to merge the fivefold elements, which are near, into Brahma.[681] Verily, an object cannot be accomplished without the application of means.  Fishermen catch fish by means of nets made of strings.  Animals are captured by employing animals as are the means.  Birds are caught by employing birds as the means.  Elephants are taken by employing elephants.  In this way, the Soul may be apprehended by the principle of knowledge.  We have heard that only a snake can see a snake’s legs.  After the same manner one beholds, through Knowledge, the Soul encased in subtile form and dwelling within the gross body.  People cannot, through their senses, know the senses.  Similarly, mere Intelligence at its highest cannot behold the Soul which is supreme.  The moon, on the fifteenth day of the dark fortnight, cannot be seen in consequence of its form being hid.  It cannot be said, however, that destruction overtakes it, Even such is the case with the Soul dwelling in the body.  On the fifteenth day of the dark fortnight, the gross body of the moon becomes invisible.  After the same manner, the Soul, when liberated from the body, cannot be apprehended.  As the moon, gaining another point in the firmament begins to shine once more, similarly, the Soul obtaining a new body, begins to manifest itself once more.  The birth, growth and disappearance of the moon can all be directly apprehended by the eye.  These phenomena, however, appertain to the gross form of that luminary.  The like are not the attributes of the Soul.  The moon, when it shows itself after its disappearance on the fifteenth day of the dark fortnight, is regarded as the same luminary that had become invisible.  After the same manner, notwithstanding the changes represented by birth, growth and age, a person is regarded as the same individual without any doubt of his identity.  It cannot be distinctly seen how Rahu approaches and leaves the moon.  After the same manner, the Soul cannot be seen how it leaves one body and enters another.[682] Rahu becomes visible only when it exists with the sun or the moon.  Similarly, the Soul becomes an object of apprehension only when it exists with the body.  When liberated from the sun or the moon, Rahu can no longer be seen.  Similarly, the Soul, liberated from the body, can no longer be seen.  Then again, as the moon, even when it disappears on the fifteenth day of the dark fortnight, is not deserted by the constellations and the stars, the Soul also, even though separated from the body, is not deserted by the fruits of the acts it has achieved in that body.’”

SECTION CCIV