is meant seems to be this: there can be no river without water.
A river cannot exist without water. When a river is mentioned, water is
implied. The connection between a river and water is not an accident but
a necessary one. The same may be said of the sun and its rays. After the
same manner, the connection between the Soul and the body is a necessary
one and not an accident. The Soul cannot exist without a body. Of course,
the ordinary case only is referred to here, for, by yoga, one can
dissociate the Soul from the body and incorporate it with Brahma.
719. The mind has no existence except as it exists in the Soul. The
commentator uses the illustration of the second moon seen by the eye in
water, etc., for explaining the nature of the Mind. It has no real
existence as dissociated from the Soul.
720. Swabhavahetuja bhavah is explained by the commentator as the
virtuous and vicious propensities. (Swabhava purvasamskara; sa eva
heturyesham karmanam layah bhavah). 'All else,' of course, means Avidya
or Maya, which flows directly from Brahma without being dependent on past
acts. The meaning, then, is this: as soon as the Soul takes a new form or
body, all the propensities and inclinations, as dependent on its past
acts, take possession of it, Avidya or Maya also takes possession of it.
721. Both the vernacular translators have wrongly rendered this verse,
notwithstanding the help they have derived from Nilakantha's gloss. The
fact is, the gloss itself sometimes requires a gloss. Verses 3 and 4 and
connected with each other. In verse 3, the speaker mentions two
analogies viz., first, that of iron, which is inanimate, following the
loadstone, and, second, of Swabhavahetuja bhavah (meaning, as already
explained, all such consequences as are born of the acts of previous
lives), as also anyadapi, i.e., all else of a similar nature, meaning, of
course, the consequences of 'Avidya' or 'Maya' which flow directly from
Brahma instead of former acts. In verse 4, reference is again made to
avyaktajabhavah, meaning propensities and possessions born of 'Avidya' or
'Maya'. This is only a repetition, in another form, of what has already
been stated in the second line of verse 3. The commentator explains this
very clearly in the opening words of his gloss. After this comes the
reference to the higher propensities and aspirations that are in the
Soul. The grammar of the line is this: Tadvat Kartuh karanalakshanah
(bhavah) karanat abhisa
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