The Philosophy of the Upanishads c9.s2.t7.1.3

c9.s2.t7.1.3

The third answer of Prajâpati now follows:—“When a man is so completely wrapped in slumber, has reached so perfect a rest, that he does not perceive any dream-image, —that is the self,” thus he spake, “that is the immortal, the fearless, that is Brahman.” A further objection on the part of Indra, that this amounts to entrance into a state of annihilation, Prajâpati removes by showing that the cessation of the distinction of subject and object, as this is attained in deep sleep, is rather an entrance into the fullest light, a personal identification with the supreme spirit, which as the knowing subject in us is unaffected by any change of organs or objects. The meaning of this narrative is clear. In response to the question, What is the self? three answers are possible, according as we adopt the standpoint of materialism, realism, or idealism. (1) The *material* (demoniac) answer runs,—the self is the body, and perishes with it. The theologians of the Vedânta understand even here the individual soul, and do violence to the text by transforming the man who "is seen" in the eye (mirroring himself) into one who "sees" in the eye, because otherwise Prajâpati "would have been a deceiver," since he says in fact even of this first self,—"that is the immortal," etc.