Chapter IV, Section I, Adhikarana III

Adhikarana summary: Where symbols of Brahman are used for contemplation, the meditator is not to comprehend them as identical with him

 Sutra 4,1.4

न प्रतीके न हि सः ॥ ४ ॥

na pratīke na hi saḥ || 4 ||

na—Not; pratīke—in the symbol; na—is not; hi—because; saḥ—he.

4. (The meditator is) not (to see the self) in the symbol, because he is not (that).

“The mind is Brahman” (Chh. 3. 18. 1). In such meditations, where the mind is taken as a symbol of Brahman, is the meditator to identify himself with the mind, as in the case of the meditation “I am Brahman”? The opponent holds that he should, for the mind is a product of Brahman according to Vedanta, and as such it is one with It. So is the individual soul, the meditator, one with Brahman. Hence it follows that; the meditator also is one with the mind, and therefore he should see his self in the mind in this meditation also. This Sutra refutes it. In the first place, if the symbol, mind, is cognized as identical with Brahman, then it ceases to be a symbol, even as when we realize an ornament as gold, we forget its individual character of being an ornament. Again, if the meditator is conscious of his identity with Brahman, then he ceases to be the individual soul, the meditator. The act of meditation can take place only where these distinctions exist, and unity has not been realized; and where there is knowledge of diversity, the meditator is quite distinct from the symbol. As such he is not to see his self in the symbol.