We must furthermore warn philosophers more especially that the Universal and the individual are by no means for us what they call “categories” ; and we will recall to mind – for the more modern among them seem to have forgotten it somewhat – that “categories” in the Aristotelian sense of the word are nothing but the most general of all genera, so that they still belong to the individual domain, of which, moreover, they denote the limit from a certain point of view. It would be more correct to compare with the Universal what the Scholastics term “TRANSCENDENTALS,” which do precisely transcend all genera, including the “categories”; but although these “TRANSCENDENTALS” belong indeed to the universal order, it would still be a mistake to suppose that they constitute the whole of the Universal or even that they are the most important consideration in pure metaphysic; they are coextensive with Being, but they do not transcend Being, at which point, moreover, the doctrine in which they are thus considered stops short. Although “ontology” does indeed pertain to metaphysic, it is very far from constituting metaphysic in its entirety, for Being is not the Unmanifest in itself, but only the principle of manifestation; consequently, that which is beyond Being is, metaphysically, much more important than Being itself. In other words, it is Brahma and not Ishwara which must be recognized as the Supreme Principle. This is declared expressly and above all by the Brahma-Sûtras, which open with these words: “Now begins the study of Brahma,” to which Shankarâchârya adds the following commentary: “This first sûtra, while enjoining the quest of Brahma, advises a reflective study of the texts of the Upanishads carried out with the aid of a dialectic which (taking them as its basis and principle) is never in disagreement with them, and which, like them (but only in the capacity of simple auxiliary means), envisages “Deliverance” as the goal.” Man and His Becoming according to the Vedanta FUNDAMENTAL DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE SELF” AND THE “EGO”