mahAvAkyaratnAvaliH- Translation No. 19

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*Translation of mahAvAkyas- No.19- Sentences declaring the world as mithyA.*

 

48. yathA eva idam nabhaH *SUnyam* jagat Sunyam tathA eva hi—Just as this

sky is void, so is the world void. The idea is that the world is devoid of

any real substance, it is 'asAram', and so no importance should be attached

to the pleasures and pains arising in it.

 

49. idam prapancam yat kincit yadyad jagati vIkshyate, dRSyarUpam ca

dRgrUpam sarvam SaSavishANavat—This universe, whatever is seen it, in the

forms of the seen and the seer, everything is like the horn of a rabbit.

 

Here the seer must be taken to be the mind aided by the sense-organs and not

brahman. In the work known as 'vedAntaDiNDimA', attributed to Sri Sankara,

it is said that there are only two padArtha's (categories), namely dRk and

dRSyam; dRk is brahman and dRSyam is mAyA. Obviously 'dRk' cannot have this

meaning here because it cannot be like the horn of a rabbit, non-existent.

Nor can dRk be taken to mean jIva because jIva is in reality none other than

brahman and so he cannot be described as non-existent like the horn of a

rabbit. So the mind has to be taken as dRk here and all the objects of

cognition as dRSyam. That means the entire vyAvahArika world. But even this

world is not non-existent like the rabbit's horn according to advaita. It is

mithyA, which means it cannot be described as either real or as unreal; it

is 'anirvacanIya'. It is described sometimes as non-existent as in the

present statement only to create total detachment in us.

 

50. idam prapancam na asti eva, na utpannam no sthitam jagat—This world does

not exist at all. It has not come into existence nor does it exist.

 

51. cittam prapancam iti AhuH, na asti na asti eva sarvadA—It has been said

that the mind is the world. It (the world) does not exist, it does not exist

at any time.

 

(I have not tried to trace the upanishads in which these sentences appear

because it would be too time-consuming. They are not in the principal

upanishads).

 

S.N.Sastri

 

(To be contd)