Sankara maintains that the Sutra in question teaches the latter; the soul is everywhere.  Ramanuga makes the same Sutra teach the very contrary.  As a matter of fact, the Sutra in question seems to teach both these contradictory doctrines, perhaps because it registers different traditions.  Sankara, however, explains further on that as long as the soul is passing through the changes involved in Samsara [= transmigration] it is limited and local, but on reaching Brahmanhood it becomes omnipresent.  In this way the great commentator seeks to reconcile teaching apparently contradictory in this Sutra.

Is this soul an agent?  Some of the Sutras say it is, others say it is not.  How are the conflicting statements to be reconciled?  Sankara does this in the following way.  As long as the soul is tied down to material conditions—­that is, is passing through the processes of Samsara—­it is an agent.  But as soon as it has escaped from this bondage of transmigration it dwells in a state of perfect repose, inactive and restful.  In all its activities the soul is prompted by Brahman, without whose inspiration and guidance the soul could perform nothing, and could never, therefore, reach the true goal of all souls, absorption in the one All, which can be obtained in no other way than by the performance of good deeds, which means action.

BOOK III.—­OF THE SOUL AND ITS SUMMUM BONUM

When at death the soul passes from the body its subtle material elements still cling to it.  Good souls pass on to the moon, whence they afterwards descend in a form and state determined by their former actions [Karma].  If the previous life has been a moral failure, the new life now entered upon will belong to a lower level of being, i.e., the man may become an animal, the higher, animal may become a lower one.  On the other hand, there may be an ascent in the scale of being.

When the soul is a-dreaming, what it thinks it sees and hears, etc., is all illusion, for it does not see or hear, etc., what it thinks it does.  In a state of profound dreaminess the soul leaves the body and lives in close fellowship with Brahman.

How is the soul to obtain final release from the thraldom of material conditions?  By meditating on Brahman as he is set forth in the sacred scriptures.  Brahman must be thought about and meditated on in all his attributes, and this produces identity with the one great self of existence.

Though Sankara makes this to be the teaching of the Sutras, in another place he insists that Brahman is without attributes.  He is not, therefore, consistent.  The meditation on Brahman which leads to soul-freedom must have regard also to Brahman’s negative qualities, i.e., his not being gross, nor subtle, wise nor foolish, etc.

    THE RELATION OF KNOWLEDGE AND CONDUCT