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The assertion that Nescience--to be defined neither as that which is nor as that which is not--rests on the authority of Scripture is untrue. In passages such as 'hidden by the untrue' (Kh. Up. VIII, 3, 2), the word 'untrue' does not denote the Undefinable; it rather means that which is different from 'rita,' and this latter word--as we see from the passage 'enjoying the rita' (Ka. Up. 1,3, 1)--denotes such actions as aim at no worldly end, but only at the propitiation of the highest Person, and thus enable the devotee to reach him. The word 'anrita' therefore denotes actions of a different kind, i.e. such as aim at worldly results and thus stand in the way of the soul reaching Brahman; in agreement with the passage 'they do not find that Brahma-world, for they are carried away by anrita' (Kh. Up. VIII, 3, 2). Again, in the text 'Then there was neither non-Being nor Being' (Ri. Samh. X, 129, 1), the terms 'being' and 'non-being' denote intelligent and non-intelligent beings in their distributive state. What that text aims at stating is that intelligent and non-intelligent beings, which at the time of the origination of the world are called 'sat' and 'tyat' (Taitt. Up. II, 6), are, during the period of reabsorption, merged in the collective totality of non-intelligent matter which the text denotes by the term 'darkness' (Ri. Samh. X, 129, 3). There is thus no reference whatever to something 'not definable either as being or non-being': the terms 'being' and 'non-being' are applied to different mode; of being at different times. That the term 'darkness' denotes the collective totality of non-intelligent matter appears from another scriptural passage, viz, 'The Non-evolved (avyaktam) is merged in the Imperishable (akshara), the Imperishable in darkness (tamas), darkness becomes one with the highest divinity.'
True, the word 'darkness' denotes the subtle condition of primeval matter (prakriti), which forms the totality of non-intelligent things; but this very Prakriti is called Maya--in the text 'Know Prakriti to be Maya,' and this proves it be something 'undefinable': Not so, we reply; we meet with no passages where the word 'Maya' denotes that which is undefinable. But the word 'Maya' is synonymous with 'mithya,' i.e. falsehood, and hence denotes the Undefinable also. This, too, we cannot admit; for the word 'Maya' does not in all places refer to what is false; we see it applied e.g. to such things as the weapons of Asuras and Rakshasas, which are not 'false' but real. 'Maya,' in such passages, really denotes that which produces various wonderful effects, and it is in this sense that Prakriti is called Maya.
This appears from the passage (Svet. Up. IV, 9) 'From that the "mayin" creates all this, and in that the other one is bound up by maya.' For this text declares that Prakriti--there called Maya--produces manifold wonderful creations, and the highest Person is there called 'mayin' because he possesses that power of maya; not on account of any ignorance or nescience on his part. The latter part of the text expressly says that (not the Lord but) another one, i.e. the individual soul is bound up by maya; and therewith agrees another text, viz. 'When the soul slumbering in beginningless Maya awakes' (Gaud. Ka.). Again, in the text 'Indra goes multiform through the Mayas' (Ri. Samh. VI, 47, 18), the manifold powers of Indra are spoken of, and with this agrees what the next verse says, 'he shines greatly as Tvashtri': for an unreal being does not shine. And where the text says 'my Maya is hard to overcome' (Bha. Gi. VII, 14), the qualification given there to Maya, viz. 'consisting of the gunas,' shows that what is meant is Prakriti consisting of the three gunas.--All this shows that Scripture does not teach the existence of a 'principle called Nescience, not to be defined either as that which is or that which is not.'
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