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 God-Soul Relationship in the Naalaayirgm soul by the grace of the Lord and describes it is a verse, intelligence (jnagram); tée soul wbich the Lord has condes- cended to exhibit to me as His mode, or related to Him as the predicate is to the subject. of attribute is to substance: the sout which cannot be ciassiîed under any category, as shts or that; the soul the nature of wbich is beyond the comprehension of even the enlightened; the soul, whose apperception by the strenuous mental effort called yoga (psychic meditation) is even then not comparable to such perception or direct proof as arising from the senses conveying the knowledge of the external world; the soul as revealed to me by the Lord) transcending all other categories of thivgs, which could be grouped as .body' or as 'the senses or as the vital spirit, or as the mind, or as the will', because destitute of the modi. fication and corruptions to which all these are subject, the soul which is very subtle and distinct from (only of these, neither coming under the description 'good' or 'bad's In brief the soul is an entity which does not fall ander the cognizance of sense-knowledge. A close following of the commentary "itu" will throw more light on the subject, The Alzhvaars do not, therefore, treat the nature of the self or the classification of the selves as nityas, makias and baddhas. However, they are aware of the nature of the 2. TVM 8. 8:5 3. Purushottam Naidu, B.R.: Ittin Tamizhaakkam Vol. VIII pago 209 (University of Madres Madras 1957) The Aazhvaar throughout his Tiruvaymozhi upto this yerze, never bestowed any appreciable attention on the Da ute of the soul, 1or the reason that all his mind and heart was absorbed in the contemplation of the Lord and His blessed Attributes, Glory etc, before which the soul-mature is like the fire-fly before the Glory of the Effulgent Luminary, the Sun. The saint had no time to give to rational meditation (gnosis) to realise soul-Dature, to the detriment of emo- tional devotion (amor) to realise God. For, as in the manner of the released soul, not caring to waste a thought over the painful memories surrounding the embodied state, the saint who is transpor- ted with the revels of his enjoyment with his Lord, the Spouse, never considers it his worthwhile to waste his time ovel a search alter the inferior kind of soul-knowledge. However, he sketches a knowledge of this inferior nature, because, as a part and mode and predicate of Himself, God was pleased to bestow this knowledge on him 4. These are respectively known the eternals, the released souls and the bound souls
 * The soul is eternal, and is essentially characterized by