Aparokshanubhuthi – 6

Jagat & Jivathva mithyatvam

Verse 52

Svalpamapyantaram krtva jivatmanparamatmanoh I

Yah santishtati mudhathma bhayam tasyabhibhashitam II

Fear is attributed to the ignorant one who rests after making even the slightest distinction between Jivathma and Paramathma.

Verse 53

Yatrajnanadbhaveddvaitamitarastatra pasyati I

Atmathvena yada sarvam netarastatra chanvapi II

When duality appears through ignorance, one sees another; but when everything becomes identified with Athma, one does not perceive another even in the least.

Verse 54

Yasminsarvani bhutani hyatmantvena vijanatah I

Na vai tasya bhavenmoho na cha soko'dvitiyatah II

In that state when one realizes all as identified with the Athma, there arise neither delusion nor sorrow, in consequence of the absence of the duality.

Verse 55

Ayamathma hi brahmaiva sarvatmakataya sthitah I

Iti nirddharitam srutya brhadaranyasamsthaya II

The Sruthi in the form of Brihadaranyaka (Upanishad) has declared that this Athma, which is the Self of all, is verily Brahman.

Sri Sankara is refuting Dvaita in the above four verses based on Sruthi statements. Verse 52 is based on the Tatttriya Upanishad Mantra (2-7-1) which states among other things – “yada hyevaisha etasminnudaramantaram kurute . atha tasya bhayam bhavati (When he (the ignorant one) makes the slightest differentiation in It (Brahman), there is fear for him)”.  Fear leads to samsara and has its root in duality and can be overcome by him alone who realizes non-duality.  For such a wise person with Advaita Jnanam there is nothing to be gained or lost and nothing to be afraid of as well. 

Verse 53 gives the substance of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Mantra (4-5-15). The translation of the relevant portion of the Mantra runs as-- “For when there is duality, as it were, then one sees another, one smells another, one tastes another, one speaks to another, one hears another, one thinks of another, one touches another, one knows another. But when to the knower of Brahman everything has become the Self, then what should he see and through what, what should he smell and through what, what should he taste and through what, what should he speak and through what, what should he hear and through what, what should he think and through what, what should he touch and through what, what should he know?  Through what should one know That owing to which all this is known?”.  It means that a person sees duality in ignorance and that when he becomes enlightened he see his Self as everything and there is no duality for him.

Verse 54 is based on the Isavasya Upanishad Mantra 7 given below:

Yasmin sarvani bhuthani athmaivabhuth vijanathaha I

Tatra ko mohah kah soka ekathvamanupasyathaha II

To the man of realization, all things have verily become the Self: what delusion, what sorrow, can there be for him who beholds that oneness?

Verse 55 is based on the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Mantra (2-5-19) wherein it is stated – “Ayam Athma Brahma sarvanubhuh (This Self, which experiences everything, is Brahman)”.  The one Athma which is the Self in all is verily the Brahman.

Verse 56

Anubhuto'pyayam loko vyavaharakshamo'pi san I

Asadrupo yatha svapna uttarakshanabadhatah II

This world, though an object of our daily experience and serving all practical purposes, is, like the dream world, of the nature of non-existence, inasmuch as it is contradicted the next moment.

Verse 57

Svapno jagarane'likah svapne'pi jagaro na hi I

Dvayameva laye nasti layo'pi hyubhayorna cha II

The dream (experience) is unreal in waking, whereas the waking (experience) is absent in dream.  Both, however, are non-existent in deep sleep which, again, is not experienced in either.

Verse 58

Trayamevam bhavenmithya gunatrayavinirmitam I

Asya drashta gunatito nityo hyekaschidathmakah II

Thus all the three states are not Real inasmuch as they are the creation of the three Gunas; but their witness (the Reality behind them) is, beyond all Gunas, eternal one, and is the Consciousness itself.

In the above three verses Sri Sankara is using yukthi  pramana to establish the mithyathvam of anathma prapancha through avasthathraya Viveka. In verse 56 it is said that a thing cannot be called Sat (ever-existent) merely because it is experienced and has pragmatic value.  The dream-world is experienced by the dreamer in dream and has practical value for the dreamer in dream but it is not Real, as it disappears in waking state. In the same way the waking world with all its relationships and transactions is not Real for one, as it is absent in dream for him.  This logic is carried on in verse 57 to show the unreality of avasththraya, all the three states, which constitutes the total world of one’s experiences. The waking state experience is absent in dream and deep sleep and the dream state experience is absent in waking and deep sleep states and the Bliss of freedom from samsara temporarily enjoyed in deep sleep state is absent in waking and dream states.  Verse 58 argues that all the three states are not Real as they are produced by the permutations and combinations of the three Gunas viz. Satva, Rajas and Tamas, with waking state being Satva-pradhana, dream state Rajo-pradhana and deep sleep state Tamo-pradhana and these three Gunas together constitute Maya.  Further whatever is a compound must disintegrate and so subject to destruction. The world thus being a compound is subject to destruction and so cannot be Real.  Further the three avasthas made up of the three Gunas, the constituents of Maya, are also mithya only like Maya i.e. available for transactions and experience but not Real.   The Consciousness principle, Athma, remains as a silent witness to all the changes, unaffected by the Gunas, being Gunathitha and Nirvikara.

Verse 59

Yadvanmrdi ghatabhrantim suktau va rajatasthitim I

Tadvadbrahmani jivatvam viksamane na pasyati II

Just as (after the illusion has gone) one is no more deluded to see pot in clay or silver in the mother-of-pearl so does one no more see Jiva in Brahman when the latter is realized (as one’s Self)

Verse 60

Yatha mrdi ghato nama kanake kundalabhidha I

Suktau hi rajatakhyatirjivasabdastatha pare II

Just as clay is described as a pot, gold as an ear-ring and a mother-of-pearl as silver, so is Brahman described as Jiva.

In the above two verses Jivathva-mithyatvam is discussed with examples. So long as a person is in ignorance, he thinks of himself as one with a distinct individuality, Jivathva, apart from Brahman.  But with the acquisition of Athma Jnanam he realizes his oneness with Brahman as Jiva and Jivathvam, that portrays Jiva as apart from Brahman, appears as nothing but an illusion like the illusion of pot apart from the clay and ear-ring apart from gold.  Pot and ear-ring are only words necessary for transactional purposes.  The all-pervading Pure Consciousness available within the body is called Jivathma and without the body by Itself It is called Paramathma.  There is no Jiva other than Brahman.  As ring is another name for gold itself and pot for clay so Jiva is another name for Brahman.

Verse 61

Yathaiva vyomni nilatvaṃ yatha niram marusthale I

Purushatvam yatha sthanau tadvadvisvaṃ cidatmani II

Just as blueness in the sky, water in the mirage and a human figure in a post (are only illusory), so is the world in Athma (Brahman).

Verse 62

Yathaiva sunye vetalo gandharvanaṃ puraṃ yatha I

Yathakase dvicandratvam tadvatsatye jagatsthitih II

Just as the appearance of a ghost in an empty place, of a castle in the sky and of a second moon in the sky (are illusory) so is the existence of the world in Brahman.

Verse 63

Yatha tarangakallolairjalameva sphuratyalam I

Patrarupena tamram hi brahmandaughaistatha'tmata II

Just as it is water that appears as ripples and waves or again it is copper that appears in the form of a vessel, so it is Athma (Brahman) that appears as the whole world

Verse 64

Ghaṭanamna yatha prthvi patanamna hi tantavaḥ I

Jagannamna chidabhati jneyaṃ tattadabhavataḥ II

Just as it is the earth (clay) that appears under the name of a jar, or it is threads that appear under the name of the cloth, so it is Athma (Brahman) that appears under the name of the world. This Athma (Brahman) is to be known by negating the names.

Sri Sankara is quoting no. of examples in the above four verses to further illustrate Jagat mithyatvam. In verses 61 and 62 the following examples are cited.  They are the appearance of:

1)    Blueness in the sky

2)    Water in the mirage

3)    Human figure in a post

4)    Ghost in the empty space

5)    Castle in the sky

6)    Vision of two moons in the sky

Just as the above are only illusions, so is the appearance of the world in Brahman. Another set of examples are given in 63 and 64, where effect which is only cause plus nama, rupa is looked upon as different from the cause. They are

1)    Ripples and waves on water which are water only in substance.

2)    Copper vessel which is copper only in substance.

3)    Jar made of clay which is clay only in substance.

4)    Cloth made of threads that is threads only in substance.

Same way Brahman is the substance of the world and appears as world and by negating the names and forms of the world mentally Brahman is to be known.

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