SAT-DARSHANA BHASHYA 39

NOTE

The subject of the (individual soul \ Jeeva-vyakthi.
has been given here quite an unconventional treatment.
In some places, the Jeeva is mentioned as the ego ; in
others, it refers to a fixed form of consciousness and
action ; in still others it is taken as signifying individuality.
In the commentary on the second half of the 26th verse it
is stated that the terms ahamkara ego, granthi knot,
vihandha bondage, sukshma sharira subtle body, chethas
mind, bhava or samsam the cycle of birth and death and
Jeeva living being, though referring in a way to the same
thing, are not synonymous and interchangeable but
signify the different functions of the something that is
formed between spirit and matter, between the self and
the body. It is also stated that with the destruction of
the ego there is no dissolution of individuality.

In order that these terms might be understood in
their right senses and true relation to one another, and
not confounded one with another, reasoned explanations
are adduced in the Bhashya as well as in the Bhoomika
to elucidate them then and there, helping the earnest
mind in search of truth to find harmony amidst the differ-
ing conclusions of the different philosophic systems. To
set all doubts at rest, it is proposed to recapitulate here
briefly the essence of the discussions on the individual
soul, Jeeva-vyakthi.

In the Upadesha Sara of Shri Maharshi, mind-stuff
and life-breath are mentioned together as a twin branch
growing out of the same root, the conscious force, sug-
gesting that this is the Jeeva or the living being, with
the ego formed in it for its centre of activity. And this
stuff of mind and life is termed the subtle body in this