absolute non-duality)?--On the ground, we reply, that the proper topic
of the whole section is to teach the distinction of the Self and the
body--for this is evident from what is said in an early part of the
section, 'as the body of man, characterised by hands, feet, and the like,'
&c. (Vi. Pu. II, 13, 85).--For analogous reasons the sloka 'When that
knowledge which gives rise to distinction' &c. (Vi. Pu. VI, 7, 94)
teaches neither the essential unity of all Selfs nor the oneness of the
individual Self and the highest Self. And that the embodied soul and the
highest Self should be essentially one, is no more possible than that
the body and the Self should be one. In agreement herewith Scripture
says, 'Two birds, inseparable friends, cling to the same tree. One of
them eats the sweet fruit, the other looks on without eating' (Mu. Up.
III, 1, 1). 'There are two drinking their reward in the world of their
own works, entered into the cave, dwelling on the highest summit. Those
who know Brahman call them shade and light,' &c. (Ka. Up. I, 3, 1). And
in this sastra also (i.e. the Vishnu Purana) there are passages of
analogous import; cp. the stanzas quoted above, 'He transcends the
causal matter, all effects, all imperfections such as the gunas' &c.

The Sutras also maintain the same doctrine, cp. I, 1, 17; I, 2, 21; II,
1, 22; and others. They therein follow Scripture, which in several
places refers to the highest and the individual soul as standing over
against each other, cp. e.g. 'He who dwells in the Self and within the
Self, whom the Self does not know, whose body the Self is, who rules the
Self from within' (Bri. Up. III, 7, 22); 'Embraced by the intelligent
Self (Bri. Up. IV, 3, 21); 'Mounted by the intelligent Self (IV, 3, 35).
Nor can the individual Self become one with the highest Self by freeing
itself from Nescience, with the help of the means of final Release; for
that which admits of being the abode of Nescience can never become quite
incapable of it. So the Purana says, 'It is false to maintain that the