is owing not to their essential nature, but to their dwelling in
different material bodies; and does not teach the oneness of all Selfs.
The different portions of air, again, passing through the different
holes of the flute--to which the many Selfs are compared--are not said
to be one but only to be equal in character; they are one in character
in so far as all of them are of the nature of air, while the different
names of the successive notes of the musical scale are applied to them
because they pass out by the different holes of the instrument. For an
analogous reason the several Selfs are denominated by different names,
viz. gods and so on. Those material things also which are parts of the
substance fire, or water, or earth, are one in so far only as they
consist of one kind of substance; but are not absolutely one; those
different portions of air, therefore, which constitute the notes of the
scale are likewise not absolutely one. Where the Purana further says 'He
(or "that") I am and thou art He (or "that"); all this universe that has
Self for its true nature is He (or "that"); abandon the error of
distinction' (Vi. Pu. II, 16, 23); the word 'that' refers to the
intelligent character mentioned previously which is common to all Selfs,
and the co-ordination stated in the two clauses therefore intimates that
intelligence is the character of the beings denoted 'I' and 'Thou';
'abandon therefore,' the text goes on to say, 'the illusion that the
difference of outward form, divine and so on, causes a corresponding
difference in the Selfs.' If this explanation were not accepted (but
absolute non-difference insisted upon) there would be no room for the
references to difference which the passages quoted manifestly contain.

Accordingly the text goes on to say that the king acted on the
instruction he had received, 'he abandoned the view of difference,
having recognised the Real.'--But on what ground do we arrive at this
decision (viz. that the passage under discussion is not meant to teach