between maya and avidya.  Maya is that aspect of ajnana by which only the best attributes are projected, whereas avidya is that aspect by which impure qualities are projected.  In the former aspect the functions are more of a creative, generative (vik@sepa) type, whereas in the latter veiling (avara@na) characteristics are most prominent.  The relation of the cit or pure intelligence, the highest self, with maya and avidya (also called ajnana) was believed respectively to explain the phenomenal Is’vara and the phenomenal jiva or individual.  This relation is conceived in two ways, namely as upadhi or pratibimba, and avaccheda.  The conception of pratibimba or reflection is like the reflection of the sun in the water where the image, though it has the same brilliance as the sun, yet undergoes the effect of the impurity and movements of the water.  The sun remains ever the same in its purity untouched by the impurities from which the image sun suffers.  The sun may be the same but it may be reflected in different kinds of water and yield different kinds of images possessing different characteristics and changes which though unreal yet phenomenally have all the appearance of reality.  The other conception of the relation is that when we speak of akas’a (space) in the jug or of akas’a in the room.  The akas’a in reality does not suffer

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any modification in being within the jug or within the room.  In reality it is all-pervasive and is neither limited (avachinna) within the jug or the room, but is yet conceived as being limited by the jug or by the room.  So long as the jug remains, the akas’a limited within it will remain as separate from the akas’a limited within the room.

Of the Vedantists who accept the reflection analogy the followers of N@rsi@mhas’rama think that when the pure cit is reflected in the maya, Is’vara is phenomenally produced, and when in the avidya the individual or jiva.  Sarvajnatma however does not distinguish between the maya and the avidya, and thinks that when the cit is reflected in the avidya in its total aspect as cause, we get Is’vara, and when reflected in the anta@hkara@na—­a product of the avidya—­we have jiva or individual soul.

Jiva or individual means the self in association with the ego and other personal experiences, i.e. phenomenal self, which feels, suffers and is affected by world-experiences.  In jiva also three stages are distinguished; thus when during deep sleep the anta@hkara@na is submerged, the self perceives merely the ajnana and the jiva in this state is called prajna or anandamaya.  In the dream-state the self is in association with a subtle body and is called taijasa.  In the awakened state the self as associated with a subtle and gross body is called vis’va.  So also the self in its pure state is called Brahman, when associated with maya it is called Is’vara, when associated with the fine subtle element of matter as controlling them, it is called hira@nyagarbha; when with the gross elements as the ruler or controller of them it is called vira@t puru@sa.