Maya can bring into view what was not always there

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ADVAITA BODHA DEEPIKA[LAMP OF NON-DUAL KNOWLEDGE][Originally

Sri Shankaracharya and other great Sages hadwritten several works like the commentary on the Vedanta Sutrasand thus furnished the methods for those engaged in Self enquiryto accomplish their purpose.From those, Sri Karapatra Swami later condensed thesalient

points

into

Sanskrit

verse

in

a

work

of

twelve chapters,called Sri Advaita

Bodha Deepika.Still later, some great man seems to have translated thisinto Tamil prose. For some unknown reasons only some eightchapters

of

the

same

are

found

published.]ON SUPERIMPOSITION58-60. Disciple: Master, how can it be said that through mayathe Self is fragmented into individual egos? The Self is not relatedto anything else; it remains untainted and unchanged like ether.How can maya affect it? Is it not as absurd to speak offragmentation of the Self as to say "I saw a man taking hold ofether and moulding it into a man; or fashioning air into a cask?"I am now sunk in the ocean of samsara. Please rescue me.61. Master: Maya is called Maya because it can make theimpossible possible. It is the power which brings into view whatwas not always there, like a magician making his audience see acelestial city in mid air. If a man can do this, can maya not dothat? There is nothing absurd in it.62-66. D.: Please make it clear to me.M.: Now consider the power of sleep to call forth dreamvisions. A man lying on a cot in a closed room falls asleep andin his dream wanders about taking the shapes of birds and beasts;the dreamer sleeping in his home, the dream presents him aswalking in the streets of Benares or on the sands of Setu; althoughthe sleeper is lying unchanged yet in his dream he flies up in theair, falls headlong into an abyss, or cuts off his own hand andcarries it in his hand. In the dream itself there is no question ofconsistency or otherwise. Whatever is seen in it appears to beappropriate and is not criticised. If simple sleep can make theimpossible possible what wonder can there be in the AlmightyMaya creating this indescribable universe? It is its very nature.67-74. To illustrate it, I shall briefly tell you a story fromYoga Vasishta. There was once a king named Lavana, a jewel ofIkshvaku line. One day when all were assembled in the courthall, a magician appeared before him. Quickly he approachedthe king, saluted and said "Your Majesty, I shall show you a wonder,look!" At once he waved a flail of peacock feathers before the king.The king was dazed, forgot himself and saw a great illusion like anextraordinary dream. He found a horse in front of him, mountedit and rode on it hunting in a forest. After hunting long, he wasthirsty, could not find water and grew weary. Just then a low castegirl happened to come there with some coarse food in an earthendish. Driven by hunger and thirst, he cast aside all restrictions ofcaste, and his own sense of dignity, and asked her for food anddrink. She offered to oblige him only if she could be made hislegitimate wife. Without hesitation he agreed, took the food givenby her, and then went to her hamlet where they both lived ashusband and wife and had two sons and one daughter.All along the king remained on the throne. But in theshort interval of an hour and a half, he had led another illusorylife of wretchedness, extending over several years. In this wayVasishta had related several long stories to Rama in order toimpress on him the wonderful play of Maya by which theimpossible is easily made possible.