Mr. CoLEsnooKE on the Philosophy of the Hindus. 



23 



propensities, as the same fertilizing rain-cloud causes various seeds to sprout 

 multifariously, producing diversity of plants according to their kind. 



« Tli,e soul is a portion of the supreme ruler,* as a spark is of fire. The 

 relation is not as that of master and servant, ruler and ruled, but as that of 

 whole and part. In more than one hymn and prayer of the vcdas\ it is said, 

 " all beings constitute one quarter of him ; three quarters are imperishable in 

 heaven:"and in thel'swara-gitdt andother iwznris, the soul, that animates body, 

 is expressly affirmed to be a portion of him. He does not, however, partake 

 of the pain and suffering of which the individual soul is conscious, through 

 sympathy, during its association with body ; so solar or lunar light appears 

 as that which it illumines, though distinct therefrom. 



' As the sun's image reflected in water is tremulous, quaking with the 

 undulations of the pool, without however affecting other watery images nor 

 the solar orb itself; so the sufferings of one individual affect not another, 

 nor the supreme ruler. But, according to the doctrine of the Sdrw'hi/as, who 

 maintain that souls are numerous, each of them infinite, and all affected by 

 one plastic principle, nature (pradhdna or pracriti'), the pain or pleasure, which 

 is experienced by one, must be felt by all. The like consequence is objected 

 to the doctrine of CanAde, who taught that souls, numerous and infinite, are 

 of themselves insensible ; and mind, the soul's instrument, is minute as an 

 atom, and by itself likewise unsentient. The union of one soul with a mind 

 would not exclude its association with other souls, equally infinite and ubiqui- 

 tary ; and all, tlierefore, would partake of the same feeling of pain or plea- 

 sure.' 



The fourth chapter of the second book proceeds in the task of reconciling 

 apparent contradictions of passages in the vedas.% 



' The corporeal organs of sense and of action, designated by the term 

 prdn'a in a secondary acceptation (it is noticed in its proper signification 

 further on, § ■i), have, like the elements and other objects treated of in the 

 foregoing chapter, a similar origin, as modifications of Brahme ; although 

 unnoticed in some passages concerning the creation, and mentioned in 

 others as pre-existent, but expressly affirmed in others to be successively 

 evolved.§ The deficiency or omission of one text does not invalidate the 

 explicit tenour of another. 



• Ur. Stitr. § 17. (S. 43-53.) f Rigv^da, 8. 4. 17. Yajurvala (Vajasaneyi) 31. 3. 



t S'ancara cites by this name the Dliagavad GUd. § Br. Siitr. 2. 4. § 1. (S. 1-4.) 



