!! Viveka Chudamani of Shankaracharya !!
Slokas 232-233 with meanings in English
||om tat sat ||
Viveka Chudamani Slokas 232- 233
In the earlier slokas (230,231), Guru using the example of pot and clay, brought out that all the pots and other things made of clay appear in different shapes and forms, but they are all made of clay only. It is impossible for anybody to prove that the pot contains anything but clay.
Viewed in the cause-and-effect scenario, clay is the cause (of pot being there), the effect is the pot. Effect is in a way a form of the cause itself. With that understanding, Guru puts forth in the following that world is nothing but Brahman.
Sloka 232
सत् ब्रह्म कार्यं सकलं सदैव
सन्मात्रमेतत् न ततोऽन्यत् अस्ति ।
अस्तीति यो वक्ति न तस्य मोहो
विनिर्गतो निद्रितवत् जल्पः॥232||
सत् ब्रह्म कार्यं सकलं -
the entire universe (सकलं) being the effect of Brahman -
सदैव - it is Brahman itself ;
Just as the entire complex of pots made of clay, being only clay, clay being the cause of all pots; so too the entire universe (सकलं) being the effect of Brahman, is Brahman itself. In the cause-and-effect scenario, universe being the effect of Brahman, must be a form of Brahman. So, it is Brahman itself.
सन्मात्रमेतत् न ततोऽन्यत् अस्ति
सत् मात्रं एतत् , ततः अन्यत् न अस्ति
It is Brahman only, nothing else.
अस्तीति यो वक्ति न तस्य मोहो
विनिर्गतो निद्रितवत् जल्पः
अस्तीति यो वक्ति -
one who says it is different (from Brahman).
न तस्य मोहो विनिर्गतो -
He is not rid of his delusion.
निद्रितवत् जल्पः -
(His words are) like the one talking in sleep.
Summary:
Just as the entire complex of pots made of clay, being only clay; so too is the entire universe (सकलं) being the effect of Brahman, is Brahman itself. One who says it is different (from Brahman), he is not rid of his delusion. His words are like the one talking in sleep.
Sloka-233
ब्रह्मैव इदं विश्वमित्येव वाणी
श्रौती ब्रूते अथर्वनिष्ठा वरिष्ठा।
तस्मात् एतत् ब्रह्ममात्रं हि विश्वं
न अधिष्ठानात् भिन्नता अरोपितस्य ॥233||
ब्रह्मैव इदं विश्वमिति-
That this universe is all Brahman.
वाणी श्रौती ब्रूते अथर्वनिष्ठा वरिष्ठा-
(is) the supreme declaration of Atharva Veda;
That the entire Universes is Brahman is the Supreme declaration of Atharva Veda.
तस्मात् - hence;
एतत् ब्रह्ममात्रं हि विश्वं -
this universe is Brahman only.
न अधिष्ठानात् भिन्नता अरोपितस्य -
not the projected image different from the underlying Brahman
Projected image or superimposed image means, the one visibly seen form. It is not that. The super imposed form is different from the underlying Brahman.
It means that whole universe is Brahma only not the superimposed images of objects.
Sloka Summary:
That the entire Universes is Brahman is the Supreme declaration of Atharva Veda. Hence, this universe is Brahman only, not the superimposed image different from the underlying Brahman.
ब्रह्मैव इदं विश्वं - is the declaration from Mundakopanishad,
|| ओम् तत् सत्॥