SAIVA-SIDDHANTA

THE NATURE OF THE J1VA. 321
St. TiruvaHuvar and accepted by Advaita Siddhantins.
In this
theory, there is no necessity to call anything Mitya or unreal,
but we show how by mistaking one for the other which it is not,
the error is started, and how all other things flow therefrom.
This error or ignorance will not receive play
power of the mind above set forth.
but for the
If a man does not possess this power of identifying
himself with whatever he is united to, then, he could not
mistake his body for his soul. Readers of Dr Bain s masterly
treatise on Mind and body would notice how he shows that
mind though not exactly the same as the brain and body,
though there is a correspondence and concomitance of both
mental* and bodily phenomena along the whole line, can in its
objective condition become thoroughly
identified with and lost
in the body or brain centres. The mind is lost in the body,
and yet without the mind, there could be no object. This
power of mind in becoming one with the united object is also
spoken of as its power of losing self. It loses its self, soul, and
becomes the body. It loses its self and becomes God.
And this brings us to the question how by this power
whereby he degrades himself to the very depths of the brute,
he can rise to the very height of God-hood. This power of
man becomes therefore a dement and a merit at the same
time.
In considering this aspect of the case, it has to be noted that
almost every religion, theistic or atheistic, prescribes certain
code of religious and moral duties for attaining salvation
and betterment, but no religion attempts to prove how the
following of this or that religious practice elevates one.
How Sadhana Chatushtayam, Guru-upadgsam, Tapas and
Yoga can free one from sins and Avidya, is not explained.
Tbfjk is, however, explained in the older y6ga and sankhya
treatises and is elaborated in the Siddhanta Sastras. Both
these older schools admitted the essential individuality of man
and had to explain the real nature
4 1
of jiva, so as to lay down the