LAMP OF NON-DUAL KNOWLEDGE-7

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ADVAITA BODHA DEEPIKA

[LAMP OF NON-DUAL KNOWLEDGE]

 

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.

See how before proper consideration clay appears a pot and

afterwards as clay only; or gold appears as ornaments and then is

found to be only gold. Similarly with Brahman too. After enquiry

Brahman is realised to be unitary, non-dual, impartite, and

unchanged in the past, present or future. In It there is nothing

like Maya, or its effect, such as the jagat. This realisation is

known as the Supreme Knowledge and the limit of Ignorance. Thus is

described the `limit' of Maya.

39. D.: What is the `fruit' of Maya?

M.: That it fruitlessly vanishes into nothing, is its fruit. A

hare's horn is mere sound having no significance. So it is with

Maya, mere sound without any meaning. Realised sages have found it

so.

40-43. D.: Then why do not all agree on this point?

M.: The ignorant believe it to be real. Those who are thoughtful

will say it is indescribable. Realised sages say that it is non

existent like the hare's horn. It thus appears in these three ways.

People will speak of it from their own points of view.

D.: Why do the ignorant consider it real?

M.: Even when a lie is told to frighten a child, that there is a

spirit, the child believes it to be true. Similarly the ignorant are

dazed by Maya and believe it to be real. Those who enquire into the

nature of the Real Brahman and of the unreal jagat in the light of

the scriptures, finding Maya different from either and unable to

determine its nature, say it is indescribable. But sages who had

attained Supreme Knowledge through enquiry, say, " Like a mother

burnt down to ashes by her daughter, Maya reduced to ashes by

Knowledge is non existent at any time. "

44-46. D.: How can Maya be compared to a mother burnt down to ashes

by her daughter?

M.: In the process of enquiry, Maya becomes more and more

transparent and turns into Knowledge. Knowledge is thus born of

Maya, and is therefore said to be the daughter of Maya. Maya so

long flourishing on non-enquiry comes to its last days on enquiry.

Just as a crab brings forth its young only to die itself, so also in

the last days of enquiry Maya brings forth Knowledge for its own

undoing. Immediately the daughter, Knowledge, burns her down to

ashes.

D.: How can the progeny kill the parent?

M.: In a bamboo forest, the bamboos move in the wind, rub against

one another and produce fire which burns down the parent trees. So

also Knowledge born of Maya burns Maya to ashes. Maya remains only

in name like a hare's horn. Therefore the sages declare it non

existent. Moreover, the very name implies its unreality. The names

are Avidya and Maya. Of these the former means `Ignorance or that

which is not'; again, `Maya is that which is not'. Therefore it is

simple negation. Thus that it fruitlessly vanishes into nothing is

its `fruit'.

47-49. D.: Master, Maya turns into Knowledge. Therefore it cannot be

said to vanish fruitlessly as nothing.

M.: Only if the Knowledge, the modified Maya, be real, Maya can be

said to be real. But this Knowledge is itself false. Therefore Maya

is false.

D.: How is Knowledge said to be false?

M.: The fire from the friction of the trees burns them down and then

dies out; the clearing nut carries down the impurities of water and

itself settles down with them. Similarly this Knowledge destroys

Ignorance and itself perishes. Since it is also finally resolved,

the `fruit' of Maya can be only unreal.

50-52. D.: Should Knowledge also vanish in the end, how can samsara,

the effect of Ignorance, be eradicated?

M.: Samsara, the effect of Ignorance, is unreal like Knowledge. One

unreality can be undone by another unreality.

D.: How can it be done?

53. M.: A dream subject's hunger is satisfied by dreamfood. The one

is unreal as the other and yet serves the purpose.

Similarly, though Knowledge is unreal, yet it serves the purpose.

Bondage and release are only false ideas of Ignorance. As the

appearance and disappearance of rope snake are equally false, so are

also bondage and release in Brahman.

 

54-55. To conclude, the Supreme Truth is only the nondual Brahman.

All else is false and does not exist at any time. The srutis

support it saying " Nothing is created or destroyed; there is no

bondage or deliverance; no one is bound or desirous of release;

there is no aspirant, no practiser and no one liberated. This is the

Supreme Truth. " Removal of Superimposition thus consists in the

knowledge of non-dual Reality, Pure Being, beyond Maya and its

effects. Its realisation is Liberation while alive in the body

(Jivanmukti).

 

56. Only a careful student of this chapter can be desirous of

knowing the process of enquiry into the Self as a means of undoing

the superimposition of Ignorance. The seeker fit for such enquiry

must possess the four fold qualities which will be dealt with in the

next chapter. Then the method of enquiry will be dealt with. A

competent seeker must carefully study these two chapters before

proceeding further.