Page:The Vedanta-sutras, with the Sri-bhashya of Ramanujacharya.djvu/46

 intelligent things form the body of the Brahman and have no separate existence from Him ; they are in consequence subject to His control. Since in this way the intelligent and the non-intelligent things are seen to be the modes of the Highest Person, it is easy enough to understand how the scriptures teach that He Himself exists in the form of the world in its condition of cause as well as in its condi- tion of effect. Although the non-intelligent thing, the intel- ligent thing, and the Brahman are distinct from one another in nature, the world must accordingly have the Brahman for its material cause ; and the Brahman who thus enters into the production of an effect retains, nevertheless, His own immodifiable nature quite unaffected, in as much as there is and need be no transformation of His nature in the process of producing the effect. Such being the case, the statement that He is attributeless means that He is free from all evil qualities, and the statement that He possesses the nature of intelligence means that He i.s self-luminous and can be described only as intelligence in essence. The manifoldness of things which is negatived in the Vcddnta is only -such manifoldness as is due to the non-realisation of that oneness of the universe which results from the fact of the Brahman forming the Soul thereof. Only when interpreted thus can all the apparently conflicting scriptural passages be seen to agree with one another ; and the theory of may a which imposes ignorance on the Brahman is therefore unfounded ; and similarly the theory which subjects the Brahman to limiting conditions is also unfounded. The Highest Person is the one embodied Being, and matter and soul constitute His embodiment. Thus He is Himself all the three real entities God, soul and matter. Consequently the knowledge which has an attributeless Brahman for its object is impossible and cannot