The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c40.s8.60.4

v2.c40.s8.60.4

Here and there this interpretation suggests itself with special force, as when it is expressly made clear that the Ātman is the real active force in seeing, in smelling, in speaking, in hearing, in thinking, and the senses are but means,⁷ or again the Ātman is pictured like the ocean as the abode of all the sense activities.⁸ From the Sāṁkhya view the Upaniṣads are distinguished in an important respect, the frank recognition accorded by them of the activity of the Ātman,⁹ while in the Sāṁkhya view the Puruṣa has really no activity, though paradoxically all consciousness is made to depend on the imaginary connexion of the Puruṣa with Prakṛti.