शिवज्ञानबोध (मेय्कण्डार - शैव सिद्धान्त का आधारभूत दार्शनिक सूत्र ग्रन्थ)

58 SIVAGNANA BOTHAM.
this school of philosophers to call themselves Asthika and all
the rest (theistic and atheistic) Nasthika. In the latter theistic
schools, their ideal of God is a purely personal or human one i.e.,
man raised to a God, or as in the idealistic school, God is brought
down to the level of man, in either of which cases, the conception
of God does not soar higher than that of man and the true ideal
of God is never reached. Coming to the distinction noted above
God and man do not differ in mere place or quantity or quality
or in degree of power, strength or intelligence. It is not the same
order of being differiug merely in the amount of strength and
intelligence. Man is not a particle of God, so that the requisite
number of particles of human souls will make up one God. Put
thus, the idea is absurd enough, yet one finds thousands of people
believing in the theory. The real difference is that God and
man belong each to a different order or plane of existence. Just
as we ascend from the plane of objective consciousness to the
plane of subject or mental consciousness and just as we ascend
from the latter to the consciousness of true subject or soul, so
also do we ascend from the latter consciousness to True Sat or
God. The base of the lower rests upon the higher but not as
effect and cause. Such expressions as உயிருக்குயிர் (Life of
life) அறிவுக்கறிவு (Intelligence of Intelligences) express the
relation clearly and yet we find these expressions freely used by
Idealistic philosophers without any meaning. According to the
latter school, God will be an அறிவு (Intelligence) and not an
அறிவுக்கறிவு (Intelligence of Intelligences). When Siddhanthis
use the expression “ எல்லாம் சிவன்செயல் ” “ All actions are
God's actions,” they are also misunderstood often times, and the
expression simply means that God is He who sustains our very
being and actions as He vivifies our intelligence. Though there
is dependence of the soul on God in respect of its Itcha (will)
Gnana (Intelligence) and Kriya (action) yet the souls' self action
and responsibility is not destroyed. For instance when I move