Anybody reading verses 36 to 40 of chapter iii, and xiii, 21 ; xiv, 5, 20; and, verses iv, 14; ix, 9; xiii, 31 together, can fail to observe the utter contrast of the two entities; and we appeal to common sense if Sankara's 'as it were' will do away with this distinction and contrast. This distinction and contrast is brought out in different chapters, in the same chapter and in contiguous verses, (xv, 16, 17, 18) nay in the same verse (v. 15). The word 'another' ' Anyatha' is itself a technical word, as 'the inside of 'Antas' etc, and occurs in the Gita in other places and in a number of Vedic texts to denote God Supreme as distinguished from the souls and the world, the entities admitted by Kapila Sankhyas. Adhikaranas 4 to 9 of the Vedanta Sutra, and the texts quoted therein which appear in Vol. II, S.D. pp. 73 to 79, fully bear out our thesis. The apparent confusion caused by both the human spirit and the Supreme Spirit being spoken of as dwelling in the human body is altogether removed by the Mantras which speak of 'the two birds entering into the cave,' 'Rudra, destroyer of pain enters into me,' 'He who abides in the Vijnana ' He who abides in the Atman,' 'higher than the high, higher than the imperishable,' (cf. xv, 18, Gita). Leaving this subject for the present, we proceed.

Chapter iv contains also only one simile, (37); "As kindled fire reduces fuel to ashes, O Arjuna; so does the wisdom fire reduce all Karma to ashes." The next illustration occurs in chapter v. 16, and is a very familiar one, that of Sun and darkness. "But in those in whom unwisdom is destroyed by the Wisdom of the Self, like the Sun the wisdom illuminates That Supreme." We have to read the previous passage together. "The Lord takes neither the evil nor the good deed of any; wisdom is enveloped by unwisdom; thereby mortals are deluded."

Here 'wisdom' clearly means Atma, Atmajnan, Soul, Soul's intelligence. This intelligence is covered by ajnana, unwisdom. As contrasted with ignorance-covered soul, there stands the Paramesvara, untouched by evil, though dwelling in the body. How is the Soul's wisdom to get rid of the veil of unwisdom. If it was able to get rid of this wisdom by its own wisdom, it could have got rid of it the moment it wills 60, and we will never hear of a soul in bondage. So the illustration explains how this is done. Unwisdom is destroyed not by the soul's wisdom (spoken of merely as wisdom) but by Atmajnan, Brahmajnan, Sivajnan, leading to the perception and enjoyment of Sivananda, as the darkness covering the individual eye, flees before the Rising Glory of the Effulgent Sun, and the Sun while it dispels the darkness, at the same time enables the eye to exercise its own power of seeing (soul's wisdom) and makes it see the Sun itself. The reader is requested to read the simile as explained, with Sankara's own explanation and form his own conclusions.

"As a lamp in a sheltered spot does not flicker" is the simile of the Yogi in Divine Union.

uLike the waveless sea-water, the jnani attains clearness and calm" is another simile. The water and the lamp are by nature changeable, any little gust of wind (karma-mala) can make the one flicker and the other form into ripples. But the Sun, or Akasa (God) can neither flicker nor change. And this is exactly the simile in ix. 6. The simile in vii. 7 demands however our prior attention. "There is naught higher than I, O Dhananjaya, in me, all this is woven as a row of gems on a string." Here the string is the Isvara, and the gems, other creatures and objects. Neither can the string become the gems, nor the gems the string; it only brings out the distinct ion of the lower and the higher Padarthas spoken of in verse 5 and how Isvara supports and upholds the whole universe, as a string does support the various gems.

The next simile already alluded to is in chapter ix, 6. "As the mighty wind moving everywhere rests in the Akasa, know thou that so do all beings rest in me." And Lord Krishna states the truth explained by this as the Kingly science, the Kingly secret, immediately comprehensible; and well may he say so, as this explains the true nature of advaita. The verses 4 and 5, have to be stated in full. "By me all this world is pervaded, my form unmanifested. All beings dwell in Me; and I do not dwell in them." "Nor do beings dwell in me, behold my Divine Yoga! Bearing the beings and not dwelling in them is my Self, the cause of beings." With this we might read also the similes in xiii, 32 and 33 "As the all-pervading AkaSa is, by reason of its subtlety, never soiled, so God seated in the body is not soiled." "As the one Sun illumines all these worlds so does the Kshetri (not Kshetrajna) illumine all Kshetra," and the simile in xv. 8. "When the Lord (the jiva, the lord of the aggregate of the body and the rest - Sankara) acquires a body and when he leaves it, he takes these and goes, as the wind takes scents from their seats." Here Paramesvara is compared to Akasa and the soul, jiva is compared to the wind; and the relation between God and Soul is the same relation as between Akasa and wind or things contained in Akasa. And what is this relation? Logicians and Siddhantins call this relation as Vyapaka Vyapti Sambandam, container and contained.

We explained in our article on 'Mind and Body' that this was not a very apt relation as it has reference to quantity, yet it is the best synonym and illustration of the Advaita relation, not Beda (Madhva), not Abeda, not Bedabeda (Ramanuja), not Parinama (Vallabha), not Vivarta (Sankara), but Vyapaka Vyapti relation. Taking the five elements, and the order of their evolution and involution, it is seen, how all the four evolve from and resolve into Akasa. But earth is not water, nor water earth, water is not fire nor fire water, fire is not air, nor air fire, none of these is Akasa nor Akasa any of these. And yet tall solids can be reduced to liquids, and liquids, into gaseous condition and all disappear into Akasa. The one lower is contained in the one higher, and all in Akasa, but Akasa cannot be said to be contained in any of these, though present in each. Each one is more subtle and more vast than the lower element, and Akasa is the most subtle and vastest and most pervasive and invisible ('my form unmanifested'). Akasa is not capable of any change, though the wind and water and fire and earth contained in it, can be contaminated by that to which it becomes attached. Wind carries off scents, and is subjected to all the forces of sun and moon.

Water of the ocean becomes saltish, becomes frozen and becomes tempest-tossed. The lamp flickers and becomes smoky or bright, spreads a fragrant smell or otherwise, by the nature of the oil or wood it is burning. The very illustration of sea (space) water and winds, is used by Saint Meykanrlan in vii, 3-3 to illustrate ignorance not attaching itself to God but to the Soul. "Ignorance will not arise from God who is the True Intelligence, as it is Asat (like darkness before sun). The soul which is ever united to God is co-eternal with Him. The connection of ignorance with the soul is like the connexion of salt with the water of the sea." The word 'Akasa' by the way is a technical word, like 'another,' 'antas,' 'jyotis' etc. and is a synonym for God (vide Vedanta Sutras I, 1-22 and texts quoted thereunder and in the article 'House of God', 'Chit Ambara' in The Siddhanta Dipika, Vol. I. p. 153.

The simile of streams and the sea occurs in xi, 28, to illustrate not the entering into moksha, but undergoing dissolution and death. The similes in xv, 1 and 2, the Ashvatha rooted above and spreading below, and in xvii, 61, that " the Lord dwells in the hearts of all beings (jivas) O Arjuna, whirling by Maya all beings (as if) mounted on a machine,' are the very last to be noted. These are nearly all the similes discovered in the Gita, and do we not miss here nearly all the favourite similes of the Mayavada school, and if so, how was it the omniscient Lord Krishna failed to use, any one of them?