Advaita Bhoda Deepika #6

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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.

 

 

CHAPTER II- APAVADA

 

THE REMOVAL OF SUPERIMPOSITION

 

PP 24-28

 

 

1. D.: Master, Ignorance is said to have no beginning; it

follows that it will have no end. How can the beginningless

Ignorance be dispelled? Being the ocean of mercy you can please

tell me this.

 

2. M.: Yes, my child; you are intelligent and can understand

subtle things. You have said right. Truly Ignorance has no beginning,

but it has an end. It is said that the rise of knowledge is the end of

Ignorance. Just as the sunrise dispels the darkness of night so also

the light of knowledge dispels the darkness of Ignorance.

 

3-4. To avoid confusion, everything in the world can be

considered by analysing its individual characteristics under the

categories: cause, nature, effect, limit and fruit. But the

transcendental Reality being non-dual is beyond all these

whereas all else, from Maya onwards, being wrongly seen on It,

are subject to the above analysis.

 

5. Of these, Maya has no antecedent cause because it is

not the product of anything preceding it, but remains in

Brahman, self evident and without beginning. Before creation

there could be no cause for its manifestation, yet it manifests

and it must be by itself.

 

6. D.: Is there any authority for this statement?

M.: Yes, Vasishta's words. He says: Just as bubbles

spontaneously arise in water so also the power to manifest names

and forms rose up from the all powerful and perfect transcendental

Self.

 

7-9. D.: Maya cannot but have a cause. Just as clay cannot

become a pot without the agency of a potter so also the Power

all along remaining unmanifest in Brahman can manifest only

with Isvara's will.

M.: In dissolution there remains only the non-dual Brahman

and no Isvara. Clearly there cannot be His will. When it is said

that in dissolution all are withdrawn from manifestation and

remain unmanifest, it means that the jivas, all the universe, and

Isvara have all become unmanifest. The unmanifest Isvara cannot

exercise His will. What happens is this: just as the dormant power

of sleep displays itself as dream, so also the dormant power of

Maya displays itself as this plurality, consisting of Isvara, His will,

the universe and the jivas. Isvara is thus the product of Maya and

He cannot be the origin of His origin. Maya therefore has no

antecedent cause. In dissolution there remains only Pure Being

devoid of will, and admitting of no change. In creation Maya

hitherto remaining unmanifest in this Pure Being, shines forth as

the mind. By the play of mind, plurality appears as Isvara, the

worlds and the jivas, like magic. Maya manifest is creation, and

Maya unmanifest is dissolution. Thus of its own accord, Maya

appears or withdraws itself and has thus no beginning. Therefore

we say there was no antecedent cause for it.

 

10-11. D.: What is its nature?

M.: It is inexpressible. Because its existence is later

invalidated, it is not real; because it is factually experienced, it

is not unreal; nor can it be a mixture of the two opposites the

real and the unreal. Therefore the wise say that it is indescribable

(anirvachaniya).

D.: Now what is real and what is unreal?

M.: That which is the substratum of Maya, Pure Being or

Brahman, admitting of no duality, is real. The illusory

phenomenon, consisting of names and forms, and called the

universe, is unreal.

 

D.: What can Maya be said to be?

M.: Neither of the two. It is different from the real

substratum and also from the unreal phenomenon.

D.: Please explain this.

 

12-17. M.: Say there is fire; it is the substratum. The sparks

fly off from it. They are the modifications of fire. The sparks

are not seen in the fire itself, but come out of it. An observation

of this phenomenon makes us infer a power inherent in fire

which produces the sparks.

Clay is the substratum; a hollow sphere with a neck and open

mouth is made out of it, and is called a pot. This fact makes us infer

a power which is neither clay nor pot but different from both.

Water is the substratum; bubbles are its effects; a power

different from both is inferred.

A snake egg is the substratum and a young snake is the

product; a power different from the egg and the young snake

is inferred.

A seed is the substratum and the sprout, its product; a

power different from the seed and the sprout is inferred.

The unchanging jiva of deep sleep is the substratum and

dream is the effect; a power different from the jiva and the

dream is inferred after waking up from sleep.

In the same way the power laying latent in Brahman

produces the illusion of the jagat. The substratum of this power

is Brahman and the jagat is its effect. This power cannot be

either of them, but must be different from both. It cannot be

defined. However it exists. But it remains inscrutable. Therefore

we say the 'nature' of Maya is indescribable.

 

18-20. D.: What is the 'effect' of Maya?

M.: It consists in presenting the illusion of the jiva, Isvara

and jagat on the non-dual substratum of Brahman, by virtue of

its veiling and projecting powers.

D.: How?

M.: As soon as the power lying dormant shows forth as

mind, the latencies of the mind sprout forth and grow up like

trees which together form the universe. The mind sports with

its latencies; they rise up as thoughts and materialise as this

universe, which is thus only a dream vision. The jivas and Isvara

being its contents are as illusory as this day dream.

D.: Please explain their illusory character.

M.: The world is an object and seen as the result of the

sport of mind. The jivas and Isvara are contained in it. Parts

can be only as real as the whole. Suppose the universe is

painted in colours on a wall. The jivas and Isvara will be

figures in the painting. The figures can be only as real as the

painting itself.

 

21-24. Here the universe is itself a product of the mind

and Isvara and the jivas form parts of the same product.

Therefore they must be only mental projections and nothing

more. This is clear from the Sruti which says that Maya gave

rise to the illusions of Isvara and the jivas, and from the Vasishta

smriti where Vasishta says that as if by magic the latencies dance

about in the mind as, he-I-you-this-that-my son-property etc.

 

25-27. D.: Where does this smriti speak of Isvara, jiva

and jagat?

M.: In its statement Sohamidam, i.e., He-I-this, 'He' means

the unseen Isvara; 'I' means the jiva parading as the ego, the

doer etc.; 'this' means all the objective Universe. From scriptures,

reasoning and experience (sruti yukti anubhava) it is clear that

the jiva, Isvara and jagat are only mental projections.

 

28-29. D.: How do reasoning and experience support

this view?

M.: With the rise of mind in waking and dream, the

latencies come into play, and the jiva, Isvara and jagat appear.

With the subsidence of the latencies in deep sleep, swoon etc.,

they all disappear. This is within the experience of everyone.

Again when all the latencies are rooted out by knowledge,

the jivas, Isvara and the jagat disappear once for all. This is

within the experience of perfectly clear-sighted great sages

established in the non-dual Reality, beyond the jivas, Isvara and

jagat. Therefore we say that these are all projections of the mind.

Thus is explained the effect of Maya.

 

30-32. D.: What is the limit of Maya?

M.: It is the knowledge resulting from an enquiry into the

sense of the Mahavakya. Because Maya is Ignorance, and

Ignorance subsists on non enquiry. When non enquiry gives place

to enquiry, right knowledge results and puts an end to Ignorance.

Now listen. Ailments in the body are the results of past

karma; they subsist on wrong diet and increase with its

continuation. Or, the ignorance of rope, so long as it is not

enquired into, projects a snake into view and other

hallucinations follow in its wake. In the same manner although

Maya is self- evident, beginningless and spontaneous, yet it

subsists in the absence of enquiry into the nature of the Self,

manifests the universe etc., and grows more massive.

 

33-35. With the rise of enquiry, Maya hitherto grown

strong by its absence, loses its nourishment and gradually withers

away with all its effects, namely the jagat etc. Just as in the

absence of enquiry the ignorance factor of rope made it look a

snake but suddenly disappeared with the rise of enquiry, so also

maya flourishes in ignorance and disappears with the rise of

enquiry. Just as the rope snake and the power which produces

this illusion persist before enquiry, but after enquiry end in

simple rope, so also Maya and its effect, the jagat, persist before

enquiry, but end in pure Brahman afterwards.

 

36-38. D.: How can a single thing appear in two different

ways?

M.: Brahman, the non-dual-Pure-Being, presents itself as the

jagat before enquiry, and shows itself in Its true form after enquiry.

 

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Taken from Advaita Bhoda Deepika

as published by Sri Ramanasramam

Tiruvannamalai 2002.

 

To be continued...

 

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