Indian Philosophy v2.c26.s19.22

v2.c26.s19.22

¹ Śaṁkara would not have found much help in the realist theory of the reality of the universals along with that of the particulars, for the universals of the realists do not claim infinity. They are finite reals, though of a different order from the particulars, and if God is a universal of this character, he can realise himself in various ways simply because he is finite. Were he infinite, he could only act in one way, or rather, Śaṁkara would say, he could not act at all. He could only be and not become, and there is then no question of his activity or manifestation.