THE Doctrine of Maya - HolyBooks.com

""* System des Ved&nta, chap. ii. H"DEVELOPMENT OF ITS CONCEPTION 97rate quite incompatible with the less advanced viewsthe later stages in the degeneration of pure Idealism, which we have briefly described above andyet each of these phases of thought claimed validityon the basis of a certain Sruti. IJe was thus in aon the horns of away dilemma, from which he foundan escape with caution and wisdom, acting quite inthe spirit of all great synthesisers of thought.In attaining such syntheses, sometimes a clean sweep"has to be made, and Sarikara was not wanting in thecourage for this. He asserted that knowledgetwo kinds :para (higher) and apara (lower), theis offormer referring to the unqualified Brahman, andthe latter including all else that is to;say, para vidyameans only the highest metaphysical Vedantasuch as isgiven in the pure idealism of Yajnavalkya,Gaudapada, etc. The other parts of theUpanisads, which deal with more realistic or empirical views, as well as the whole ritual canon of theVedas, with its things commanded and forbiddenunder promise of reward and punishment in anotherworld, the Smrtis, etc., are all labelled as aparavidya. To include the Vedas under this latter headwas certain to offend the masses, yet Sarikara tookthis course, which was indeed essential for hissynthesis. The thought that the empirical view ofnature is unable to lead us to a final solution of thebeing of things, was occupying the central positionin his mind. More closely examined/ as Deussen 1