63mastermaster

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 //

ULAGAI-YAR-IPPUMANOKKURUM-PALA NANAK-KANAVIR
KALANGIYE MAYAIYALE KARIYA-KARANAM-PIN-
RALIAVANUN-DASAN CIDAN GURU-MAHAN-RANDAI-YADI
TALA-MURU-KURUVAM-ANDAD-DAKSHINA-MURTTI PORRI

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.

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) phenomenon. 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.