772.  The body is called the door of dreams because the body is the result of past acts, and dreams cannot take place till the Soul, through past acts, becomes encased in a body.  What is meant by the body disappearing in the mind is that in dreamless slumber the mind Mo longer retains any apprehension of the body.  The body being thus lost in the mind, the mind (with the body lost in it) enters the Soul, or becomes withdrawn into it.  Nidarsanam is explained as Nischitadarsanam Sakshirupam.  The sense of the verse is that in dreamless slumber the senses are withdrawn into the mind; the mind becomes withdrawn into the Soul.  It is the Soul alone that then lives in its state of original purity, consciousness and all things which proceed from it disappearing at the time.

773. i.e., the mind becoming pure, he gains omniscience and omnipotence.

774.  The Burdwan translator, using the very words of Nilakantha, jumbles them wrongly together and makes utter nonsense of both the original and the gloss.

775.  Brahma cannot, as the commentator properly explains, be seized like a creature by the horns.  All that one can do is to explain its nature by reason and analogy.  It can be comprehended only in the way indicated, i.e., by Pratyahara.

776.  The commentator thinks that the Rishi alluded to in this verse is Narayana, the companion and friend of Nara, both of whom had their retreat on the heights of Vadari where Vyasa afterwards settled himself.  Tattwa here does not, the commentator thinks, mean a topic of discourse but that which exists in original purity and does not take its colour or form from the mind.  Anaropitam rupam yasya tat.

777.  The religion of Pravritti consists of acts.  It cannot liberate one from rebirth.  The whole chain of existences, being the result of acts, rests upon the religion of Pravritti.  The religion of Nivritti, on the other hand, or abstention from acts, leads to Emancipation or Brahma.

778.  Nidarsarkah is explained by the commentator as equivalent to drashtum ichcchan.

779.  Avyakta or Unmanifest is Prakriti or primordial matter both gross and subtile.  That which transcends both Prakriti and Purusha is, of course the Supreme Soul or Brahma.  Visesham, is explained by the commentator as ‘distinguished from everything else by its attributes.’

780. i.e., as the commentator explains, Purusha is non-creating and transcends the three attributes.

781.  Asamhatau is explained by the commentator as atyantaviviktau.  Purushau implies the two Purushas, i.e., the ‘Chit-Soul’ and the Supreme Soul.

782.  The four topics are these:  the points of resemblance between Prakriti and Purusha, the points of difference between them:  the points of resemblance between Purusha and Iswara; and the points of difference between them.  The four considerations that cover these topics are absence of beginning and end, existence as chit and in animation, distinction from all other things, and the notion of activity.