bowerbird cyberlibrary -- bhagap380.html

p379 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p380w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p381
----- bhagap380.html

ness." Now this feeling is different in different bodies. " I am the
doer" " I am the enjoyer" every one feels this separately for himself.
There Is no one Parmatma, which is the essence of all these Jivatmas
and which is above all transformations. Therefore freedom from
attachments or dispassion is not possible. You may think, that the en-
joyments are transitory, and so also that the time and place of enjoy-
ment, the scriptures that enjoin them, and the enjoying Atma itself
are not constant. Hence you may justify dispassion. But all this is
not a fact. This is the argument of the followers of Jaimini.
Sridhara.}

And If you consider that all substances are constant by the
eternal flow of their existence and that consciousness grows and is
separate according to the difference in every particular form.
(According to the followers of Jaimini there is no break in the objects
of enjoyment nor are they formed of Maya. All substances per-
petually exist by the constancy of their flow. They say that there
was no time, when the Universe was not what it is. Therefore there
is no maker of the Universe, no Isvara. And the Universe is
not a delusion-Maya. It is what it appears to be. There is
no one and constant consciousness of which the essence is Atma.
"This pot" "this cloth" Our consciousness grows by the process
of perceiving these differences. Therefore consciousness is not
constant and it has separate forms. The hidden purport is this.
Atma is not absolute consciousness itself, but it is transformed into
consciousness. But you can not say, because it is subject to trans-
formation, therefore it is transient. For it has been said authorita-
tively that its transformation into consciousness does not interfere
with its eternity. Therefore for the purpose of liberation (Mukti),
Atma can not transform itself without the help of the senses ??c.
And if Atma attains liberation, in the state of jada (or unconscious-
ness) nothing is gained. Therefore the best path to follow is that of
Pravritti or Inclination and not that of Nivritti or Disinclination.
Sridhara. The above commentaries of Sridhara form one of the
best expositions of the philosophy of Jaimini. Only the last passage
requires a little elucidation. Atma in itself is not consciousness. Its
transformation into consciousness is its highest evolution or Mukti.
Now this transformation is caused by the perception of objects, it is
made complete by the perception of all objects and it is made constant
by a constant desire for all objects. This object, or that object may
vanish, this man or that woman may die, this flower or that flower
may perish, but there is no time when the objects as a class do not

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p379 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p380w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p381