ruddha. Vasudeva denotes the
highest Self, Sa@nkarsha/n/a the individual soul, Pradyumna the mind
(manas), Aniruddha the principle of egoity (aha@nkara). Of these four
Vasudeva constitutes the ultimate causal essence, of which the three
others are the effects.--The believer after having worshipped Vasudeva
for a hundred years by means of approach to the temple (abhigamana),
procuring of things to be offered (upadana), oblation (ijya), recitation
of prayers, &c. (svadhyaya), and devout meditation (yoga), passes beyond
all affliction and reaches the highest Being.

Concerning this system we remark that we do not intend to controvert the
doctrine that Naraya/n/a, who is higher than the Undeveloped, who is the
highest Self, and the Self of all, reveals himself by dividing himself
in multiple ways; for various scriptural passages, such as 'He is
onefold, he is threefold' (Ch. Up. VII, 26, 2), teach us that the
highest Self appears in manifold forms. Nor do we mean to object to the
inculcation of unceasing concentration of mind on the highest Being
which appears in the Bhagavata doctrine under the forms of reverential
approach, &c.; for that we are to meditate on the Lord we know full well
from Sm/ri/ti and Scripture. We, however, must take exception to the
doctrine that Sa@nkarsha/n/a springs from Vasudeva, Pradyumna from
Sa@nkarsha/n/a, Aniruddha from Pradyumna. It is not possible that from
Vasudeva, i.e. the highest Self, there should originate Sa@nkarsha/n/a,
i.e. the individual soul; for if such were the case, there would attach
to the soul non-permanency, and all the other imperfections which belong
to things originated. And thence release, which consists in reaching the
highest Being, could not take place; for the effect is absorbed only by
entering into its cause.--That the soul is not an originated thing, the
teacher will prove later on (II, 3, 17). For this reason the Bhagavata
hypothesis is unacceptable.

43. And (it is) not (observed that) the instrument is produced from the
agent.

The Bhagavata hypothesis is to be rejected for that reason also, that
observation never shows us an instrument, such as a hatchet and the
like, to spring from an agent such as Devadatta, or any other workman.
But the Bhagavatas teach that from an agent, viz. the individual soul
termed Sa@nkarsha/n/a, there springs its instrument, viz. the internal
organ termed Pradyumna, and again from this offspring of the agent
another instrument,