THE Doctrine of Maya - HolyBooks.com

""66 THE DOCTRINE OF MAYA(Trans.}Eternal of the transient, Soul of the souls, who thoughone, fulfills the desires of many ;the wise who perceive Himresiding in the Self, to them belongs eternal peace, notto others.The passage distinguishes the eternal and changelessnature of the ,Atman from the transient natureof the world, adding that only those are saved whoknow the Atman, since that is the only true knowledge. All others who will hold fast to the senseofplurality," taking the fleeting shadows for eternal realities, will never find rest and peace but willever be rolling to and fro, confused and puzzled.The Svetasvatara Up., composedstill later andtinged with rather sectarian ideas, speaks of thewhole cosmic illusion as capable of being removed(visva-maya-nivrttih) by a true knowledge of theone God Hara (i. 10). Again in iii. 8 it is saidthat there is no other way of conquering deathexcept by knowing the ever-luminous Atman. Ifthe world were real or true, itsknowledge couldsave people from the clutches of death. In iii. 10it is said that only they who know the Atman, whoisbeyond the Purusa, formless and pure, attainimmortality, all others for ever plunge into misery.That the Atman in us is the subject of knowledgeand itself isconsequently unknowable is clearlybroughtout insa vetti vedyam na ca tasyasti vetta tarn ahur agryampurusam mahantam." Svet. Up. iii. 19.