Advaita Bhoda Deepika- #2

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ADVAITA BODHA DEEPIKA

AD ADVAIT AIT AITA A BODHA DEEPIKA

OR

THE LAMP OF NON-DUAL KNOWLEDGE

INTRODUCTORY

 

(pp1-6)

 

1. I salute the holy feet of the Supreme Lord, the Refuge

of all the universe, the One Means to kill the samsara (the

cycle of births and deaths), the Eternal God Ganesa of

elephant face!

 

2. I meditate on the holy master known as Chidambara

Brahman, the very being of the non-dual Supreme Self, Its

very Bliss and the foremost yogi among men by whose light

glance I, a fool blinded by the massive darkness of beginningless

Ignorance, gained the precious jewel of Jnana (Wisdom)!

 

3. I meditate on that holy master, by contact with the dust

of whose lotus feet men are able easily to cross the shoreless

ocean of samsara, as if it were only a span.

 

4-5. To those who are fitted (by all) their sins having been

burnt off by austerities (practised) in several past births, their

minds made pure, their intellects discriminating the real from

the unreal, themselves indifferent to the pleasures of either this

or the other world, their minds and senses under control,

passions held down, actions given up as a worthless burden,

faith firm and minds tranquil, eagerly seeking release from

bondage, this work - SRI ADVAITA BODHA DEEPIKA -

is presented in twelve short chapters.

 

6. Many different works on Advaita have already appeared

from Masters of yore, like Sri Sankaracharya and Vidyaranya;

yet as a fond parent loves to hear the broken words of the lisping

child, so also good people with large hearts can read this work

as well, imperfect as it may be.

 

CHAPTER I

 

ON SUPERIMPOSITION

7. Greatly afflicted by the three kinds of distress (tapa-traya),

intensely seeking release from bondage so as to be free from

this painful existence, a disciple distinguished by long practice

of the four fold sadhana, approaches a worthy master and prays:

 

8-12. Lord, master, ocean of mercy, I surrender to you!

Pray save me!

Master: Save you from what?

Disciple: From the fear of recurring births and deaths.

Master: Leave the samsara and fear not.

Disciple: Unable to cross this vast ocean of samsara, I fear

recurring births and deaths. So I have surrendered to you. It is

for you to save me!

Master: What can I do for you?

Disciple: Save me. I have no other refuge. Just as water is

the only thing to put out the flames when the hair of one's head

is on fire, so also a sage such as you are, is the sole refuge of

people like me who are on fire from the three kinds of distress.

You are free from the illusion of samsara, calm in mind and

sunk deep in the incomparable Bliss of Brahman which is

beginningless and endless. Certainly you can save this poor

creature. Pray do!

Master: What is it to me if you suffer?

Disciple: Saints like you cannot bear to see others suffer, as

a father his child. Motiveless is your love for all beings. You are

the Guru common to all, the only boat to carry us across this

ocean of samsara.

 

Master: Now, what makes you suffer?

Disciple: Bitten by the cruel serpent of painful samsara, I

am dazed and I suffer. Master, pray save me from this burning

hell and kindly tell me how I can be free.

 

13-17. M.: Well said, my Son! You are intelligent and well

disciplined. There is no need to prove your competence to be a

disciple. Your words clearly show that you are fit. Now look

here, my child!

 

In the Supreme Self of Being-Knowledge-Bliss who can

be the transmigrating being? How can this samsara be? What

could have given rise to it? And how and whence can it arise

itself? Being the non-dual Reality, how can you be deluded?

With nothing separate in deep sleep, not having changed in

any manner, and having slept soundly and peacefully, a fool

on waking shouts out "Alas, I am lost!" How can you, the

changeless, formless, Supreme, Blissful Self shout forth "I

transmigrate - I am miserable!" and so on? Truly there is

neither birth nor death; no one to be born or to die; nothing

of the kind!

D.: What does exist then?

M.: There exists only the beginningless, endless, non-dual,

never bound, ever free, pure, aware, single, Supreme, Bliss

Knowledge.

 

18. D.: If so, tell me how this mighty massive delusion of

samsara veils me in dense darkness like a mass of clouds in the

rainy season.

 

19-20. M.: What can be said of the power of this Illusion

(Maya)! As a man mistakes a post for a man, so also you mistake

the non-dual, perfect Self for an individual. Being deluded you

are miserable. But how does this illusion arise? Like a dream in

sleep this false samsara appears in the illusion of ignorance which

is itself unreal. Hence your mistake.

 

21-24. D.: What is this ignorance?

M.: Listen. In the body appears a phantom, the 'false-I', to

claim the body for itself and it is called jiva. This jiva always

outward bent, taking the world to be real and himself to be the

doer and experiencer of pleasures and pains, desirous of this

and that, undiscriminating, not once remembering his true

nature, nor enquiring "Who am I?, What is this world?", is but

wandering in the samsara without knowing himself. Such

forgetfulness of the Self is Ignorance.

 

25. D.: All the shastras proclaim that this samsara is the

handiwork of Maya but you say it is of Ignorance. How are the

two statements to be reconciled?

M.: This Ignorance is called by different names such as Maya,

Pradhana, Avyakta (the unmanifest), Avidya, Nature, Darkness

and so on. Therefore the samsara is but the result of Ignorance.

 

26. D.: How does this ignorance project the samsara?

M.: Ignorance has two aspects: Veiling and Projection

(Avarana-Vikshepa). From these arises the samsara. Veiling

functions in two ways. In the one we say "It is not" and in the

other "It does not shine forth."

 

27-28. D.: Please explain this.

M.: In a discourse between a master and a student, although

the sage teaches that there is only the non-dual Reality the

ignorant man thinks "What can be non-dual Reality? No. It

cannot be." As a result of beginningless veiling, though taught,

the teaching is disregarded and the old ideas persist. Such

indifference is the first aspect of veiling.

 

29-30. Next, with the help of sacred books and gracious

masters he unaccountably but sincerely believes in the nondual

Real, yet he cannot probe deep but remains superficial

and says "The Reality does not shine forth." Here is knowledge

knowing that It does not shine forth yet the illusion of

ignorance persists. This illusion that It does not shine forth, is

the second aspect of veiling.

 

31-32. D.: What is Projection?

 

M.: Though he is the unchanging, formless, Supreme, Blissful,

non-dual Self, the man thinks of himself as the body with hands

and legs, the doer and experiencer; objectively sees this man and

that man, this thing and that thing, and is deluded. This delusion

of perceiving the external universe on the non-dual Reality

enveloped by it, is Projection. This is Superimposition.

 

33. D.: What is Superimposition?

M.: To mistake something which is, for something

which is not - like a rope for a snake, a post for a thief, and

mirage for water. The appearance of a false thing on a real is

superimposition.

 

34. D.: What is here the unreal superimposition on the

real thing, the substratum?

M.: The non-dual Being-Knowledge-Bliss or the Supreme

Brahman is the Reality. Just as the false name and form of snake

is superimposed on a rope, so also on the non-dual Reality there

is superimposed the category of sentient beings and insentient

things. Thus the names and forms which appear as the universe,

make up the superimposition. This is the unreal phenomenon.

D.: In the Reality which is non-dual, who is there to bring

about this superimposition?

M.: It is Maya.

D.: What is Maya?

 

35. M.: It is the ignorance about the aforesaid Brahman.

D.: What is this Ignorance?

M.: Though the Self is Brahman, there is not the knowledge

of the Self (being Brahman). That which obstructs this knowledge

of the Self is Ignorance.

D.: How can this project the world?

M.: Just as ignorance of the substratum, namely the rope,

projects the illusion of a snake, so Ignorance of Brahman projects

this world.

 

 

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Taken from Advaita Bhoda Deepika

as published by Sri Ramanasramam

Tiruvannamalai 2002.

 

To be continued...

 

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http://www.ramana-maharshi.org/downloads/downloads.htm