[Advaita-l] Who is Ishvara? Who is jIva? - 3

[Anand Hudli]

सङ्क्षेपशारीरके तु - "कार्योपाधिरयं जीवः कारणोपाधिरीश्वरः" इति
श्रुतिमनुसृत्य अविद्यायां चित्प्रतिबिम्ब ईश्वरः, अन्तःकरणे चित्प्रतिबिम्बो
जीवः। न चान्तःकरणरूपेण द्रव्येण घटेनाकाशस्येव चैतन्यस्यावच्छेदसम्भवात्
तदवच्छिन्नमेव चैतन्यं जीवोऽस्त्विति वाच्यम्। इह परत्र च
जीवभावेनावच्छेद्यचैतन्यप्रदेशस्य भेदेन कृतहानाकृताभ्यागमप्रसङ्गात् ।
प्रतिबिम्बस्तूपाधेर्गतागतयोरवच्छेद्यवन्न भिद्यते इति प्रतिबिम्बपक्षे नायं
दोष इत्युक्तम् ।

The SamkShepa shArIraka (of sarvajnAtman), following the shruti statement,
"This jIva is one who has the effect (antaHkaraNa, the internal organ, the
mind) as the limiting adjunct; Ishvara is one who has the cause (mAyA) as
the limiting adjunct", says that the reflection of Pure Consciousness (cit)
in avidyA is Ishvara whereas the reflection of cit in the internal organ is
jIva. (But) we cannot say that  jIva is Consciousness delimited by the
internal organ in the sense that space delimited by a pot and Consciousness
also can be delimited in a similar way. If that were to be the case, the
delimited Consciousness would be different in this world and the next, and
there would be a contingency where there is giving up of the results of
karma (kR^ita-hAna) and experiencing the results of the karma that was not
performed (akR^itAbhyAgama). However, it can be said that (in the case
where) the reflection (of the Consciousness in the internal organ) is
considered (as the jIva), there is no such defect (as kR^ita-hAna or
akR^ita-abhyAgama), because the reflection does not change when the limiting
adjunct changes.

According to the saMkShepa shArIraka, the reflection of cit in avidyA (mAyA)
is called Ishvara while the reflection of cit in the internal organ is
called jIva. Is it possible to use the analogy of space delimited by a pot
as the jIva? Space is everywhere, but space delimited by a pot, called
ghaTAkAsha, can be analogous to the jIva. This is the small space enclosed
by the pot. However, there is a problem with this approach. When a pot is
moved from one place to another, the ghaTAkAsha inside it is said to change.
Extending this principle to the jIva that travels to the next world after
death, the jIva that performs karma in this world is not the same jIva that
experiences the fruits of that karma in the next. This leads to kR^ita-hAna
or abandonment of results of karma that was performed in this world by one
jIva. The jIva in the next world experiences results of karma that it did
not even perform. This is called akR^ita-abhyAgama, experiencing the results
of karma that was not performed by the jIva. But this problem of kR^ita-hAna
and akR^itAbhyAgama disappears if we consider the jIva as a reflection of
cit in the internal organ.

एवमुक्तेष्वेतेषु जीवेश्वरयोः प्रतिबिम्बविशेषत्वपक्षेषु यत् बिम्बस्थानीयं
ब्रह्म तत् मुक्तप्राप्यं शुद्धचैतन्यम्।

Thus, among all such views that accept the reflection theory (that Ishvara
and jIva are reflections, pratibimba), Brahman which is Pure Consciousness,
attained by the liberated, is the reflected entity (bimba).

Anand