Introduction

In the view of Sankara and his followers, the inconceivable, inexpressible, qualityless, actionless and differenceless Brahman lying beyond the world-process is the Absolute accepted in the Gltd, while according to the Vaisnava Vedantins, the Absolute accepted in the Glta is Purusottama who is not merely a qualityless impersonal principle totally dissociated from the world-process but also an infinitely qualified person actively participating in the world-process- To the ^ankarites, Puruso­ttama is identical with ISvara, the world-governor who is an empirical manifestation of Brahman, while to the Vaisnavites, Brahman or Aksara Brahman is an aspect of Purusottama.

It, however, seems that the view of the Vaisnava-Vedantins is more in consonance with the philosophy of the Gitd. Puru§o-ttama cannot be identified with the ISvara of Sankara-Vedanta, since Purugottama has been declared in the Glta as the highest reality, while the Isvara of Sankara-Vedanta is not so, being a lower manifestation of Brahman. According to the Glta, Puruso­ttama being the highest reality is the foundation of Brahman also¹. Purusottama and Brahman are, of course, not two distinct realities nor two stages of the same reality, but are two aspects of the same reality. Purusottama devoid of qualities and actions is Brahman, and Brahman endowed with divine attributes is Purusottama².

Purusottama has two-fold prakrti or nature, namely apara or lower prakrti and para or higher prakrti. The former

The Self in the Bhagavad-Glta

manifests itself as the five material elements, the mind, the intellect and the ego, while the latter reveals itself as thejlvas or living beings and governs the world³.

The para prakfti is identical with the para-sakti or cicchakti ( conscious power ) of Pratyabhijng and S"aktism. It bears some similarity also with the tatastha-sakti or perepheral power of Paramatman of the philosophy of Sri Caitanya, which is said to be revealing itself as thejivas and to be the world-con­trolling power of Paramatman.

Again, there are two purusas—ksara and aksara. The ksara purusa means the bhutas or effects which are subject to mutation, and the aksara purusa means the kutastha or immutable reality⁴. Some hold that the 'ksara purusa'' means the insentient or material elements, while some others take it in the sense of the bodies of the living beings. The aksara purusa is explained by some as the jlva or self, and by some as Bhagavat or the Lord⁵. We are, however, inclined to take the 'ksara purusa in the sense of the empirical or bound individual self identified with the mind-body, and the 'aksara purusa¹ in the ssnse of the real or transcendental Universal Self which manifests itself as the individual jlvas and is immanent in them. The aksara purusa has two aspects—conditioned and uncondi­tioned. In the conditioned aspect, the aksara purusa is called Ksetrajfla which is to some extent similar to the Paramatman in $rl Caitanya's philosophy, while in the unconditioned aspect it is called Brahman.

Nature of the Self

According to the GMa, the self is completely different from the mind-body-complex, though it exists in the mind-body as the inner light and as the witness of all the events of life. It is sanatana or eternal, being devoid of origination and destruction and also of increase and decrease. It is free from

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10

The Self in Indian Philosophy

the cycle of birth and death and from the pains and sufferings accruing from it⁶. It is immutable and imperishable l weapons cannot cut it, fire cannot burn it ; water cannot make it wet ; and air cannot make it dry⁷. Through defferent births, the self remains the same, because it is the bodies that change— like wearing clothes—and not the self⁸. The self is sarvagata or all-pervasive z it pervades everything of the world. Being all pervasive, it is sthanu or stable and acala or without any movement⁹. It lies beyond the three gunas of prakfti, and is not influenced by the actions of the mind-body. The mind-body acts because of the gunas of prakf ti, while the self, being free from the gunas, remains completely action-less : it neither acts nor causes others to act¹⁰. Thus, the self is neither a karta or doer of actions nor bhokta or enjoyer of the fruits of its actions. It is immeasurable imperceptible and inexpres­sible¹¹.

In the empirical state, however, the self does not realise its real nature, as it is then enveloped by ajfiana or ignorance. The empirical self is confined by the not-self—the mind, the senses and the body—and identifies itself with it. As a result, it is bound in the world and becomes a slave to nature. This empirical self undergoes birth and death and is subjected to the gunas of prakfti and also to the pains and sufferings accruing from these g«Has¹². It is the karta or doer of actions and bhokta or the enjoyer of the fruits of its own actions.

When the self is freed from ajftana, it realises its real nature as eternal, imperishable, changeless, birthless and deathless. The self of this state is unaffected by the guilds of prakjti and by the pains and sufferings connected with them¹³.

The Self in the Bhagavad-Gita 11

the attributeless Brahman, but to those who consider Puru§o-ttama as the Highest, the self is a real part or am$a of

Purusottama.

Now, the Gita describes the real self of the individual as non-different from Purugottama, and thejJva or the empirical self as a part or form of Purusottama and also of his para-prakfti or conscious power¹*. Again, it is said that a devotee attains similarity with Purusottama, while a jflanin attains nirvana and merges into Brahman¹⁵. From these varied statements, it appears that the relation between the Absolute and the self is*one of difference-cum-non-difference. The real position, however, seems to be this that the self is a form of Purusottama and shares both the aspects of the 'immutable essence' and the 'divine or conscious power' of Purus.ottama. And, just as Purusottama can exist as the actionless, qualityless and differenceless Brahman or can remain in divine sport through his divine power, so also the self can. The Jflanins or those who pursue the path of knowledge and meditate upon the qualityless and actionless aksara Brahman, merge in Brahman and become identical with it in liberation. A bhakta or devotee or Puru§ottama, on the other hand, shares his divine sport and remains with him through the relation of difference-cum-difference. Of course, a Manin is also said to attain Puru-Sottama in the sense that the afcsara-Brahman attained by the Manin is but an aspect of PuruSottama. Again, a bhakta of Puru§ottama is also said to be capable of merging into Brah­man, because of the fact that Purusottama is the foundation of Brahman.