A History of Indian Philosophy v2.c19.s1.8

v2.c19.s1.8

it is impossible to distinguish between them¹. *Avidyā*, *saṃsṛti*, *citta*, *manas*, *bandha*, *mala*, *tamas* are thus but synonyms for the same concept². It is the perceiver that appears as the perceived, and it is but the perceptions that appear as the perceiver and the perceived. The state of emancipation is the cessation of this world-appearance. There is in reality no perceiver, perceived or perceptions, no vacuity (*śūnya*), no matter, no spirit or consciousness, but pure cessation or pure negation, and this is what we mean by Brahman³. Its nature is that of pure cessation (*śānta*), and it is this that the Sāṃkhyists call *puruṣa*, the Vedāntins call "Brahman," the idealistic Buddhists call "pure idea" (*vijñāna-mātra*) and the nihilists "pure essencelessness" (*śūnya*)⁴. It is of the nature of pure annihilation and cessation, pervading the inner and the outer world⁵. It is described as that essencelessness (*śūnya*) which does not appear to be so, and in which lies the ground and being of the essenceless world-appearance (*yasmin śūnyaṃ jagat sthitam*), and which, in spite of all creations, is essenceless⁶. The illusory world-appearance has to be considered as absolutely non-existent, like the water of the mirage or the son of a barren woman. The ultimate entity is thus neither existent nor non-existent and is both statical and dynamical (*spandāspandātmaka*)⁷; it is indescribable and unnameable (*kimapy avyapadeśātmā*) and neither being nor non-being nor being-non-being, neither statical being nor becoming (*na bhāvo bhavanaṃ na ca*). The similarity of the philosophy of the *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha* to the idealistic philosophy of the *Laṅkāvatāra-sūtra* is so definite and deep that the subject does not require any elaborate discussion and the readers are referred to the philosophy of the *Laṅkāvatāra* in the first volume of the present work. On Vedānta lines it is very similar to Prakāśānanda's interpretation of the Vedānta in later times, called *dṛṣṭi-sṛṣṭi-vāda*, which can probably be traced at least as far back as Gauḍapāda or Maṇḍana. Prakāśātman refers to the *Yoga-vāsiṣṭha* as one of his main authorities.