रामोवाच महाप्रलयसम्पत्तौ यदेतदवशिष्यते भवत्येतदनाकारं नाम नास्त्यत्र संशयः ।
न शून्यं कथमेतद्स्यान्न प्रकाशः कथं
भवेत्कथं वा न तमोरूपं कथं वा नैव भास्वरं
।
कथं वा नैव चिद्रूपं जीवो वा न कथं
भवेत्कथं न बुद्धितत्त्वं स्यात्कथं वा न मनो भवेत् ।
कथं वा नैव किन्चित्स्यात्कथं वा सर्वमित्यपि
अनयैव वचोभङ्ग्या मम मोह इवोदितः ।
Rama spoke:
At the time of great dissolution whatever remains back will be the
‘formless one’!
No doubt about
that!
But how is it not
empty? How is it not lustrous? How is it not darkness? How is it not shining forth? How is it not the
conscious principle? How is it not a Jeeva? How is it not an intelligent principle? How is
it without a mind? How is it not anything? How is it everything?
The contradictory terms used by you are confusing
me as it were.
वसिष्टोवाच विषमोsयमतिप्रश्नो भवता समुदाहृतः भेत्तास्म्यहं त्वयत्नेन नैशं त म इवांशुमान् ।
Vasishta spoke: You have indeed presented
a very subtle question! I will easily solve your doubt like the Sun (with
shining rays) removing the darkness of the night.
महाकल्पान्तसम्पत्तौ यत्तत्सदवशिष्यते
तद्राम यथा न शून्यं तदिदं शृणु कथ्यते ।
At the time of great
dissolution (the end of the Kalpa), whatever reality is left back is not a void principle, Rama! Listen to my
explanation.
(A note to the reader: Since Vasishta denies the
creation and dissolution of the world altogether, whenever he uses the term
great dissolution, it is to be taken as the highest state of realization of a
JnaanaYogi where the world stays dissolved through reason.)
अयमियं महाभोगो जगदाख्योsवभासते सत्यो भवत्वसत्यो वा यत्र तत्र त्वशून्यता ।
This
great field of experiences which is shining by the name of ‘Jagat’; let it be real or unreal; but the principle in which it shines is not
void-ness. (It alone shines as void and full as the perceived.)
सौम्याम्भसि यथा वीचिर्न चास्ति न च नास्ति च तथा जगद्ब्रह्मणीदं शून्याशून्यपदं गतम् ।
In
a calm ocean wave is non-existent (in actuality); it is also there as ready to
burst forth (in the level of ignorance); so also, this Jagat exists in Para
Brahman as manifest (ready to burst forth in the ignorant level) and as unmanifest
(dissolved as itself) both; and therefore the Para Brahman state is described as voidness
(where no world exists) and no-voidness (where world exists also).
अनुत्कीर्णा यथा स्तम्भे संस्थिता शालभन्जिका तथा विश्वं स्थितं तत्र तेन शून्यं न तत्पदम् ।
यथा न पुत्रिकाशून्यः स्तम्भोsनुत्कीर्णपुत्रिक: तथा भासं जगद्ब्रह्म तेन शून्यं न तत्पदम् ।
देशकालादिशान्तत्वात्पुत्रिकारचनं द्रुमे संभवत्यथाsतो वै तेनानन्ते विमुह्यते
।
तत्स्तम्भपुत्रिकाद्येतद्परमार्थे जगद्स्थितेः एकदेशेन सदृशमुपमानं न सर्वतः ।
Like the un-carved statue existing inside the wooden
pillar, this world exists inside the Brahman.
Therefore ‘that state’ is not void. (It is like
a pillar that can become any type of statue.)
(Reality
can exist as any perceived field of any mind depending on its ignorance level.)
When
the statue has not been carved yet in the wooden pillar, it is not the ‘emptiness
without the statue’. (If a statue has not been
carved, it is like the unmanifest Brahman that is ready to manifest as the minds and perceptions.) Jagat
shines in the Brahman the same way. Therefore that (Supreme) state is not void. (The supreme state is a
potential state for the perceived.)
A statue is carved on a tree depending on time,
place and availability of other instruments.
Such needs are superimposed also on the ‘Endless principle’
through delusion.
(A
statue on the earth is carved using some tool by some sculptor at a particular
place at particular time. Para Brahman has no such limitations. There is no outside sculptor, or tool,
or place or time.)
The
analogy of the statue carved on a wooden pillar is given here to explain the Jagat
existing in the Supreme principle as the unmanifest. Only that one point is to
be understood from the analogy; one should not take all the factors in the
analogy (and feel confused).
न कदाचिदुदेतीदं परस्मान्न शाम्यति इत्थं स्थितं केवलं सद्ब्रह्म स्वात्मनि संस्थितम् ।
This
thing called the Jagat does not rise from the Supreme, nor does it
subside.
It
remains like this alone, as the Brahman the principle of existence in itself.
(Statue when sculpted appears
at some time; stays for some time and erodes off some day.
It is not so with Para Brahman
and Jagat.
World (Statue) never rises at
all as distinct from the Reality state; and dissolve into it.
It stays as a potential state of knowledge only; as it is; without any change.)
अशून्यापेक्षया शून्यशब्दार्थपरिकल्पना अशून्यत्वात्संभवतः शून्यताशून्यते कुतः ।
The
word ‘void’ is conceived to explain the non-voidness.
(What is void? Void means
empty of something.
What is non-void? Non-void
means something is filling the empty space.
Brahman is not empty of
something; nothing fills it also like an object kept in empty space.)
As
there cannot be non-voidness (as against voidness) where is the question of
voidness or non-voidness? (Brahman-state cannot be
described as void or non-void. Void and non-void are
complementary words; each supporting the other. Brahman state has no changes
of void and non-voidness. It is not void where the
Jagat is absent and fills it later to make it non-void.)
ब्रह्मण्ययं प्रकाशो हि न संभवति भूतजः सूर्यानलेन्दुतारादिः कुतस्तत्र किलाव्यये ।
In
the state of Brahman, the luster which is connected to the world of elements
does not arise at all.
How
can the sun, or fire or stars exist in the non-diminishing Brahman?
(Reality state is not made of
elements, where light has to reveal the objects.
Reality state has no need of
any luminous object to reveal itself; it is self-revealing.)
महाभूतप्रकाशानामभावस्तम उच्यते महाभूताभावजं तु तेनात्र न तमः क्वचित् ।
The
‘absence’ of light which makes the visibility of the world of elements not possible,
is termed as darkness. Since there are no elements in Brahman, how can there be
any darkness?
(We have darkness in the
world, when the light is absent, and we cannot see the objects made of
elements. Brahman state is not made of
elements; so it has no darkness where the light is absent and it is not seen.)
स्वानुभूतिः प्रकाशोsस्य केवलं व्योमरूपिणः योsन्तरस्ति स तेनैव नात्वन्येनानुभूयते ।
Brahman
is just like empty space. The shine of Brahman is its own experience.
What is
inside one, can be experienced by that person only; not by another one.
(What reveals it then?
Brahman state is self-revealing. It does not need any outside agency to reveal
it. It alone knows itself. A second person is not there to know it.)
मुक्तं तमःप्रकाशाभ्यामित्येतदजरं पदं आकाशकोशमेवेदं विद्धि कोशं जगत्स्थितेः ।
This state is free of both
darkness and light; and never deteriorates. It is just a storehouse of
emptiness. Understand it as the storehouse of Jagat-existence (which is emptiness
only.)
बिल्वस्य बिल्वमध्यस्य यथा भेदो न कश्चन, तथास्ति ब्रह्मजगतोर्न मनागपि भिन्नता।
There is not the least
difference between a Bilva leaf and its inner portion (leaf only); so also there is no
difference between Brahman and Jagat.
सलिलान्तर्यथावीचिर्मृदन्तोर्घटको यथा, तथा यत्र जगत्सत्ता तत्कथं खात्मकं भवेत् ।
भूर्जलाद्युपमानश्रीः साकारान्ता समा न सा ब्रह्म त्वाकाशविशदं तस्यान्तस्थं तथैव तत् ।
तस्माद्यादृक्चिदाकाशमाकाशादपि निर्मलं तदन्तस्थं तादृगेव जगच्छब्दार्थभागपि
।
The wave is inside the silent waters; the pot is inside
the formless clay.
Jagat is in Brahman similarly. How can that be empty
where Jagat exists?
Example-form given as the (pot in the) clay and (wave in
the) water is about objects with forms and so have an end; and is not similar
to Brahman state (in such factors.) Brahman is as expansive as empty space and
formless; so is the Jagat within it. (It is also formless).
Therefore, since the Chit-Aakaasha (Awareness expanse) is
more taintless than even empty expanse of space, that thing which is known by
the word Jagat is also taintless only.
मरीचेरन्तर्यथा तैक्ष्ण्यमृते भोक्तुर्न लक्ष्यते चिन्मात्रत्वं चिदाकाशे तथा चेत्यकलां विना ।
The heat inside the ray of the sun cannot be understood
unless a person is there to experience it.
The Chinmaatram (pure
awareness of the Jagat bereft of the perceiver and perceived) inside the
Chit-expanse cannot be understood without the taint of a perceiver. (That is why Jagat is the formless state of
Brahman only; is with a form as it were for a perceiving mind.)
तस्माच्चिदप्यचिद्रूपं चेत्यरिक्तं तदात्मनि जगत्ता तादृगेवेयं तादृङ्मात्रात्मतावशात्
रूपालोकमनस्कारास्तन्मया एव नेतरत्यथास्थितमतो विश्वं सुषुप्तं तुर्यमेव वा ।
Therefore, though it is known as Chit (awareness), it is
not even awareness.
(Such words like Chit are for
explanation purpose only; and that state is beyond description.)
Jagat state stays as its essence without any perceived as
the awareness state only.
Since that alone is there as the purest state of
awareness only, (as just some essence of knowing), the images that are
understood by the senses and the mind stay as that only; nothing else is there.
As it exists as the Brahman essence, the perceived world is
in the sleep state or it is in the transcendental state as the Brahman only.
(Where is the world in Brahman? It is as Brahman alone as its
essence.
Brahman is the essence of Jagat;
Jagat is the essence of the Brahman.
Jagat is Brahman alone and stays
as Brahman only, as purest of pure awareness.)
तेन योगी सुषुप्तात्मा व्यवहार्यपि शान्तधीः आस्ते ब्रह्म निराभासं सर्वभासुरसमुद्गकः ।
Therefore, a Knower who has realized the Brahman state is
asleep in essence; though engaged in the world affairs stays with a quiet mind
without affected by any appearance of the perceived; and is the casket which
holds all the appearances.
(When a yogi in the Knowledge path
realizes the Brahman state, he does not become again the tri-world as Rama
stated. Brahman state is a sleep-state of all perceptions. No Jagat is there at
all. It is a container for all the perceived; but since there is no perceiver,
nothing gets perceived. The Yogi stays silent within, as if the entire
perceived is asleep within him as his essence. Yogi stays as formless Brahman
only; quiet and as pure awareness.)
आकारिणि यथा सौम्ये स्थितास्तोये महोर्मयः, अनाकृतौ तथा विश्वं स्थितं तत्सदृशं परे ।
Huge waves with forms stay inside the calm waters of the
ocean which has a form, like the waters only; so also the world stays in the formless
Supreme like that only (as the supreme).
पूर्णात्पूर्णं प्रसरति यत्तत्पूर्णं निराकृति, ब्रह्मणो विश्वमाभातं तद्धि स्वार्थं विवक्षितम् ।
Completeness (Jagat) that spreads
out from completeness (Brahman) is completeness (Brahman) only and is formless.
(Completeness means, there is no change,
no deterioration, no devolving nature, no lack of anything, no form, no taint;
as opposed to Jeeva-Jagat which is an imagination of incompleteness.) From the formless Brahman the
world shines forth; it carries the same want of completeness. (Therefore
the incompleteness-state of Jeeva has to realize the completeness.)
पूर्णत्पूर्णं प्रसरति संस्थितं पूर्णमेव तत्, अतो विश्वमनुत्पन्नं यच्चोत्पन्नं तदेव तत् ।
Completeness (Jagat) that
spreads out from completeness (Brahman) is completeness (Brahman) only. (Completeness
never can be incompleteness; so Jagat is not produced at all.)
Therefore the world is not
produced at all; whatever is produced (as Jagat) is that completeness only.
(Brahman
never splits as Brahman and Jagat or as unmanifest and manifest.
Jagat
is also Brahman only.
Brahman
is completeness; never is in want of any second thing.
What
is seen as the world is also completeness only.
Brahman
is formless; Jagat is also formless.
Brahman
and Jagat are synonymous words. How can it produce itself as another?)
चेत्यासंभवतस्तस्मिन्यदेका जगदर्थता आस्वादकासंभवतो मरीचे कैव तीक्ष्णता ।
There is no perceived in that state; therefore there is
one single essence as the Jagat (which is Brahman). When there is no one to experience, how can there be heat
in the rays?
(There is no perceiver in the
Brahman state to see the Jagat; so how can a realized person become the
tri-world, when there is no world at all?)
सत्येवेयमसत्यैव चित्तचेत्यादिता परे, तद्भावात्प्रतिबिम्बस्य प्रतिबिम्बार्हता कुतः ।
Perceiving mind and the
perceived are unreal; yet shine as real because of being the essence of
Reality. When the reflection is made
of mirrorness only, how can it be a reflection (separate from the mirror)? (Reflection
is also mirror only.)
परमाणोरपि परं तदणीयो ह्यणीयसः शुद्धं सूक्ष्मं परं शान्तं तदाकाशोदरादपि ।
That state is more supreme than the supreme atom, tinier
than the tiniest; is purer, subtler, supreme, and quieter than the inside of
the empty space even.
दिक्कालाद्यनवच्छिन्नरूपत्वादतिविस्तृतं तदानद्यन्तमाभासं भासनीयविवर्जितम् ।
Since it is undivided by space and time, it spreads out
exceedingly; is without beginning or end; and though shining forth as the
perceived is without any shine of anything as perceived (like a mirror only is
the reflection).
चिद्रूपानुदयादेव तत्र नास्त्येव जीवता, कथं स्याच्चित्तताकारा वासनाऽनिलरूपिणी ।
चिद्रूपानुदयादेव तत्र नास्त्येव
जीवता, न बुद्धिता चित्तता वा नेन्द्रियत्वं
न वासना ।
As there is no perceiving
consciousness, there is no Jeeva-ness at all in Brahman.
How can there be a form
of the mind-state (functioning as a Jeeva) as a Vaasanaa form supported by
Praana? As there is no perceiving consciousness,
there is no Jeeva-ness at all in Brahman.
There is no intellect-state,
no mental process, no sense perception, and no Vaasanaa.
एवमित्थं महारम्भपूर्णमप्यजरं पदं, अस्मद्दृष्ट्या स्थितं शान्तं शून्यमाकाशतोsधिकम् ।
In this manner, though
it is complete with all potentialities with infinite possibilities, it is a
state which never deteriorates (into Jagat state). In our vision that state is
quiescent and emptier than the empty sky.
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