70 THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE BHAGAYAD-GITA
exists ultimately is not the soul, nor the individual, however purified or exalted, but the one Parabrahmam, which has all along been existing, and that Parabrahmam itself is a sort of unknowable essence which has no idea of self, nor even an individual existence, but which is the one power, the one mysterious basis of the whole cosmos, In interpreting the Pranava, the Sankyas made the ardhamatra really mean this avyaktam and nothing more, In some Upanishats this ardhamatra is described as that which, appearing differentiated, is the soul of man. When this differentiation, which is mainly due to the upadhi, is destroyed, there is a layam of Atma in Parabrahmam. This is also the view of a considerable number of persons in India, who called themselves Adwaitis. It is also the view put forward as the correct Vedantic view. It was certainly the view of the. ancient Sankhyan philosophers, and is the view of all those Buddhists who consider Nirvana to be the layam of the soul in Parabrahmam.
After reaching karana sharira there are two paths, both of which lead to Parabrahmam. Karana sharira, you must know, is an upadhi; it is material, that is to say, it is derived from Mulaprakrti, but there is also acting in it, as its light and energy, the light from the Logos, or Daiviprakrti or Fohat. Now, as I have said, there are two paths. When you reach karana sharira you can either confine your
