Poorva Mimaamsaa and Nyaaya schools say that the self is distinct from the gross and subtle bodies, and is the worldly (rebirth taking) doer-enjoyer individual soul.
Even Vedanta describes the individual soul (jeevaatmaa) as doer-enjoyer-worldly-disconnected, but that is for a specific goal. The imagination of a soul in the self is a classical superimposition. In the tristate-body-discrimination, it was clarified that the witness is the witness of the doership and enjoyership of the ego or ahankaara. Therefore the witness is beyond the ego. But then, why has the Upanishad called the self as the soul? Then just like the eye senses are not the self, the self is called the seer with the adjunct of the eyes, the mind is not the self but the self is called the thinker with the adjunct of the mind, similarly, the self is called the doer with the adjuncts of ego and organs of action, and is called the enjoyer with the adjuncts of ego and mind. There is a specific goal for calling it a doer and enjoyer : In the life of a mumukshu, there should be disinfecting of actions, placing impressions knowingly and there should be an awakening of discrimination between right and wrong as a cause of worldly engagement. This is the path of self improvement. There is no real doership-enjoyership in the self, but is an introduction to the knowledge of liberation.
In reality, the pure awareness cannot be the worldly doer-enjoyer, it knows this through sheer ignorance. But Poorva Mimaamsaa and Nyaaya take it as a reality, and treat the self as doer-enjoyer-worldly-disconnected. This is counter to the philosophy of Vedanta. Otherwise neither can the identity of the "this" and "you" aspect be proven, nor can ever independent liberation be proven.
In Vedanta, by superimposition, the self is accepted as doer etc. but when both the adjuncts of the nature of cause-effect are negated, then doership etc. will also be negated.
The aware self is of the nature of existence-consciousness-bliss, non-dual. By the predominance of its existence-aspect, an illusion of matter is happening. By the predominance of its consciousness-aspect, an illusion of enjoyership is happening. By the predominance of its bliss-aspect, an illusion of happiness is happening. The appearance of reality in an object (asti), appearance of an object (bhaati), and the appearance of happiness in the object (priya), these are the illusionsof the existence, consciousness and bliss aspects of the self. These illusions happen due to ignorance. In this process, the object becomes existence-consciousness-bliss, and the self becomes disconnected, doer, enjoyer and worldly.
Those who think of themselves as existence-consciousness-bliss they too consider themselves as a tiny doer, tiny enjoyer and tiny happy individual. Their body-consciousness has not gone yet, otherwise what else is the cause of "tiny-ness"? By the illusion of existence-nature they took themselves to be the body, by the illusion of consciousness-nature they took themselves to be a tiny knower or ignorant, by the illusion of bliss-nature they took themselves to be tiny enjoyer, tiny happy individual! When you connect with the organs of action, when you take them as me or mine, then you become a doer. You mixed up with the organs of actions, the organs of action mixed up with you, this is mutual superimposition, this is the creator of the doer-notion. Similarly when you connect with the organs of sense then you become the knower. When you connect with the impressions of favourable-unfavourable then you accept yourself as enjoyer, happy or sad! Similarly when you connect with your desires, there arises a feeling of wordliness, when you connect with the body there arises a feeling of birth and death. All these appear due to superimposition on the self, they do not exist in reality.
By connecting this big palanquin with it, this aware self has become the "individual soul". And by distinguishing itself from the body it has become the king of this nine-walled city, and appears as doer, enjoyer, worldly, disconnected. What is the cause of this? The ignorance of its non-disconnectedness and the delusion of its disconnectedness.
The self becomes the individual soul due to 6 crimes: 1. Not knowing oneself as the non-disconnected brahman 2. Accepting itself as the disconnected individual soul 3. Accepting oneself as desire-filled and a worldly entity that comes and goes 4. Accepting itself as the enjoyer of favourable and unfavourable 5. Accepting oneself as the doer of the organs of action and the consequent sinner-saint 6. Accepting itself as the gross body and the consequent one that is born and dies.
Where did these 6 crimes come into the self? Shankaraachaarya Bhagavaan says that they came due to lack of analysis. Without analysis, without taking the refuge of a teacher, without the satsanga of Vedanta, by blind following, these superimpositions were accepted as real. With analysis, refuge of a guru, satsanga of Vedanta, these agitations caused by lack of analysis can be removed. If by mere hearing, logic and scriptural meaning, and without analysis, we can decide what the essence is, then liberation will not be attained.
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