Mandukya_Upanishad

Now, we come from what we call Īsvara-sriṣhti to jīvasriṣhti.Īsvara-sriṣhti is the form corresponding to a name,as it is by its own right. jīva-sriṣhti is the psychologicalconnection that you have established between yourself andthe corresponding form of a particular name. You areaffected because of the jīva-sriṣhti, and your understandingof the form corresponding to a name signifies merely jīvasriṣhti.We are now concerned not merely with Īsvarasriṣhti,but also jīva-sriṣhti; perhaps with the latter we aremore concerned than with the former because what bindsus or liberates us is the nature of jīva-sriṣhti, not so muchthe nature of Īsvara-sriṣhti. Things as they are do notconcern us very much. But things as they are to us meanvery, much to us, and this meaning it is that binds us towhat we call samsāra (earthly existence). Every name has acorresponding form, and the form is a content of Īsvarasriṣhti;the creation of Īsvara, God; and you, as a jīva or anindividual, though you are also a part of Īsvara-sriṣhti,create a cocoon round yourself, coil yourself in a web thathas been created by your own imagination, and thisimagination connects you with the other jīvas, other things,other contents of creation, socially. You do not merely existas a content of creation; you also have a connection withother contents in creation in several ways. This is thedifference between you as a part of Īsvara-sriṣhti and you asa centre of jīva-sriṣhti. You have an aspect of Īsvara in you,and you have also a jīvatva in you. The aspect of Īsvara isyour dignified nature, and the aspect of jīva in you is whatbinds you to this realm of samsāra. So, you have a twofoldnature, a double personality, a character that distinguishes19