ond question, in
reality, is concerned with the same distinction as the first. The first
enquires about the existence of the soul apart from the body, &c.; the
second refers to the circumstance of that soul not being subject to
sa/m/sara. For as long as Nescience remains, so long the soul is
affected with definite attributes, &c.; but as soon as Nescience comes
to an end, the soul is one with the highest Self, as is taught by such
scriptural texts as 'Thou art that.' But whether Nescience be active or
inactive, no difference is made thereby in the thing itself (viz. the
soul). A man may, in the dark, mistake a piece of rope lying on the
ground for a snake, and run away from it, frightened and trembling;
thereon another man may tell him, 'Do not be afraid, it is only a rope,
not a snake;' and he may then dismiss the fear caused by the imagined
snake, and stop running. But all the while the presence and subsequent
absence of his erroneous notion, as to the rope being a snake, make no
difference whatever in the rope itself. Exactly analogous is the case of
the individual soul which is in reality one with the highest soul,
although Nescience makes it appear different. Hence the reply contained
in the passage, 'It is not born, it dies not,' is also to be considered
as furnishing an answer to the question asked in I, 1, 20.--The Sutra is
to be understood with reference to the distinction of the individual
Self and the highest Self which results from Nescience. Although the
question relating to the Self is in reality one only, yet its former
part (I, 1, 20) is seen specially to refer to the individual Self, since
there a doubt is set forth as to the existence of the soul when, at the
time of death, it frees itself from the body, and since the specific
marks of the sa/m/sara-state, such as activity, &c. are not denied;
while the latter part of the question (I, 2, 14), where the state of
being beyond all attributes is spoken of, clearly refers to the highest
Self.--For these reasons the Sutra is right in assuming three topics of
question and explanation, viz. the fire sacrifice, the individual soul,
and the highest Self. Those, on the other hand, who assume that the
pradhana constitutes a fourth subject discussed in the Upanishad, can
point neither to a boon connected with it, nor to a question, nor to an
answer. Hence the pradhana hypothesis is clearly inferior to our own.

7. And (the case of the term avyakta) is like that of t