11.8 Opinion Of Devotees

Devotees say this : If there is a doer-enjoyer-worldly-disconnected individual soul, then he will not function without Ishvara. You will have to accept Ishvara distinct from this soul. The individual soul has limited knowledge, power, is non-independent, and is disconnected because of the body. Therefore we have to accept him as subservient to the omniscient, omnipotent, independent and non-disconnected (pervasive) Ishvara. So then, the knowledge-supporting self of the individual soul is also Ishvara, and that Ishvara is different from the enjoyer individual soul, yet both are aware (of the nature of knowledge). There is a controller-controlled relationship between Ishvara and the individual soul.
 
This is the Advaita Vedanta vision : The individual soul-ness in the aware-self appears due to the adjuncts of the body, an effect of the five elements, and its instruments, but does not exist in reality. Similarly, in the same self, Ishavara-ness appears due to the adjunct of maayaa, the cause of the body and other macro (samashti) adjuncts. The name of the effect-adjuncted awareness is individual soul, and the name of the cause-adjuncted awareness is Ishvara. The cause "maayaa" controls its effects, the adjuncts of body etc. Through ignorance, the individual soul accepts this controlling as it being controlled, and accepts the controlling of maayaa as the controlling of the Ishvara awareness. After knowledge, from the absolute standpoint, both the individual soul and Ishvara are the same one pure awareness.
 
From the viewpoint of the devotees, the distinction between the individual soul and Ishvara is real, because for them, the adjunct is real. But in Vedanta, this distinction is transactional, not absolute. By knowledge of the identity between the self and brahman, this distinction becomes falsified.
 
Question : Who dispenses the results of legal and illegal actions? What is the basis of the order between the individual souls and the world which is seen? There can be no progress without accepting an Ishvara.
 
Answer : Poorvameemaamsaa does not accept Ishvara. There, the action itself generates the result, and the result of the governing action is called "apoorva". Yes, the devotees say that action and its apoorva are inert. They cannot engage in giving results and governing by themselves. Therefore "Ishvara-awareness" needs to be accepted.