Page:A History of Indian Philosophy Vol 1.djvu/507

 x] E l1zancipatio1l 49 1 moved are only smaner states of aj i'I an a, whereas when the Brahma-knowledge dawns the ajfiana as a whole is removed. Brahma-knowledge at the stage of its first rise is itself also a state of knowledge, but such is its special strength that when this knowledge once dawns, even the state of knowledge which at first reflects it (and which being a state is itself aji'lana modi- fication) is destroyed by it. The state itself being destroyed, only the pure infinite and unlimited Brahman shines forth in its own true light. Thus it is said that just as fire riding on a piece of wood would burn the whole city and after that would burn the very same wood, so in the last state of mind the Brahma- knowledge would destroy all the illusory world-appearance and at last destroy even that final state l. The mukti stage is one in which the pure light of Brahman as the identity of pure intelligence, being and complete bliss shines forth in its unique glory, and all the rest vanishes as illusory nothing. As all being of the world-appearance is but limited manifestations of that one being, so all pleasures also are but limited manifestations of that supreme bliss, a taste of which we all can get in deep dreamless sleep. The being of Brahman however is not an abstraction from all existent beings as the satta (being as class notion) of the naiyayika, but the concrete, the real, which in its aspect as pure consciousness and pUf'e bliss is always identical with itsel[ Being (sat) is pure bliss and pure consciousness. What becomes of the avidya during mukti (emancipation) is as difficult for one to answer as the question, how the avidya came forth and stayed during the world- appearance. It is best to remember that the category of the indefinite avidya is indefinite as regards its origin, manifestation and destruction. Vedanta however believes that even when the true knowledge has once been attained, the body may last for a while, if the individual's previously ripened karmas demand it. Thus the emancipated person may walk about and behave like an ordinary sage, but yet he is emancipated and can no longer acquire any new karma. As soon as the fruits due to his ripe karmas are enjoyed and exhausted, the sage loses his body and there will never be any other birth for him, for the dawn of perfect knowledge has burnt up for him all budding karmas of beginningless previous lives, and he is no longer subject to any 1 Siddhczlltalefa.