acts, are all discarded. In some, that are overwhelmed
by Avidya, these exist, firmly grafted with them.
Unto others who have transcended Avidya and have won
knowledge, they never come at any time.[823] They
that are conversant with speculations about the character
of Soul and not-Soul, say that this sum total (of the
senses, etc.) is body (kshetra). That existent
thing which rests upon the mind is called Soul (kshetrajna).
When such is the case, and when all creatures, in
consequence of the well-known cause (which consists
of ignorance, desire, and acts whose beginning cannot
be conceived), exist, due also to their primary nature
(which is a state of union between Soul and body),
(of these two) which then is destructible, and how
can that (viz., the Soul), which is said to be eternal,
suffer destruction?[824] As small rivers falling into
larger ones lose their forms and names, and the larger
ones (thus enlarged) rolling into the ocean, lose
their forms and names too, after the same manner occurs
that form of extinction of life called Emancipation.[825]
This being the case, when jiva which is characterised
by attributes, is received into the Universal Soul,
and when all its attributes disappear, how can it
be the object of mention by differentiation?
One who is conversant with that understanding which
is directed towards the accomplishment of Emancipation
and who heedfully seeks to know the Soul, is never
soiled by the evil fruits of his acts even as a lotus
leaf though dipped in water is never soaked by it.
When one becomes freed from the very strong bonds,
many in number, occasioned by affection for children
and spouses and love for sacrifices and other rites,
when one casts off both joy and sorrow and transcends
all attachments, one then attains to the highest end
and entering into the Universal Soul becomes incapable
of differentiation. When one has understood the
declarations of the Srutis that lead to correct inferences
(about Brahma) and has practised those auspicious virtues
which the same and other scriptures inculcate, one
may lie down at ease, setting at nought the fears
of decrepitude and death. When both merits and
sins disappear, and the fruits, in the form of joy
and sorrow, arising therefrom, are destroyed, men,
unattached to everything, take refuge at first on
Brahma invested with personality, and then behold impersonal
Brahma in their understandings.[826] Jiva in course
of its downward descent under the influence of Avidya
lives here (within its cell formed by acts) after
the manner of a silk-worm residing within its cell
made of threads woven by itself. Like the freed
silk-worm again that abandons its cell, jiva also
abandons its house generated by its acts. The
final result that takes place is that its sorrows
are then destroyed like a clump of earth falling with
violence upon a rocky mass.[827] As the Ruru casting
off its old horns or the snake casting off its slough
goes on without attracting any notice, after the same