a mind possessed by
an evil obstinacy in favour of the doctrine of Illusion; just as the tongue
of those who suffer from excess of bile cannot taste the sweetness of
molasses, nor the eyes of those afflicted with gutta serena or jaundice
see the whiteness of a shell.
76. He by a particle of whose intellect thou, O Soul, hast been produced
the foremost of intelligent beings--say not, O knave, that thou art
__He__; for who but the ingrate desires to seize the seat of his Master?
77. A particle of intelligence has been deposited in thee by the supreme
Lord in His mercy,--it becomes thee not, O knave, to say that therefore
thou art God; just as if some evil-minded man had received elephants,
horses, and infantry from the king and then set his heart on seizing his
kingdom.

78. He under whose control is that mighty illusion which deceives the
three worlds, He is to be recognized as the Supreme Lord, the adorable,
essentially thought, existence and joy; but he who is himself always
under her control like a camel drawn by a string through his nostrils, is
to be recognized as the individual soul,-- vast indeed is the difference
between the two!
79. Having studied the doctrines of the Sâ"nkhya, Ka.nâda, and
Gautama, and the doctrine of Patañjali, the doctrines of the Mîmâ.msâ
and Bha.t.tabhâskara [Footnote: Colebrooke's Essays, vol i. p. 359.],
--amidst all the six current systems,--let the wise tell the final
conclusion if they can as to the real nature of the supreme and the
individual soul,--is it duality, or is it oneness, or is it again a oneness in
duality?
80. In five of the systems I have only heard peremptorily asserted in
many places the difference between the supreme and the individual
souls; what is this that I hear asserted in the Vedânta system? "Plurality,
unity, both,"--this is a threefold marvel! [Footnote: This is an attack on
Râmânuja's system, as opposed to that of Pûr.naprajña or Madhva, cf.
Sarva-daršana S. p. 52, l. 20, "What is the real truth? The real truth is
plurality, unity, and both. Thus unity is admitted in saying that
Brahman alone subsists in all forms as all is its body; both unity and
plurality are admitted in saying that one only Brahman subsists under a
plurality of forms, diverse as soul and non-soul; and plurality is
admitted in saying that the essential natures of soul, non-soul, and the
Lord are different and not to be confounded." This doctrine is opposed
by the followers of Madhva, see __ibid.__, Pûr.naprajña-darš. p. 61, l.
11.]
81. He who is the maker of all and the Lord of the world is independent
by reason of his essential independence; the individual soul is
notoriously dependent; how can they say then that these two are
identical?
82. There are various flavours in honey [existing distinct] through the
difference of the trees [from whose flowers it is produced]; how else
could it remove the three-fold disorders? [Footnote: __I.e.__ those
affecting the three "humours" of the body, __i.e. vâyu__ 'wind,'
__pitta__ 'bile,' and __kapha__ 'phlegm.' Certain