nghathah. The plain meaning, of course, is that
like all the darker and indifferent propensities and possessions that
come to the Soul in its new life, born of the acts of past lives, all the
higher aspirations also of the Soul come to it from Brahma direct. The
word karana is used in both instances for Brahma as the Supreme Cause of
everything.

722. The sense is this: In the beginning there was nothing save the
Chit-Soul. Existent objects exist only because of Ignorance having
defiled the Soul. Their connection again with the Soul is not absolute
and necessary. That connection may be destroyed without the Soul losing
anything. What is intended to be conveyed by this verse is that at first,
i.e., before the creation, there was nothing, except jiva or the Soul
with Knowledge alone for its indicating attribute. The things mentioned,
viz., earth, etc., were not. Nor do they inhere to jiva with even
Ignorance or Delusion for its indicating attribute, i.e., to the born
Soul. The born Soul may seem to manifest all those attributes, but it is
really independent of or separate from them. Their connection with the
Soul, as already said, is neither absolute nor eternal. In the next
verse, the speaker explains the nature of those manifestations.

723. The connection between earth, etc., with the Soul has before been
said to be neither absolute nor eternal. Whence then that connection? In
6, it is said that all the apprehensions of the Soul with regard to
earth, etc., are due to Ignorance or Delusion flowing directly from
Brahma and assailing it thereafter. The apprehension of the Soul that it
is a man or an animal, that it has a body, that it is acting, etc., are
to borrow the commentator's illustration, just like that of one's being a
king in a dream who is not, however, really a king, or of one's being a
child who is not, however, really a child. Being eternal or without
beginning its first existence under the influence of Delusion is
untraceable. As long, again, as it has Knowledge alone for its attribute,
it remains indestructible, i.e., free from the mutations of existence. It
occurs in every creature, i.e., in man and beast.

724. The sense seems to be this: In consequence of desires the Soul
manifests itself in some form of existence. In that state it acts. Those
acts again lead to desires anew, which, in their turn, bring on new forms
or states of existence. The circle of existence or life thus goes on,
without beginnin