gence, the highest self, with maya and
avidya (also called ajnana) was believed respectively to explain the
phenomenal Is'vara and the phenomenal jiva or individual. This
relation is conceived in two ways, namely as upadhi or pratibimba,
and avaccheda. The conception of pratibimba or reflection is
like the reflection of the sun in the water where the image,
though it has the same brilliance as the sun, yet undergoes
the effect of the impurity and movements of the water. The
sun remains ever the same in its purity untouched by the
impurities from which the image sun suffers. The sun may
be the same but it may be reflected in different kinds of
water and yield different kinds of images possessing different
characteristics and changes which though unreal yet phenomenally
have all the appearance of reality. The other conception
of the relation is that when we speak of akas'a (space) in the jug
or of akas'a in the room. The akas'a in reality does not suffer

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any modification in being within the jug or within the room. In
reality it is all-pervasive and is neither limited (_avachinna_)
within the jug or the room, but is yet conceived as being limited
by the jug or by the room. So long as the jug remains, the
akas'a limited within it will remain as separate from the akas'a
limited within the room.

Of the Vedantists who accept the reflection analogy the followers
of N@rsi@mhas'rama think that when the pure cit is reflected
in the maya, Is'vara is phenomenally produced, and when in the
avidya the individual or jiva. Sarvajnatma however does not
distinguish between the maya and the avidya, and thinks that
when the cit is reflected in the avidya in its total aspect as cause,
we get Is'vara, and when reflected in the anta@hkara@na--a product
of the avidya--we have jiva or individual soul.

Jiva or individual means the self in association with the ego
and other personal experiences, i.e. phenomenal self, which feels,
suffers and is affected by world-experiences. In jiva also three
stages are distinguished; thus when during deep sleep the anta@hkara@na
is submerged, the self perceives merely the ajnana and the
jiva in this state is called prajna or anandamaya. In the dream-state
the self is in association with a subtle body and is called
taijasa. In the awakened state the self as associated with a
subtle and gross body is called vis'va. So also the self in its pure
state is called Brahman, when associated with maya it is