declaration that the whole world of names, forms, and works springs from
one being, and is merged in one being[248]; and by its being
demonstrated, with the help of the similes of the drum, and so on, that
effect and cause are non-different. The fulfilment of the promise is,
then, finally indicated by the text declaring that that great Being
rises, in the form of the individual soul, from out of these elements;
thus the teacher A/s/marathya thinks. For if the soul and the highest
Self are non-different, the promise that through the knowledge of one
everything becomes known is capable of fulfilment.--'Because the soul
when it will depart is such; thus Au/d/ulomi thinks.' The statement as
to the non-difference of the soul and the Self (implied in the
declaration that the great Being rises, &c.) is possible, because the
soul when--after having purified itself by knowledge, and so on--it will
depart from the body, is capable of becoming one with the highest Self.
This is Au/d/ulomi's opinion.--'Because it exists in the condition of
the soul; thus Ka/s/ak/ri/tsna opines.' Because the highest Self itself
is that which appears as the individual soul, the statement as to the
non-difference of the two is well-founded. This is the view of the
teacher Ka/s/ak/ri/tsna.

But, an objection may be raised, the passage, 'Rising from out of these
elements he vanishes again after them. When he has departed there is no
more knowledge,' intimates the final destruction of the soul, not its
identity with the highest Self!--By no means, we reply. The passage
means to say only that on the soul departing from the body all specific
cognition vanishes, not that the Self is destroyed. For an objection
being raised--in the passage, 'Here thou hast bewildered me, Sir, when
thou sayest that having departed there is no more knowledge'. Scripture
itself explains that what is meant is not the annihilation of the Self,
'I say nothing that is bewildering. Verily, beloved, that Self is
imperishable, and of an indestructible nature. But there takes place
non-connexion with the matras.' That means: The eternally unchanging
Self, which is one mass of knowledge, cannot possibly perish; but by
means of true knowledge there is effected its dissociation from the
matras, i.e. the elements and the sense organs, which are the product of
Nescience. When the connexion has been solved, specific cognition, which
depended on it, no longer takes place, and thus it can be