LAMP OF NON-DUAL KNOWLEDGE-6

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ADVAITA BODHA DEEPIKA

[LAMP OF NON-DUAL KNOWLEDGE]

 

APAVADA CHAPTER II: THE REMOVAL OF SUPERIMPOSITION

 

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dissolution all are withdrawn from manifestation and remain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.