"What is to be done? There are doubtless a few texts in the Veda which support the Pantheistic views. Most however support the Theistic principles. But so long as Pantheistic texts are not explained, the proposition that the Vedas do not teach Pantheism cannot be accepted. Again, the adjustment and the interpretation proposed by the Theists cannot be accepted because of their being far-fetched and forced. But we do not see how the few Patheistic texts come in the way of Theism, because we believe that though they be interpreted as the Pantheists do, yet they support Theism. How can this be ?" And he proceeds to show how this can only be understood in the light of Y6ga. After instancing the various forms of Bhakti (Charya and Kriya), he says: "But there is a special feature of such adoration - a feature not included in any of these. It is the ecstatic condition of the spirit, a condition which can neither be explained nor understood without an illustration. Let the reader realize the love a mother has for her child. A mother or her child sometimes experiences a state of mind, an indescribable state.

That which either of them expresses can alone convey an idea of their feelings when they are in the ecstatic condition, The mother directly addresses the child thus, 'Oh, my piece of Gold, Oh, my soul, Oh, my life, can I eat you up ?'

Under these circumstances, the mother forgets that her body is different from that of her child, which experiences the same feeling. Such an identity is the form of the ecstatic condition of the mind. This is a special feature of adoration. This sort of ecstatic identity, the Yogis feel. Hence in the Veda and in the Upanishats, the Pantheistic doctrine of the identity of the human spirit and the Supreme Spirit, if enunciated., is enunciated in this way. Again the Brahma Sutra of Badarayana does not inculcate it." And he explains furcher below. "The characteristic feature of the Indian Vedanta is its recognition of spirit-power, as it is explained in the Y6ga Sutras which systematically lay down the following propositions: That the Supreme Spirit or God is related to the human spirit, that the human spirit has very great potential powers and that if certain methods of living be adopted, it can call out its powers and become actually able to know the past and the future and that the spirit disenthralled from the flesh is ultimately absorbed in one sense into the Supreme Spirit. The Yoga system is properly the backbone of the Vedanta."

And we had pointed out in another place, Personality of God, (pp. 223 - 243) that the Yoga Pada is not merely the backbone of Vedanta, but it is Vedanta itself.

It is not well understood that the word Upanishat really means the same thing as 'Yoga.' Yoga means the Sadana required for bringing the Soul and God in Union; and the Upanishat is also the teaching of the Sadana whereby man comes nearer and nearer to God, by destroying the bonds that bind him. The root-meaning (upa = near, ni,=-quite, sad = to perish) is hit off to a nicety in the famous line in Tiruvacagam quoted above. "The house of God," 7th verse,

"nearer and nearer to Thee I drew, wearing away atom by atom, till I was one with Thee" And in the passage in (Chandog, 1. 1. 10) and in several others, the word Upanishat is used as a synonym for Yoga. And this derivation really explains the scope of an Upanishat, a misunderstanding of which has led to no end of confusion. The Siddhanti takes the Upanishat as the text-book of the Yoga Pada or School.

The higher stage or Pada being the Jnana Pada, the words Upanishat, Vedanta, Yoga, Saha-Marga or Sohamarga or Hamsa-Marga are all synonymous; and as Vedanta strictly means Yoga, the words Vedanta and Siddhanta are contrasted, Siddhanta meaning the Jnana-Marga or Pada, though it embraces all the remaining Padas, Charya, Kriya, and Yoga. The practice involved in the Mahavakya-texts is this Soham Bhavana or Sivoham Bhavana, and when this practice is matured, the soul stands in complete allegiance to the Supreme One, renouncing all idea of self and self-action; then can the soul say: "I am all the world," (Sivajnanabodham,

2-1-4). "In me everything originated, in me everything established, in me everything merges. That secondless-Brahman am I. (Kaival. Up. 21)."

As Professor Kunte speaks of the potential power of man by calling out which he can become one with God; Sivajnana Yogi dwells at great length, and too frequently, on this special characteristic or power of man whereby man can be said to become God; and this power is the power of the soul to become that to which it is united, in the language of St.

Meykandan or, and

in the language of St. Tayumanavar, and this power is likened to that of the crystal or mirror.

Says Professor Henry Drummond : -

"All men are mirrors - that is the first law on which this formula (of sanctification or corruption) is based. One of the aptest descriptions of a human being is that he is a mirror." This illustration is to be originally found in the Upanishats and Gita.