DakshiNa-mUrti ashTakam Verse 8

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Verse No.8

 

viSvam paSyati kArya-kAraNatayA sva-svAmi-sambandhataH

SishyAcAryatayA tathaiva pitR-putrAtmanA bhedataH /

svapne jAgrati vA ya esha purusho maYA-paribhrAmitaH

tasmai SrI-guru-mUrtaye nama idaM SrI-dakshiNA-mUrtaye //

 

Translation:

 

To The Self who, deluded by mAyA, sees, in dreaming and waking, the universe

in its distinctions, such as cause and effect, property and proprietor

disciple and teacher, and father and son, to Him of the form of the Guru,

(of the whole Universe) the blessed dakshinA-mUrti, is this prostration.

 

Commentary:

 

All our relationships in the mundane world are only manifestations of the

same Ultimate, just as in dream the same mind produces multifarious

characters and relationships which are all unreal though they appear as

totally real within the dream. Even in the waking state what appears as the

multiplicity is actually a manifestation of the Unity at the base. The

natural question that this may raise is the following: If the relationship

of guru and disciple does not have an absolute reality then how do you

expect it to give an absolute knowledge of Truth. But recall how using the

unreal reflections in a mirror we wipe off the dirt in our face.So also the

philosophical teaching done in the phenomenal state does produce the

knowledge of Reality in the Absolute sense.

 

The familiar method of giving analogies to everything in Vedanta in order to

bring home the point has been very effectively used here by our ancient

masters. Actions done in a dream do have real effects outside of the dream.

For example, a man may

have a wet dream.

 

The worldly relationships are therefore neither true nor false ; they are

what is called an indescribable (anirvacanIya). That is exactly what mAyA

is. Since it appears it is not totally unreal. Since it vanishes at the

onset of Enlightenment, it is not totally real. That is why it is neither

sat nor asat.

 

There is a beautiful analogy from the mathematical world for this. There are

several levels of infinity in Mathematics. The lowest level of infinity is

that of the set of numbers 1,2,3, ... . A higher (larger) level of infinity

is that of all points on any line segment. It is a difficult proposition to

decide whether this higher level is really the next higher level or whether

there is another level of infinity in between. That there is no such

intermediate level was conjectured for long. In the thirties Godel proved

that this conjecture cannot be disproved. In the sixties Cohen proved that

it cannot also be proved. Thus this conjecture has got the famous stature

of an 'undecidable' proposition in Mathematics.This undecidability is the

status of mAyA in vedanta.

 

When the Enlightenment sets in all this world of multiplicity is shown to be

only our mental construct. That is why the scriptures require us to

'sacrifice in the fire offering the Ego of the Self ', so that the Self

alone remains:

 

aham-eva-aham mAm juhomi svAhA /

yajur-veda, taittirIya AraNyaka, nArAyana-Upanishad.

 

Commentary and translation by Prof V Krishnamurthy

The website is at:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Rhodes/2952/gohitvip/63page14.html