(3) This Brahman is the immediate consciousness (_sak@si_) which
shines as the self, as well as through the objects of cognition
which the self knows. It is thus the essence of us all, the self,
and hence it remains undenied even when one tries to deny it,
for even in the denial it shows itself forth. It is the self of us all
and is hence ever present to us in all our cognitions.

Brahman according to S'a@nkara is the identity of pure intelligence,
pure being, and pure blessedness. Brahman is the self of
us all. So long as we are in our ordinary waking life, we are
identifying the self with thousands of illusory things, with all that
we call "I" or mine, but when in dreamless sleep we are absolutely
without any touch of these phenomenal notions the nature of our
true state as pure blessedness is partially realized. The individual
self as it appears is but an appearance only, while the real truth
is the true self which is one for all, as pure intelligence, pure
blessedness, and pure being.

All creation is illusory maya. But accepting it as maya, it
may be conceived that God (Is'vara) created the world as a mere
sport; from the true point of view there is no Is'vara who creates
the world, but in the sense in which the world exists, and we all
exist as separate individuals, we can affirm the existence of
Is'vara, as engaged in creating and maintaining the world. In
reality all creation is illusory and so the creator also is illusory.
Brahman, the self, is at once the material cause (upadana-kara@na)
as well as the efficient cause (nimitta-kara@na) of the world.

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[Footnote 1: S'a@nkara's commentary, I.i. 2. See also Deussen's _System of
the Vedanta_.]

439

There is no difference between the cause and the effect, and the
effect is but an illusory imposition on the cause--a mere illusion
of name and form. We may mould clay into plates and jugs and
call them by so many different names, but it cannot be admitted
that they are by that fact anything more than clay; their transformations
as plates and jugs are only appearances of name and
form (_namarupa_). This world, inasmuch as it is but an effect
imposed upon the Brahman, is only phenomenally existent
(_vyavaharika_) as mere objects of name and form (_namarupa_), but
the cause, the Brahman, is alone the true reality(_paramarthika_)
[Footnote ref 1].

The main idea of the Vedanta philosophy.