Indian Philosophy v2.c26.s17.52

v2.c26.s17.52

But Brahman cannot be both determinate (saguṇa) and indeterminate (nirguṇa).² A reality that has two sides or can be experienced in two ways is not the highest reality. The sides are dissolved the moment we touch the fountain of being. We catch aspects of the Absolute when we look at it from outside. In itself the Absolute is without sides, without forms, and without any element of duality or guṇas. These characters of form and personality have meaning in the world of vidyā, or experience. In the supreme Brahman there is a natural dissolution of all relativities. It is not a system or a whole which can be achieved by an endless process of reconciling opposites.³ The infinite is not an object constructed by philosophy; it is an ever-present fact. Śaṁkara is opposed to all attempts to think the Absolute. The moment we think it, it becomes a part of the world of experience.⁴