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161 CHAPTER - V UTTARABHAGA OF TARKABHASA - ITS CONTENTS 1. OBJECT OF KNOWLEDGE After discussing the pramana (means of knowledge) Kesava Misra proceeds to the second category prameya (object of knowledge). He mentions twelve prameyas. Among them the Self (atman) comes first. i) The Self The Self or Soul is an eternal substance. It is such entity which must last even after the destruction of the body. Regarding the real nature of soul there are difference of opinions among the philosophers. They are¹ (i) it has been variously regarded as identical with the body, the sense-organs and understanding (buddhi); (ii) Some have held it to be perceptible by the mind, others as cognizable by inference only and others self illumined; while some others regard it as being the element of consciousness (cit) appearing in all cognitions; (iii) it has been regarded as transient by some and by others as eternal; (iv) some have held it to be atomic in size; others as of the size of the body; others again as all pervading, omni present (v) according to some, it is one only, in all things, while according to others it is many, one with each body. The word 'atman' originally meant life-breath and then gradually acquired the meanings of feeling, mind, soul and spirit. Sankaracarya quotes an old verse giving the different connotations of 'atman'. The verse says that 'atman' means that which pervades all; which is the subject and which knows, 1. Prakarana-pancika p. 315.

162 experiences and illuminates the objects; and which remains immortal and always the same.² In the Rgveda, for the first time we have the concept of supreme Purusa, who pervades the whole universe with his thousands of heads, eyes and feet and yet remains beyond it.³ He creates Hiranyagarbha, the first born soul of creation and from that Purusa the cosmos in the form of virat became manifested From that virat Gods, souls, different seasons, animals, four Vedas, the sun, the moon, fire, vital force (prana), air, four directions of sky etc. originated The true self has been the main topic of investigation in the Upanisads. In a dialogue between Prajapati and Indra, narrated in the Chandyogyopanisad we find a development of the concept of the self from the waking or the bodily self through the dreaming or the empirical self and the self in deep dreamless sleep to the Absolute Self.4 Here Indra approaches Prajapati to learn the teaching about self again and again. Prajapati teaches him the real teaching. He says that the body is not the self, though it exists for the self. The dreamexperiences are not the self, though they have a meaning only for the self. The self is not an abstract formal principle of deep sleep too. The eye, the body, the mental states, the presentation continuum, the stream of consciousness- are all mere instruments and objects of the Self. The Self is the ground of waking, dream and sleep states and yet it transcends them all. The Self is 2. yaccapnoti yadadatte yaccatti visayaniha. yaccasya santato bhavas tasmad atmeti kirtyate. Sankara's common katha 2.1.1. 3. purusasukta. Rig Veda X.90. 4. Chandyogyopanisad VIII. 3 -12.

163 universal, immanent as well as transcendent. The whole universe lives and moves and breathes in it. It is immortal, self-luminous, self-proved and beyond doubts and denials, as the very principle which makes all doubts, denials and thoughts possible. It is the ultimate subject which can never become an object and which is to be necessarily presupposed by all knowledge. In the Kathopanisad, the atman is said to be the ultimate reality. The objects are the roads, the body is the chariot, the senses are the horses, the mind is the reins, the intellect is the charioteer, the ego is the enjoyer and the atman is the Lord sitting in the chariot. The Kathopanisad further states that the senses are higher than the objects, the mind is higher than the senses, the intellect is higher than the mind, the subtle reason (mahat) is higher than the intellect, the Unmanifest (avyakta) is higher than the subtle reason, and the Purusa (atman) is higher than the Unmanifest, and there is nothing higher than the Purusa which is the ultimate end, the highest reality. In the Bhagavadgita also it is described as permanent, eternal, indestructible substratum and is never destroyed even the body is destroyed The Bhagavadgita makes 7 discrimination between ksetra (body) and ksetrajna (soul) which is Prakrti and Purusa respectively. Prakrti is the object of knowledge and Purusa is the knower. 5. atmanam rathinam viddhi sariram rathameva tu / buddhim tu sarathim viddhi manah pragrahameva ca // Kathopanisad 1.3 .3. 6. indriyebhyah param mano manasah sattvamuttamam/ sattvadadhi mahanatma mahato'vyaktamuttmam// Ibid. 2.3.7. 7. na jayate mriyate va kadacit nayam bhutva bhavita va na bhuyah/ ajo nityah sasvato 'yam purano na hanyate hanya mane sarire// Bhagavadgita 2/20.