Aparokshanubhuthi – 5

 

Jagat mithyatvam

Verse 41

Ityathmadehabhagena prapanchasyaiva satyata I

yathokta tarkasastrena tatah kiṃ purusharthatha II

Thus the enunciation of the Athma and the body has (indirectly) asserted, indeed, after the manner of the Tarkasastra, the reality of the phenomenal world.  But what ends of the human life are served thereby?

Verse 42

Ityatmadehabhedena dehatmantvaṃ nivaritam I

Idaniṃ dehabhedasya hyasattvaṃ sphutamucyate II

Thus the view that the body is the Athma has been denounced by the enunciation of the difference between the Athma and the body. Now is clearly stated the unreality of the body that is different (from the Athma).

With the 40th verse Athma-anathma-viveka part is over. Now in verse 41 the sishya who has understood that Athma is different from body, the anathma and has not grasped that anathma is mithya poses a doubt.  He thinks that Athma and anathma are two separate Real entities and so asks guru whether this will not be Dvaita, the argument of Tarka sastra that holds phenomenal world, the anathma, is eternal and co-existent with Purusha as prakrithi.  Upanishad says that as long as there is duality there will be fear and thereby samsara.  So when Self-ignorance is removed there cannot be Liberation, as duality persists and with it samsara also. To remove such doubts an enquiry into the nature of anathma is introduced by the guru in verse 42, that will reveal  anathma mithyathvam that includes Jagat mithyatvam as well.

Verse 43

Chaitanyasyaikarupatvadbhedo yukto na karhicit I

Jivatvam cha mrsha jneyam rajjau sarpagraho yatha II

No division in Consciousness is admissible at any time as it is always one and the same.  Even the individuality of the Jiva must be known as false, like the delusion of a snake in a rope.

Verse 44

Rajjvajnanatksanenaiva yadvadrajjurhi sarpini I

Bhati tadvacchitih saksadvisvakarena kevala II

As through the ignorance of the real nature of the rope the very rope appears in an instant as a snake, so also does pure Consciousness appears in the form of the phenomenal universe without undergoing any change.

Verse 45

Upadanam prapanchasya brahmanonyanna vidyate I

Tasmatsarvaprapancho'yam brahmaivasti na chetarat II

There exists no other material cause of this universe except Brahman.  Hence the whole universe is Brahman alone and nothing else. 

Consciousness is all-pervading, one and uniform and there is no plurality of Consciousness. But there is plurality of the reflection of the Consciousness causing sentiency in every Jiva.  This reflected Consciousness is also anathma as the reflecting medium, the individual mind, is anathma only.  So the individuality of the Jiva, Jivathvam, is unreal and a delusion like the vision of the snake on the rope in twilight, says the verse 43. Here the rope is mistaken for a snake due to rope-ignorance.  In verse 44 this example is extended to the case of universe which is also anathma only.  Pure Consciousness appears as the material universe without undergoing any change whatsoever due to ignorance of Chaithanyam, Pure Consciousness. The universe which is material and insentient will be experienced as Real as long as this ignorance continues. This idea is further developed in verse 45.  Brahman being one and alone before the creation of universe, It is the material cause for this universe and has karana-karya relationship with the universe like clay with earthen pot.  So Universe is only Brahman plus nama-rupa-karma. The nama- rupa-karma that differentiates the karanam from karyam is found to be without substance on enquiry.   So the universe is Brahman only in substance. Sruthi pramanam for this assertion is given in the following verses.

Verse 46

Vyapyavyapakata mithya sarvamatmeti sasanat I

Iti jnate pare tattve bhedasyavasarah kutah II

From the declaration (of the Sruthi), “All this is Athma” it follows that the idea of the pervaded and pervading is illusory.  This supreme truth being realized, where is the room for any distinction between the cause and the effect?

Verse 47

Srutya nivaritam nunam nanatvaṃ svamukhena hi I

Kathaṃ bhaso bhavedanyah sthite chadvayakarane II  

Certainly the Sruthi has directly denied manifoldness in Brahman.  The non-dual cause being an established fact, how could the universe be different from It?

Verse 48

Dosho'pi vihitah srutya mrtyormrtyum sa gacchathi I

Iha pasyati nanatvam mayaya vanchito narah II

Moreover, the Sruthi has condemned (the belief in variety) with the words, “The person who” being deceived by Maya “sees variety in this (Brahman), goes from death to death”.

Verse 49

Brahmanah sarvabhutani jayante paramatmanah I

Tasmadetani brahmaiva bhavantityavadharayet II

Inasmuch as all beings are born of Brahman, the Supreme Athma, they must be readily understood to be verily Brahman.

Verse 50

Brahmaiva sarvanamani rupani vividhani cha I

Karmanyapi samagrani bibhartiti srutirjagau II

The Sruti has clearly declared that Brahman alone is the substratum of all varieties of names, forms and actions

Verse 51

Suvarnajjayamanasya suvarnatvaṃ cha sasvatam I

Brahmano jayamanasya brahmatvaṃ cha tatha bhavet II

Just as a thing made of gold ever has the nature of gold, so also a being born of Brahman has always the nature of Brahman.

In the above verses Sruthi pramanam is given to prove everything is Brahman only.  In verse 46, Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (4-5-7) is quoted in part – “Idam sarvam yadayamathma (All these are only this Athma) to show Brahman itself is all.  It reveals that there is not anything apart from Brahman which It pervades, but It Itself is everything.

In verse 47 and 48 also Brihadaranyaka upanishad (4-4-19) is quoted to deny the manifoldness in Brahman. It runs as follows:

Manasaivanudrashtaivam neha nanasthi kinchana I

Mrtyoh sa mrtyumopnothi ya iha naneva pasyathi II.

Brahman is to be known by the mind in accordance with (the instructions of a teacher).   There is no diversity whatsoever in it.  He who sees diversity, as it were in It, goes from death to death. 

The first line is quoted in verse 47 and the second line in 48.  Sum and substance of these two verses is that unless a person realizes the nature of the non-dual Athma there is no escape for him from the cycle of birth and death.

In verse 49, Taittriya Upanishad (3-1-1) is quoted. It runs as “ yato va imani bhutani jayante,  yena jatani jivanti, yatprayantyabhisamvishanti,  tadvijijnasasva . tadh brahmeti – (That from which these beings are born, That by which, when born, they live, That into which they enter, and into which they merge—seek to know That. That is Brahman.)".  This reveals that Brahman is the material cause of the world and so the world is only Brahman plus nama-rupa.  Brahman being the only material cause is the adhishtanam for all the products and things in the world.  Products and things being only names, forms and actions, i.e. nama-rupa-karma, verse 50 emphasises what is stated in verse 49, citing a statement from Brihadaranyaka Upanishad which runs as “Nama, rupa, karma Jagat (name, form and action-this world)”.   Verse 51 follows this up saying that the world being born of Brahman and sustained in Brahman, enjoys the Brahman-status, Brahmathvam, permanently like the golden ornaments that do not lose goldness even though they lose the superficial nature and substance.

Whenever we talk of anathma being unreal we should always remember that the unreality of anathma is from the standpoint of Athma, the Brahman, only. This means that the anathma is only less Real than Athma and it is very much Real from the standpoint of another anathma.

------------------------------