Deivathin Kural # 12 (of Vol 2 )

Om Namah Sivaya.
Deivathin Kural # 12 (of Vol 2 ) of 17 June 2007.
1. These e-mails, are chapter wise translations of the lectures given by, Sri Chandra Sekharendra Swamigal, of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam. Every day, after the daily Puja, He used to talk, on various aspects concerning Hinduism. These are published, in Tamil, by Vanady Padippagam, T.Nagar, Chennai, as Deivathin Kural, in seven volumes of a thousand pages each. To-day's talk is titled, 'Ulagam Eppadi Poi ?' that is, 'How is the World Unreal ?', in pages 81 to 90, of Deivathin Kural, Volume 2. (Unless otherwise specified, 'He' herein includes 'She'.)
2. In Adwaitam, it is said that the world is not real, but an appearance by Maya. This is not understood by many people. They object to it. They criticise the Maya theory. Their argument is some thing like this. 'All these life forms are seeing the World and are being seen by the world in turn. Seeing is believing. In the World, there are natural laws, which are constant, such as the law of cause and effect, by applying which we are able to do things and achieve the results. How can we believe and agree, if you say that it is all Maya and a lie ?'
3. Acharyal, (Sri Sankara Baghawat Pada Acharyal, who firmly defined and established the Adwaita Philosophy), is misunderstood to have said that the world is totally unreal and a lie of untruth; giving rise to this condemnation of His ideas. "What is this ? World is a lie, but not untruth ! Is that what Acharyal said ? This is even more difficult to understand !"-- may be your reaction. Let us look at the diistinction between, 'Truth, Untruth and a Lie', that Acharyal has made.
4. For Him the true thing is, the One Atma only. That is called Brhmam too. The only true thing, when it is the basis of existance for one Jeeva, is known as Atma; when it is the basis of existance of all the life forms and all the things of this Universe, is known as Brhmam. It is the only permanent unchanging reality and so the Truth !
5. The world is all the time changing. The only constancy about the world is change ! We are changing all the time. If our body is changing slowly, the mind and thoughts are changing, in a fraction of a second ! So Acharyal will not use the word "Sathyam', or Truth, to define the world ! Will He call it 'Asathyam', or Untruth ? That would mean, totally against or opposed to Truth. Acharyal never called it Asathyam. He said that it is not Sathyam, because of not being constant; while simultaneously not Asathyam, because of its'temporary existance' ! He used a word, 'Mithya', which can be translated to, 'temporarily seeming truth'.
6. Our Acharyal, classified Sathyam, into three groups. What did not fall within these three groups, He called it 'Asathyam'. The three groups of Sathyam are, One - Paramarthika Sathyam, Two - Vyavaharika Sathyam, Three - Prathibasika Sathyam. The fourth one is Asathyam, not part of the first three.
7. Amongst these, Paramarthika Sathyam, is the permanent and real Brhmam. Vyavaharika Sathyam, is what we consider as truth in our worldly transactions or interactions with the world. That includes everybody, every thought, every concept, every event and everything in the world / universe / micro and macro cosmos !
8. A tin piece lying on the ground looks like a silver coin. A cloud seems like a face. Apiece of rope is mistaken for a snake. We see a tiger or elephant in a dream. These are examples of Prathibasika Sathyam.
9. Contrary to the above three, Asathyam, is never there but exists only as words. Infertile woman's child, Horse's horns, for example can never be there. Yoga Sutram calls them as, 'vikalpa':- " sabda gnananubathee vasthu soonyo vikalpa : I ". This Asathyam is called 'atyantha Asat' and 'tuchcham'.
10. In the twilight of the evening, a rope made of hay, is mistaken for a snake. That it is a snake is untruth / asathyam. That it looks like a snake is true. At that moment, there is a mix of truth and untruth. If you go near, that half truth / untruth, becomes the real rope and unreal snake ! For some time, it looked like a snake. That is Prathibasika Sathyam. The real rope, is also only a Vyavaharika Sathyam.
11. Both Vyavaharika Sathyam and Prathibasika Sathyam, become untruth when the true knowledge dawns and are seemingly true, in the absence of real knowledge. In Vedanta, for such an untruth, a special name has been coined, as 'Mithyai'. Those things that can never be true, are not called Mithyai, but Asathyam. Acharyal points out that, even what we call Vyavaharika Sathyam, will become Prathibasika Sathyam, when true knowledge dawns.
12. 'Basam' is light. Prathibasam is reflected light. Apiece of tin recieved the Sun's rays and reflected it. It looked like a silver coin. But it is not silver. This is Prathibasikam. Similarly the world is enlightened by the reflected light of Brhma Chaitanyam. Compared to the piece of tin, let us say, there was a shell. It did have the sort of sheen as would be seen on a piece of silver. For a minute we were happy, imagining as to how we would spend the newly acquired wealth. Simiarly, when we saw the rope and thought it to be a snake, we did go through, fear, panic, shock and uneasiness. Relatively, an infertile woman's offspring and horns of the horse, will not affect us much. We are likely to discard it out of thought as impossible immediately. It cannot dupe us in the garb of something else.
13. Being something, is seen as something else, due to the power of Maya. Piece of tin, with the reflected sunlight, looks like a silver coin. In the dim light of the evening, a rope looks like a snake. By the power of Maya, Brhmam is seen as the world ! We get duped thinking the world to be real and not seeing the Brhmam at all. To hide the real and show something else in its place, is the power of Maya. What happens when we get Gnanam ? There is nothing other than Brhmam. The world is not there. We get to know that it is a grand make-up, fancy dress competition, where all the competitors are one and the same Brhmam ! All the wrong notions just drop off and disappear. When we correctly identified the rope, the snake disappeared. When we picked up the sea-shell, the silver vanished. When the Gnanam dawns, all the previous mis-understanding just goes. The world itself disappears and goes out of one's sight and vision, because it is only a prathibasika sathyam ! But other than this one person, who is seeing not the world, but only Brhmam, all others still under the influence of Maya, continue to look at a world of cause and effect; and it is for their sake, that the world has been given a special status, as Vyavaharika Sathyam. (KTSV adds;- If I can try and imagine as to what must be the Gnanis condition, immediately after realization, two things come to my mind. One is that He is likely to have a slightly embarrassed self deprecatory smile on his face, with a mixed feeling of, " Oh ! how gullible have I been all these days; with, Oh ! this is it !" Anyhow, he is likely to be lost to this world, may be forever, unless destined to play a role. Ramana Maharishi was lost in Adwaita Anubhava, for months in the Pathala Lingam enclosure, with no awareness of his body !)
14. Other than transactional and reflected truths (Vyavaharika and Prathibasika Sathyam), there is a "sathyatharam". That is ever true Brhmam. So we have, one Sathyam, one Asathyam and two versions of Untruths or lie. Sathyam is God, Brhmam, Easwara, who are forever and can never be not. Infertile woman's son can never be and that is Asathyam. Inbetween this Sathyam and Asathyam, are two lies or untruths, known as Vyavaharika and Prathibasika, having some truth and some untruth, appear to be true some time and appear to be not true some other time. To put it in other words, they are conditioned and modified by time, space and perspective.
15. What are we ? Some time back, our body was not there. Some time later it is not going to be. As I talk, or type, this body is undergoing changes. They say that in seven years time, there is not a single cell in this body, that was there, seven years back ! So this is not Sathyam. Because if it is Sathyam, it should be for ever ! Not Asathyam either. Because, for a short period, it was there. This is 'Sukthi Roopyam', that is, like when the sun shines on the sea-shell (Sukthi), silver (Roopyam) appears. (The word Rupee came from that Roopyam.) When silver appeared in the sea-shell, was it Sathyam or Asathyam ?
16. When the sea-shell is shimmering, at least for a minute or so, it seems like silver. Can the son of an infertile woman, ever come into being even for a fraction of a second ? No. Comparatively, the silver in the shell can be seen to be there at least for a few seconds. The not-existing horns of a horse, have not even a trace of reality, except being two words. So the silver in the shell is, neither totally Sathyam (because it is not silver permanently) , nor Asathyam (because at least for a fraction of a second, to some viewer it looked like silver). When the sun's rays were not there, the silver disappeared, but the shell remained as the basis. For the snake that disappeared, the rope remained as the basis. With shell and rope as the basis, the appearance of silver and snake occurred. Similarly the basis of the Mithya World, is Brhmam. When the appearance of the world is no more, it will not be a zero nullity or 'sunyata' of the Buddhists. That basis of all appearance is Brhmam, the only Sathyam !
17. The Sathya Brhmam is depicted as the world and universe, by Maya. Acharyal calls Maya, 'Anirvachaneeyam' , meaning 'inexplicable' . It is neither 'Sat' nor 'Asat'. Undefinable and unutterable, you cannot say that, 'it is there', nor can you say that, 'it is not there' ! It appears to be and disappears when Gnanam happens. Appar Swami in Thiruvaroor Thiruththandakam says, "poi-maya-perum- kadalil", meaning, 'in the false ocean of maya'. It is neither Sathyam nor Asathyam. It happens if you say that it is not there. What to do ? When you say it is there and try to show it, you just cannot !
18. We cannot say that it is different from Paramatma, because there can not be anything in addition to Paramatma ! You cannot say that Paramatma is Maya, either ! This is because, Maya goes when Gnanam arrives; that is one reason. The second reason is that, if Paramatman is Maya, the then world is Real and Paramatman is Unreal ! It is not the 'Sunyata', of Buddhists either. That is why, Maya is called the indescribable, 'anirvachaneeyam' !
19. Let us recapitulate. Rope if seen, snake goes. Rope is 'Aadhishtanam' and snake is, 'aaropyam'. When 'aadishtanam' is clear, 'aaropyam' vanishes. When you see the screen, cinema will not be seen. The thing on which the appearance is imposed, when seen or becomes apparent, the imposed scenery diappears. The Scenery or Cinema is the prathibasika Sathyam The Screen is real. When will we go out of existance ? When we see the thing on which we appear, 'we' as the Prathibasika Sathyam, will disappear. This entire Universe thus is a Prathibasika Sathyam and that includes all of us. If you see the real back-ground, (that is, Brhmam), the whole world, including ourselves, will be proved to be a 'monumental lie, a complete fabrication !' That is why Acharyal said that, "in day-to-day transactions, that is, in 'vyavahara dasa', it is true and in 'gnana dasa', it will vanish as untrue". People without understanding this, may come to fight, on the grounds as to, 'how you can call the world, (which is seen to be subjected to the natural laws of cause and effect), a lie ?' We may avoid such misunderstandings, if we explain as to how, Acahryal gave a name 'mithyai' to things which alternate between truth and untruth, depending upon changes in, space, time and perspective !
Sambhomahadeva.