and denoted and conceived as pure Being, is spoken of in an analogous
way; cp. 'Let me make each of these three deities,' &c. (Ch. Up. VI, 3,
3); 'May I be many, may I grow forth' (Ch. Up. VI, 2, 3); 'He thought,
shall I send forth worlds?' (Ait. Ar. II, 4, 1, 1); and again, 'Since I
transcend the Destructible, and am higher also than the Indestructible,
therefore I am proclaimed in the world and in the Veda as the highest
Person' (Bha. Gi. XV, 18); 'I am the Self, O Gudakesa.' (Bha. Gi. X, 20);
'Never was I not' (Bha. Gi. II, 12); 'I am the source and the
destruction of the whole world' (Bha. Gi. VII, 6); 'I am the source of
all; from me proceeds everything' (Bha. Gi. X, 8); 'I am he who raises
them from the ocean of the world of death' (Bha. Gi. XII, 7); 'I am the
giver of seed, the father' (Bha. Gi. XIV, 4); 'I know the things past'
(Bha. Gi. VII, 26).--But if the 'I' (aham) constitutes the essential
nature of the Self, how is it that the Holy One teaches the principle of
egoity (ahamkara) to belong to the sphere of objects, 'The great
elements, the ahamkara, the understanding (buddhi), and the Unevolved'
(Bha. Gi. XIII, 5)?--As in all passages, we reply, which give
information about the true nature of the Self it is spoken of as the 'I',
we conclude that the 'I' constitutes the essential nature of the inward
Self. Where, on the other hand, the Holy One declares the ahamkara--a
special effect of the Unevolved--to be comprised within the sphere of
the Objective, he means that principle which is called ahamkara, because
it causes the assumption of Egoity on the part of the body which belongs
to the Not-self. Such egoity constitutes the ahamkara also designated as
pride or arrogance, which causes men to slight persons superior to
themselves, and is referred to by scripture in many places as something
evil. Such consciousness of the 'I' therefore as is not sublated by
anything else has the Self for its object; while, on the other hand,
such consciousness of the 'I' as has the body for its object is mere
Nescience. In agreement with this the Reverend Parasara has said, 'Hear