155. It is said by the Śruti that Jīva and Īśvara are creations of Māyā, being reflections of Ātman in it. Īśvara is like the reflection of the sky in the cloud; Jīva is like the reflection of the sky in water.
156. Māyā is comparable to a cloud, and the mental impressions in the Buddhi are like the water-particles which make up the cloud. The reflected consciousness in Māyā is like the sky reflected in the water-particles of the cloud. (see Note 1 below)
157. Śruti says that this (pure universal) consciousness reflected in Māyā is Īśvara which controls Māyā as well. The great Īśvara is the inner ruler, omniscient, and cause of the universe.
158. The Śruti, in the passage beginning with ‘the consciousness in the deep sleep’ and ending in ‘He is the Lord of all’ describes this ‘sheath of bliss’ as the Īśvara. (see Note 2 and Reference 1)
159. The omniscience and other properties of the bliss sheath are not to be questioned, because the assertions of the Śruti are beyond dispute, and because everything is possible in Māyā.
160. Since nobody has the power to alter the world of waking and dream states which are projected from the bliss-sheath, it is proper to call it the Lord of all.
161. In the bliss-sheath inhere all the desires and mental impressions of all living beings. Inasmuch as it knows them (impressions) all, it is called omniscient.
163. Since Īśvara (the consciousness in the bliss-sheath) abides in and activates and controls all the functions of all other sheaths beginning with that of the intellect, and elsewhere also in creation, it is called the inner controller.
164. The Śruti says that the Lord abides in the intellect, and has the intellect as His body (instrument); but the intellect does not know Him; it is itself controlled by Him. (see Reference 2)
165. As threads pervade a piece of cloth and constitute its material cause, so the Inner Ruler, pervading the whole universe, is the material cause of the universe.
166. Just as the threads are subtler than the cloth, and the fibres of the threads subtler than the threads themselves, even so, where this progress from the subtle to the subtler stops there do we confront the Inner Ruler.
167. Being minuter than the minute of the second and third degree, the inmost Being is not subject to perception; but by reasoning and by Śruti His existence is ascertained.
168. As a piece of cloth is said to be the body of the threads which become the cloth, so when He has become the universe it is described as His body.
169. When threads are contracted or expanded, or any motion is imparted to them, the cloth similarly behaves—it has no independence at all.
170. Similarly the worldly objects assume the forms in the manner He transforms them according to their past desires and impressions. There is no doubt about it.
~Pancadasi 6:155-170 (tr-Swahananda)
Swahananda Notes
1. Māyā, the universal Sattva, by itself is devoid of variety; and when we attribute all-knowingness to Īśvara, we do think of Īśvara’s knowledge of the entire gamut of the variety, severally and collectively.
It is only the impressions in Buddhi that create variety; and these impressions are ever-lasting throughout creation in all its three stages of creation, maintenance and dissolution, undergoing transformation from gross to subtle, subtle to causal and back from causal to subtle, etc.
So the author has very wisely taken both Māyā as such and the impressions of Buddhi as Īśvara’s upādhi—the identification with the former gives unity to Īśvara and that with the latter brings in variety.
2. Here the author clearly says that this ‘sheath of bliss’ is Īśvara. Much dust of controversy, as over the previous Śloka, has been raised over this statement. The point, however, is this: A Jīva is a reflected consciousness individualised, and Īśvara is the reflected consciousness of the totality. Now can there be totality without individuals ? So Īśvara must, of necessity, include Jīvas.
Each individual soul, Jīva, has three states of consciousness, the waking (when the Jīva is called the Viśva), the dreaming (when he is called Taijasa) and the deep sleep (when he is known as Prājña). Īśvara, the collective consciousness, has also three corresponding states—the Vaiśvānara, the Hiraṇyagarbha, and the Īśvara. Īśvara being omnipresent each of these three states includes within itself the corresponding states of the individual souls. Just as the three states of a Jīva do not make him three, even so the three states of Īśvara do not make up a triple personality.
Krishnananda Commentary
The seed of Maya is present in the Jiva as the Anandamaya experienced in sleep, from which rises the tree of dream and waking life. In the condition of sleep are hidden the impressions of all relativistic existence. The Universe is subtly submerged in the state of Isvara. The sumtotal of experiential impressions manifest through the intellects of the Jivas becomes the medium of the reflection of Consciousness as Isvara, like the indistinct appearance of the sky through the widespread clouds.
The existence of Isvara is to be inferred in the same manner as we infer a reflection of space through the clouds. The subtle impressions of the intellects (Buddhis) are embedded in the Cosmic Anandamaya or Isvara, as drops of water exist in the clouds. It is the Anandamaya that sprouts as the Buddhi, both cosmically and individually. It is the Anandamaya that sprouts as the Buddhi, both cosmically and individually. Jiva and Isvara appear due to the twofold activity of Prakriti as Avidya and Maya, respectively.
Isvara is extolled in the Vedas and Vedantas as Mahesvara (Overlord), Antaryami (Inner Controller), Sarvajana (All-knower) and Jagad-Yoni (Seed of the World). Isvara is the Lord of all, by His being the Self of all, and He has control over them, not by the exercise of an external power, but by the regulation of the very substance of them all.
The activity of the Jiva is regulated by the Will of Isvara and the effort of the former is nothing but its personal notion of the manner in which Isvara’s Will works through it. The seeds of all Jivas exist in the body of Isvara, and so He is, naturally, the sole Creator of the universe, which is the universal psychic impressions objectified for the experiences of the Jivas that are in Him as parts of a whole. The Jiva has no omniscience, due to its knowledge being exteriorised (Paroksha), and so far as the Jiva is concerned, Isvara is a matter of inference and omniscience an article of faith.
Reference 1
5. That is the state of deep sleep wherein the sleeper does not desire any objects nor does he see any dream. The third quarter (pāda) is the prājña whose sphere is deep sleep, in whom all (experiences) become unified or undifferentiated, who is verily a homogeneous mass of Consciousness entire, who is full of bliss, who is indeed an enjoyer of bliss and who is the very gateway for the projection of Consciousness into the other two planes of Consciousness waking.
6. This is the Lord of all, this is the knower of all, this is the inner controller, this is the source of all. And this is that from which all things originate and in which they finally dissolve themselves.
~Mandukya 5-6 (tr-Chinmayananda)
22. ‘That infinite, birthless self (previously described as the entity) which is reflected in the intellect and is amid the organs, lies in the Supreme Self that is within the heart. It is the controller of all, the lord of all, the ruler of all. It is not magnified by good work nor degraded in the least by evil work. It is the lord of all, the ruler of beings, the protector of beings. It is the demarcating bank for keeping these worlds distinct from one another. The seekers of Brahman wish to realise It through regular reading of the Vedas, sacrifices, charity and austerity not leading to death. Knowing It alone one becomes a man of meditation. Seeking this world (of the Self) alone6 monks give up their homes. (The reason) for this is this: The ancient knowers, it is said, did not desire progeny, thinking, “What shall we do with progeny — we who have realised this world, this Self ? ”Giving up the desire for sons, for wealth and for worlds, they took up a wandering mendicant's life. Since that which is the desire for sons is the desire for wealth, and that which is the desire for wealth is the desire for worlds, for both these are but desires. This self is That which has been described as “Not this, not this”. It is imperceptible, for It is not perceived; unshrinking, for It does not shrink; unattached, for It is not attached; untrammelled— It does not suffer nor perish. (It is appropriate that) the knower is never overtaken by these two thoughts, “For this I did an evil act”, and “For this I did a good act”. He goes beyond both these. (Regular work) done or omitted does not afflict him.
~Brihadaranyaks Upanishad 4.4.22 (tr-Madhavananda)
Reference 2
15. ‘He who dwells in all beings but is within them, whom none of the beings knows, whose body is all beings, and who controls all beings from within, is the Inner Controller — your own self and immortal. This is with reference to beings. Now with reference to the body.
22. ‘He who dwells in the intellect but is within it, whom the intellect does not know, whose body is the intellect, and who controls the intellect from within, is the Inner Controller—your own self and immortal.
~Brihadaranyaks Upanishad 4.7. 15, 22 (tr-Madhavananda)
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