Advaita Bhoda Deepika #4

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End of post #3...

 

M.: Just as your impressions gathered one day lie dormant

in deep sleep and become manifest the following day, so also

the impressions of the preceding cycle (kalpa) reappear in the

succeeding one. Thus these impressions of Maya have no

beginning, but appear over and over again.

 

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ADVAITA BODHA DEEPIKA

 

pp14-17

 

 

93. D.: Master, what was experienced on previous days

can now be remembered. Why do we not remember the

experiences of past lives?

 

94-95. M.: This cannot be. See how the waking experiences

repeat themselves in the dream but are not apprehended in the

same way as in the waking state, but differently. Why? Because

sleep makes all the difference, in as much as it hides the original

bearings and distorts them, so that the same experience repeated

in the dream is differently set, often aberrant and wobbling.

Similarly the experiences of past lives have been affected by

comas and deaths so that the present setting is different from

the past ones and the same experience repeated in a different

way cannot recall the past.

 

96. D.: Master, dream visions being only mental creations

are transient and are soon dismissed as unreal. So they are

properly said to be illusory. On the contrary the waking world

is seen to be lasting and all evidence goes to show that it is real.

How can it be classified with dreams as being illusory?

 

97-98. M.: In the dream itself, the visions are experienced

as proven and real; they are not at that time felt to be unreal.

Similarly at the time of experience, this waking world also seems

to be proven and real. But when you wake up to your true

nature, this will also pass off as unreal.

 

D.: What then is the difference between the dream and

waking states?

 

99. M.: Both are only mental and illusory. There can be

no doubt of this. Only the waking world is a long drawn out

illusion and the dream a short one. This is the only difference

and nothing more.

 

100. D.: Should waking be only a dream, who is the

dreamer here?

M.: All this universe is the dream product of the non-dual,

untainted, Knowledge Bliss only.

 

D.: But a dream can happen only in sleep. Has the Supreme

Self gone to sleep in order to see this dream?

 

M.: Our sleep corresponds to Its Ignorance which hides

Its real nature from time immemorial. So It dreams the dream

of this universe. Just as the dreamer is deluded into thinking

himself the experiencer of his dreams, so also the unchanging

Self is by illusion presented as a jiva experiencing this samsara.

 

101. On seeing the dreamlike body, senses, etc., the jiva is

deluded into the belief that he is the body, senses, etc.; with

them he turns round and round through the waking, dream

and deep sleep states. This forms his samsara.

 

102-104. D.: What is jagrat (the waking state)?

M.: It is the phenomenon of the I-mode along with all the

other modes of mind and the related objects. Taking on I-ness

in the gross body of the waking state, the individual goes by the

name of visva, the experiencer of the waking state.

D.: What is dream?

M.: After the senses are withdrawn from external activities

the impressions formed by the mental modes of the waking

state reproduce themselves as visions in dreams. The experiencer

of this subtle state is known as the taijasa.

D.: What is deep sleep (sushupti)?

M.: When all the mental modes lie dormant in causal

ignorance, it is said to be deep sleep. Here the experiencer known

as prajna has the bliss of Self.

 

105. The jiva revolves in this merry-go-round owing to the

operation of his past karma according as it bestows waking, dream

or deep sleep experience. This is samsara. In the same way the

jiva is subject to births and deaths as a result of past karma.

106. Nevertheless they are merely appearances of the

deluded mind and not real. He seems to be born and to die.

D.: How can birth and death be illusory?

M.: Listen carefully to what I say.

 

107-109. Just as when jiva is overcome by sleep, the

bearings of the waking state give place to new ones of dream in

order to reproduce past experiences, or there is total loss of all

external things and mental activities, so also when he is

overpowered by coma before death the present bearings are

lost and the mind lies dormant. This is death. When the mind

resumes the reproduction of past experiences in new settings,

the phenomenon is called birth. The process of birth starts with

the man's imagining "Here is my mother; I lie in her womb;

my body has those limbs." Then he imagines himself born into

the world, and later says "This is my father; I am his son; my

age is such and such; these are my relatives and friends; this fine

house is mine" and so on. This series of new illusions begin

with the loss of former illusions in the coma before death, and

depends upon the results of past actions.

 

110-113. The jiva overpowered by the unreal coma before

death has different illusions according to his different past

actions. After death, he believes "Here is heaven; it is very lovely,

I am in it; I am now a wonderful celestial being; so many

charming celestial damsels are at my service; I have nectar for

drink," or, "Here is the region of Death; here is the God of

Death; these are the messengers of Death; oh! they are so cruel

- they pitch me into hell!" or, "Here is the region of the pitrs;

or of Brahma; or of Vishnu; or of Shiva" and so on. Thus

according to their nature, the latencies of past karma present

themselves before the Self, who remains always the unchanging

Ether of Consciousness, as illusions of birth, death, passage to

heaven, hell or other regions. They are only delusions of the

mind and not real.

 

114. In the Self of the Ether of Consciousness, there is the

phenomenon of the universe, like a celestial city seen in mid

air. It is fancied to be real but is not indeed so. Names and

forms make it up and it is nothing more.

 

115. D.: Master, not only I but all others directly experience

this world of sentient beings and insentient things and take it as

proven and real. How is it said to be unreal?

 

116. M.: The world with all its contents is only superimposed

upon the Ether of Consciousness.

D.: By what is it superimposed?

M.: By Ignorance of the Self.

D.: How is it superimposed ?

M.: As a painting of sentient beings and insentient things

presents a scene upon a background.

 

117. D.: Whereas the scriptures declare that all this

universe was created by the will of Isvara, you say it is by one's

own ignorance. How can these two statements be reconciled?

 

118. M.: There is no contradiction. What the scriptures

say that Isvara, by means of Maya, created the five elements

and mixed them up in diverse ways to make the diversities of

the universe, is all false.

D.: How can the scriptures say what is false?

M.: They are guides to the ignorant and do not mean

what appears on the surface.

D.: How is that?

M.: Man having forgotten his true nature of being the all

perfect Ether of Consciousness, is deluded by Ignorance into

identifying himself with a body, etc., and regarding himself as

an insignificant individual of mean capacity. If to him it is told

that he is the creator of the whole universe, he will flout the

idea and refuse to be guided. So coming down to his level the

scriptures posit an Isvara as the creator of the universe. But it is

not the truth. However the scriptures reveal the truth to the

competent seeker. You are now mistaking the nursery tale for

metaphysical truth. In this connection you may remember the

child's tale in Yoga Vasishta.

 

119-134. D.: What is it?

 

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Taken from Advaita Bhoda Deepika

as published by Sri Ramanasramam

Tiruvannamalai 2002.

 

To be continued...

 

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