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A Series of Lessons on the Inner Teachings of the Philosophies and Religions of India1194
Brahman himself, created by him in his imagination or dream. Reincarnation
and Karma are thus, in full Truth, held to be nothing but Maya arising from
Avidya, which is annihilated by the awakening to Vidya or Knowledge of the
Truth which informs the soul that it is Brahman and bids it awaken from its
dream of Samsara, at which Maya fades away like the mist of the morning
before the rays of the sun. But, as we have said, the doctrine holds that “for
practical purposes” the Samsara is true, and Reincarnation and Karma facts
to be reckoned with, for until the Sleeper awakes the world of experience is
the only real one to the soul, and its laws and rules, of which Reincarnation
and Karma form a part, stand untouched and fully operative. Only when
man becomes Brahman do they cease to rule him. For, at the end, says
the Advaitist, if there is in reality nothing to reincarnate or to be affected
by Karma, then Rebirth, Death, and Karma are seen to be nothing but
manifestations of Maya itself—the machinery of the dream. And so, while
holding to the truth of Reincarnation and Karma with firm and positive
teaching, still in the end the Advaita denies it ultimate reality.
Among the ranks of the Vedantists are to be found many who cling to
the idea of Ishwara, the Personal God, the Demiurge, or the Logos. And,
notwithstanding the advanced position of some of the Vedanta sects,
there is no opposition to this doctrine, and a place is found for it under
the big tent of Vedanta catholicity. Ishwara is explained, and harmonized
with the fundamental teaching, by admitting the conception that when the
creative processes begin, Brahman, overspread with Maya, first manifests
as Ishwara, and then from Ishwara proceeds the remainder of the creation.
Thus the individual soul is held to be identical with Ishwara, and Ishwara
identical with Brahman. Thus Ishwara represents the collective totality of
the various principles manifested in the individual forms and units of the
phenomenal universe. Ishwara is the Universal Soul, containing within his
soul the collective totality of the three higher principles of the soul diffused
among the individual souls, and containing within his body the collective
totality of the four lower principles. (See the above classification of the