IV, V, VI (10; 11; 12) that
fire springs from air, water from fire, earth from water.--Adhik. III
(9) explains by way of digression that Brahman, which is not some
special entity, but quite generally 'that which is,' cannot have
originated from anything else.

Adhik. VII (13) demonstrates that the origination of one element from
another is due, not to the latter in itself, but to Brahman acting in
it.

Adhik. VIII (14) teaches that the reabsorption of the elements into
Brahman takes place in the inverse order of their emission.

Adhik. IX (15) remarks that the indicated order in which the emission
and the reabsorption of the elementary substances take place is not
interfered with by the creation and reabsorption of the organs of the
soul, i.e. the sense organs and the internal organ (manas); for they
also are of elemental nature, and as such created and retracted together
with the elements of which they consist.

The remainder of the pada is taken up by a discussion of the nature of
the individual soul, the jiva.--Adhik. X (16) teaches that expressions
such as 'Devadatta is born,' 'Devadatta has died,' strictly apply to the
body only, and are transferred to the soul in so far only as it is
connected with a body.

Adhik. XI (17) teaches that the individual soul is, according to
Scripture, permanent, eternal, and therefore not, like the ether and the
other elements, produced from Brahman at the time of creation.--This
Sutra is of course commented on in a very different manner by /S/a@nkara
on the one hand and Ramanuja on the other. According to the former, the
jiva is in reality identical--and as such co-eternal--with Brahman; what
originates is merely the soul's connexion with its limiting adjuncts,
and that connexion is moreover illusory.--According to Ramanuja, the
jiva is indeed an effect of Brahman, but has existed in Brahman from all
eternity as an individual being and as a mode (prakara) of Brahman. So
indeed have also the material elements; yet there is an important
distinction owing to which the elements may be said to originate at the
time of creation, while the same cannot be said of the soul. Previously
to creation the material elements exist in a subtle condition in which
they possess none of the qualities that later on render them the objects
of ordinary experience; hence, when passing over into the gross state at
the time of creation, they may be said to originate. The souls, on the
other hand, posses