ds decay and
destruction.[1634] O giver of honours, the Soul, though it has the
manifest principles (viz. the body) for its resting place, yet it cannot
be said to have acquired the nature of those principles. The wise say
that including the Jiva soul there are five and twenty principles in all.
Indeed, O son, the Soul is not to be regarded as possessed of any of the
principles (Mahat and the rest). Endued with Intelligence, it transcends
the principles. It casts off quickly even that principle which is the
indication of the Knowing or awakened one.[1635] When Jiva comes to
regard himself as the twenty-sixth which is divested of decay and
destruction, it is then that, without doubt, he succeeds by his own force
in attaining to similarity with the twenty-sixth. Though awakened by the
twenty-sixth which is Pure Intelligence, Jiva still becomes subject to
Ignorance. This is the cause of Jiva, multifariousness (in respect of
forms) as explained in the Srutis and the Sankhya scriptures. When Jiva,
who is endued with Chetana and Unintelligent Prakriti, loses all
Consciousness of a distinct or individual Self, then does he, losing his
multifariousness, resumes his Oneness. O ruler of Mithila, when Jiva, who
is found to be in union with happiness and misery and who is seldom free
from the consciousness of Self, succeeds in attaining to a similarity
with the Supreme Soul which is beyond the reach of the understanding,
then does he becomes freed from virtue and vice. Indeed, when Jiva,
attaining to the twenty-sixth which is Unborn and Puissant and which is
dissociated from all attachments, succeeds in comprehending it
thoroughly, he himself becomes possessed of puissance and entirely casts
off the Unmanifest or Prakriti. In consequence of understanding the
twenty-sixth, the four and twenty principles seems to Jiva to be
unsubstantial or of no value. I have thus told thee, O sinless one,
according to the indication of the Srutis, the nature of the
Unintelligent or Prakriti, and of Jiva, so also of that which is Pure
Knowledge viz., the Supreme Soul, agreeable to the truth. Guided by the
scriptures, variety and oneness are thus to be understood. The difference
between the gnat and the Udumvara, or that between the fish and water,
illustrates the difference between the Jiva-soul and the Supreme
Soul.[1636] The Multiplicity and Oneness of these two are then understood
in this way. This is called Emancipation, viz., this comprehension o