Advaita Bhoda Deepika #5

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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.

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ADVAITA BODHA DEEPIKA

pp 18-23

 

M.: It is a fine story to illustrate the emptiness of this

universe. On hearing it the false notions of the world being real

and its creation by Isvara, will all disappear. Briefly put, the

story runs as follows:-

 

A child asked its nurse to tell an interesting story.

Accordingly she told the following:

Nurse: Once upon a time a most powerful king whose

mother was barren, ruled over all the three worlds. His word

was law to all the kings in these worlds. The barren mother's

son had extraordinary powers of illusion to make, foster and

unmake worlds. At his will he could take on any one of the

three bodies, white, yellow or black. When he took on the yellow

body, he had an urge and would, like a magician, create a city.

Child: Where is that city?

Nurse: It hangs in mid air.

Child: What is it called?

Nurse: Total Unreality.

Child: How is it built up?

Nurse: It has fourteen royal roads, each divided into three

sections in which there are respectively many pleasure gardens,

huge mansions and seven luxurious tanks - adorned with

strings of pearls. Two lamps - one warm and the other cool -

always light the city. In it the barren mother's son built many

fine houses, some on high, some in the middle and others on

low ground. Each of them has a black velvety top, nine gateways,

several windows to let in breeze, five lamps, three white pillars,

and walls plastered nicely. By his magic he created fearsome

phantoms, one to guard each house. As a bird enters its nest, he

enters any of these houses at his will and sports at his pleasure.

 

135-140. With his black body, he protects these homes

through the phantom guards. With his white body he

instantaneously reduces them to ashes. This barren woman's son

who like a fool repeatedly produces, protects and destroys the

city at his whim, was once tired after his work, refreshed himself

bathing in the quaffing waters of mirage and proudly wore flowers

gathered from the sky. I have seen him; he will soon come here to

present you with four strings of gems made from the lustre of

broken fragments of glass and anklets of nacre-silver.

The child believed the tale and was pleased. So it is with

the fool who takes this world to be real.

 

141-148. D.: How does this story illustrate the point?

M.: The child of the legend is the ignorant man of the

world; the wet nurse is the scripture which speaks of the creation

by Isvara; the barren mother's son is the Isvara born of Maya;

his three bodies are the three qualities of Maya; his assumption

of the bodies is the aspect of Brahma, Vishnu or Rudra. In the

yellow body Brahma who is the thread running through the

whole universe, creates it in the Ether of Consciousness which

corresponds to mid air in the fable; its name is Absolute

Unreality; the fourteen royal roads are the fourteen worlds; the

pleasure gardens are the forests; the mansions are the mountain

ranges; the two lamps are the Sun and the Moon and the

luxurious tanks adorned with strings of pearls are the oceans

into which so many rivers flow.

 

149-155. The houses built on the high, middle and low

ground, are the bodies of the celestials, men and animals; the

three white pillars are the skeleton of bones; and the plaster on

the walls is the skin; the black top is the head with hair on it; the

nine gateways are the nine passages in the body; the five lamps

are the five senses and the phantom watchman is the ego.

Now Isvara, the king who is the son of the barren mother

Maya, having built the houses of the bodies, enters into them at

will as the Jivas, sports in the company of the phantom egos

and moves about aimlessly.

 

156-160. With the black body he functions as Vishnu

otherwise Virat, and sustains the universe. With the white body

as Rudra the Destroyer, the In-dweller in all, he withdraws the

whole universe into himself. This is his sport and he is pleased

with it. This pleasure is said to be the king's refreshing himself in

the waters of mirage. His pride is of his sovereignty. The blossoms

from the sky are the attributes, omniscience and omnipotence.

The anklets are heaven and hell; the four strings of glass lustre are

the four stages of Mukti - Salokya, Samipya, Sarupya and Sayujya,

meaning equality in rank, condition or power and final identity.

The king's expected arrival to present the gifts is the image worship

- which fulfils the prayers of the devotees.

In this manner the ignorant student of the scriptures is

deluded by his Ignorance into believing the world to be real.

 

161. D.: Should heaven and hell and the four stages of

beatitude (Mukti) be all false, why should a part of the scriptures

prescribe methods of gaining heaven or beatitude?

 

162-164. M.: On seeing her child suffer from pain in the

stomach a fond mother desirous of administering pepper to the

child, but aware of the child's dislike of pepper and love of

honey, gently coaxes the child with a smear of honey before

forcing the pepper into its mouth. In the same way the scriptures

in their mercy, seeing the ignorant student suffer in the world,

desirous of making him realise the truth, but knowing his love

for the world and dislike of the non-dual Reality - which is

subtle and hard to understand, gently coax him with the sweet

pleasures of heaven, etc., before laying bare the non-dual Reality.

 

165. D.: How can the ideas of heaven, etc., lead him on to

the non-dual Reality?

M.: By right actions, heaven is gained; by austerities and

devotion to Vishnu, the four stages of beatitude. On knowing

it a man practises what he likes among these. By repeated practices

in several rebirths his mind becomes pure and turns away from

sense enjoyments to receive the highest teaching of the nondual

Reality.

 

166. D.: Master, admitting heaven, hell, etc. to be false,

how can Isvara so often mentioned by the scriptures, be also

declared unreal?

 

167. M.: Well, passages dealing with Isvara in all His glory,

are succeeded by others which say that Isvara is the product of

Maya, and the jiva of Ignorance (Avidya).

D.: Why do the scriptures contradict themselves with

passages of different imports?

M.: Their aim is to make the student purify his mind by

his own efforts such as good actions, austerities and devotion.

To coax him, these are said to yield him pleasures. Being

themselves insentient, these cannot of their own accord yield

fruits. So an all-powerful Isvara is said to dispense the fruits of

actions. That is how an Isvara appears on the scene. Later the

scriptures say that the jiva, Isvara and the jagrat (world) are all

equally false.

 

168. Isvara the product of illusion is no more real than

the dream subject, the product of sleep. He is in the same

category as the jiva, the product of ignorance, or of the dream

subject, the product of sleep.

 

169-174. D.: The scriptures say that Isvara is the product

of Maya and how can we say that He is of Ignorance?

M.: The Ignorance of the Self may function singly or totally

as we speak of single trees or a whole forest. The total Ignorance

of all the universe is called Maya. Its product Isvara functions as

Virat in the universal waking state; as Hiranyagarbha in the

universal dream state, and as the In-dweller in the universal

deep sleep. He is omniscient and omnipotent. Beginning with

the Will to create and ending with the entry into all creatures,

this is His samsara. The individual ignorance is said to be simply

ignorance. Its product the jiva functions respectively as visva,

taijasa and prajna in the individual waking, dream and deep

sleep states. His knowledge and capacity are limited. He is said

to be doer and enjoyer. His samsara consists of all that lies

between the present wakeful activities and final Liberation. In

this way the scriptures have made it clear that Isvara, the jiva

and the jagat are all illusory.

 

175-179. D.: Now, master, just as the ignorance of the

rope can give rise to the illusion only of a snake, so one's

ignorance may spread the illusion of oneself being a jiva. But

how can it be extended to create the illusions of Isvara and

jagat as well?

M.: Ignorance has no parts; it acts as a whole and produces

all the three illusions at the same time. The jiva manifesting in

the waking and dream states, Isvara and jagat also manifest. As

the jiva is resolved, the others are also resolved. This is proved

by our experience of the waking and dream manifestations,

and their disappearance in deep sleep, swoons, death and

samadhi.

Moreover simultaneous with the final annihilation of jivahood

by knowledge the others also are finally annihilated along

with it. The sages whose ignorance has completely been lost

with all its attendant illusions and who are aware only as the

Self, directly experience the non-dual Reality. Hence it is clear

that the Ignorance of the Self is the root cause of all the three

illusions - jiva, jagat and Isvara.

 

180. D.: Master, should Isvara be the illusion of Ignorance,

He must manifest as such. Instead He appears as the origin of

the universe and our creator. It does not look reasonable to say

that Isvara and the jagat are both illusory products. Instead of

appearing as our creation, He appears as our creator. Is it not

contradictory?

 

181-183. M.: No. In dreams the dreamer sees his father

who was long ago dead. Though the father is created by himself

as an illusion of dream, the dreamer feels that the other is the

father and himself the son, and that he has inherited the father's

property which again is his own creation. Now look how the

dreamer creates individuals and things relates himself to them

and thinks that they were before and he came after. So also

with the Isvara, the jagat and the jiva. This is only the trick of

Maya who can make the impossible possible.

D.: How is Maya so powerful?

M.: No wonder. See how an ordinary magician can make

a whole audience see a celestial city in mid air or how you can

yourself create a wonderful world of your own in your dreams.

If such is possible for individuals of mean powers, how can the

other not be possible for Maya which is the universal material

cause? To conclude, all these including Isvara, jiva and jagat are

illusory appearances resulting from one's ignorance and

superimposed on the One Reality, the Self.

This leads us to consider the ways of removing the

superimposition.

 

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Taken from Advaita Bhoda Deepika

as published by Sri Ramanasramam

Tiruvannamalai 2002.

 

To be continued...

 

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