Sivaanandalahari - 8

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*Sivaanandalahari - 8 (1)*

 

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yathA buddhi-SSuk^tau rajata-miti kAchASmani maNi-

rjale paiShTe kShIraM bhavati mRugatRuShNAsu salilam |

tathA deva-bhrAntyA bhajati bhavadanyaM jaDajano

mahAdeveSaM tvAM manasi cha na matvA paSupate || 8 ||

 

Oh Lord Pasupati, the way our intellect considers shell as silver, glass

stones as gem, flour mixed in water as milk, the mirage as water, the same

way the foolish people worship other gods instead of worshipping you, the

Lord of all Gods.

 

Commentary

 

Those ignorant ones who have not known the Mahima of Saakshaath Parameswara

worship anyadevathaas. The root cause of this is agnaanam. Only those who

have done sukrtham in the past many janmaas would have the thought to do

bhakthi to Parameswara. Others certainly would not. Especially the ordinary

folks driven by kaamam would not easily have bhakthi to Parameswara.

 

Therefore all the praanis should try their utmost to do Easwara bhakthi,

otherwise their janmaa would be wasted. The Sruthi says: “ThamEva

vidhithvaathimruthyumEthi naanya: panthaa vidyathE ayanaaya.†Only that

nirmala aathmagnaanam has the ability to give Moksha Saamraajyam. The

saasthra says: “Paramaadhvaitha vignaanam krupayaavaidhadhaathiya:|

Sowyamguru: guru: saakshaath Shiva eva na samsaya: ||†The one who is

capable of giving upadesa of aathmagnaana is none other than saakshaath

gnaana dhaathaa Parameswaran. Therefore Parameswara’s anugraham is very much

essential to all the praanis. This is the secret. Without knowing this the

mooda jana worship anyadevathaas.

 

Just as a person takes a seashell as silver as he sees it from a distance, a

broken glass piece as a diamond, rice flour mixed in water as milk and

mirage as water, those confused devabraanthaas worship anyadevathas thus

wasting their janma.

 

In truth, ‘Sat’ means that which has no destruction in all the three periods

of time. And one should understand this ‘Sat’ as Parameswara. In the same

way that which cannot be found in space and time is ‘asat’. Two examples for

‘asat’ are ‘the son of a barren woman’ or ‘a hare with two horns’.

From this

you have to come to the conclusion that ‘asat’ has no beginning and

‘Sat’

has no end. Knowing this secret of ‘Sat’ and ‘asat’ you should

understand

that those objects that have ‘sat-asat’ vilakshaNam are all creation of

braanthi (error, confusion) and they are not truly ‘Sathyam’. That is what

our great AacharyaaL means when he says in this sloka of Sivaanandalahari:

“sukthou rajathamithi kaachaasmani manirjalE paishtaksheeram bhavathi

mrugathrushnaasu salilam†using the four examples of seashell, broken glass

piece, rice-flour mixed in water and the mirage.

 

That is, an avidvaan, seeing a seashell in front of him enjoys its sight as

that of silver. Vedaanthis call this as ‘sukthi rajatham’. Sukthi rajatham

is not real knowledge (yadhaartha gnaanam) but only a brama or error. Why?

Because it is neither ‘Sat†nor ‘asat’. If it is ‘Sat’ it cannot

have

destruction in all three periods of time. But we do know all objects

including the seashell have destruction in time. In this particular case,

the moment it is known that it is seashell its ‘silverness’ is destroyed or

rather the knowledge that it is silver is destroyed. And if it were ‘asat’

you would never have known be it either as a shell or as silver. (Just as

you would never have come to know of a hare with two horns).

 

(continued in 8.2)