views.--In /S/a@nkara's opinion the Sûtras 19-38 represent the
pûrvapaksha view, according to which the jîva is a/n/u, while Sûtra 29
formulates the siddhânta, viz. that the jîva, which in reality is
all-pervading, is spoken of as a/n/u in some scriptural passages,
because the qualities of the internal organ--which itself is
a/n/u--constitute the essence of the individual soul as long as the
latter is implicated in the sa/m/sâra.--According to Râmânuja, on the
other hand, the first Sûtra of the adhikara/n/a gives utterance to the
siddhânta view, according to which the soul is of minute size; the
Sûtras 20-25 confirm this view and refute objections raised against it;
while the Sûtras 26-29 resume the question already mooted under Sûtra
18, viz. in what relation the soul as knowing agent (j/ñ/ât/ri/) stands
to knowledge (j/ñ/âna).--In order to decide between the conflicting
claims of these two interpretations we must enter into some
details.--/S/a@nkara maintains that Sûtras 19-28 state and enforce a
pûrvapaksha view, which is finally refuted in 29. What here strikes us
at the outset, is the unusual length to which the defence of a mere
primâ facie view is carried; in no other place the Sûtras take so much
trouble to render plausible what is meant to be rejected in the end, and
an unbiassed reader will certainly feel inclined to think that in 19-28
we have to do, not with the preliminary statement of a view finally to
be abandoned, but with an elaborate bonâ fide attempt to establish and
vindicate an essential dogma of the system. Still it is not altogether
impossible that the pûrvapaksha should here be treated at greater length
than usual, and the decisive point is therefore whether we can, with
/S/a@nkara, look upon Sûtra 29 as embodying a refutation of the
pûrvapaksha and thus implicitly acknowledging the doctrine that the
individual soul is all-pervading. Now I think there can be no doubt that
/S/a@nkara's interpretation of the Sûtra is exceedingly forced.
Literally translated (and leaving out the non-essential word