A Constructive Survey of Upanishadic Philosophy c7.s2.14

c7.s2.14

22. What is Śaṅkara's answer to the question of the relation between the Self and the Absolute? It is true that the Absolute sub specie aeternitatis is the only reality; but what can we say about the reality of what we empirically call the Self? Śaṅkara answers that the Self is empirically real, but transcendentally ideal. From the phenomenal point of view, we say that it exists as a separate entity; but transcendentally, it is identical with the Absolute. There are many passages in the Upanishads which support this view of Śaṅkara. The Chhāndogya tells us that "the Self which inhabits the body is verily