DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0047
Philosophical Brahmanism. 35
sciousness and personality—that is, when it begins to exist
in any object, to think about anything or be joyful about any-
thing—it does so by associating itself with the power of Illusion
(Maya) and investing itself with three corporeal envelopes.
First, the causal body (karana-sarlra) identified with Ajnana
or Ignorance1; secondly, the subtle body (linga-sarlra); and
thirdly, the gross material body (sthula-sarira). In this way the
impersonal Spirit is converted into a personal God who can
be worshipped, and so becomes the Supreme Lord (Isvara,
Paramesvara) and Ruler of the world. To be strictly accurate,
however, it should be stated that the Vedanta theory makes
the assumption of these three bodies involve the assumption of
three distinct divine personalities, each of which is supposed
to invest a particular condition of spirit. Thus, with the first
or causal body, the impersonal Spirit becomes the Supreme
Lord, Paramesvara, supposed to represent and embody the
mystical totality of dreamless spirits; with the second or
subtle body the impersonal Spirit becomes Hiranya-garbha
(or Sutratman, or Prana), supposed to represent the aggregate
of dreaming spirits, connecting them like the Sutra or thread
of a necklace; with the third or gross body it becomes Viraj
(or Vaisvanara, Prajapati, Purusha), supposed to represent
and embody the aggregate of waking spirits (compare p. 38).
This third condition of spirit or that of being wide awake,
though with us considered to be the highest state, is by Hindu
philosophers held to be the lowest, because farthest removed
from unconscious spirit. In fact, beyond and underlying all
three conditions of spirit is the fourth (turiya) or pure abstract
impersonal Spirit (Brahma) itself.
Of course these hyper-subtleties are beyond the scope of
1 The Karana-sarlra is not only identified with Ignorance (Ajnana or
Avidya), but also with Illusion (Maya). It is, therefore, no real body.
Both Ignorance and Illusion are the sole cause of the separation of the
personal God and the personal human soul from the universal Soul. In
the same way they are the cause of every existing thing.
D a
sciousness and personality—that is, when it begins to exist
in any object, to think about anything or be joyful about any-
thing—it does so by associating itself with the power of Illusion
(Maya) and investing itself with three corporeal envelopes.
First, the causal body (karana-sarlra) identified with Ajnana
or Ignorance1; secondly, the subtle body (linga-sarlra); and
thirdly, the gross material body (sthula-sarira). In this way the
impersonal Spirit is converted into a personal God who can
be worshipped, and so becomes the Supreme Lord (Isvara,
Paramesvara) and Ruler of the world. To be strictly accurate,
however, it should be stated that the Vedanta theory makes
the assumption of these three bodies involve the assumption of
three distinct divine personalities, each of which is supposed
to invest a particular condition of spirit. Thus, with the first
or causal body, the impersonal Spirit becomes the Supreme
Lord, Paramesvara, supposed to represent and embody the
mystical totality of dreamless spirits; with the second or
subtle body the impersonal Spirit becomes Hiranya-garbha
(or Sutratman, or Prana), supposed to represent the aggregate
of dreaming spirits, connecting them like the Sutra or thread
of a necklace; with the third or gross body it becomes Viraj
(or Vaisvanara, Prajapati, Purusha), supposed to represent
and embody the aggregate of waking spirits (compare p. 38).
This third condition of spirit or that of being wide awake,
though with us considered to be the highest state, is by Hindu
philosophers held to be the lowest, because farthest removed
from unconscious spirit. In fact, beyond and underlying all
three conditions of spirit is the fourth (turiya) or pure abstract
impersonal Spirit (Brahma) itself.
Of course these hyper-subtleties are beyond the scope of
1 The Karana-sarlra is not only identified with Ignorance (Ajnana or
Avidya), but also with Illusion (Maya). It is, therefore, no real body.
Both Ignorance and Illusion are the sole cause of the separation of the
personal God and the personal human soul from the universal Soul. In
the same way they are the cause of every existing thing.
D a