!! Viveka Chudamani of Shankaracharya !!
Slokas 238 with meanings in English
||om tat sat ||
Viveka Chudamani Slokas 238
In the earlier Slokas ...
Master stated that Brahman is real, and the universe does not exist independent of Brahman, and is not real. That Brahman is real is stated in Vedas (Adharvana Veda, mundakopanaishad). Master went ahead and presented the alternative scenario. Suppposing Universe is real, he established that three unacceptable contradictions arise. He brought Krishna's statements in Gita to reinforce the argument that Universe is unreal except as a form of Brahman.
Then Master said that - If Universe is real, even in deep sleep it must be seen as such. Since it is not seen in deep sleep, like a dream , it must also be unreal and hence false. (This is the summary of Masters statement)
The thought that because I cannot see the world in deep sleep, so it must be not real, is a bit difficult to grasp. So will see examin again.
We dream in our sleep. The same dream disappears as soon as we becom awake.
That which changes form, while body moves through different states, is one which is not without change thereby implying that it is not eternal.
Dream changes. Dream is not constant in sleep and awake stages. So that which changes being not eternal ( nityam), Dream is not eternal. That is also not truth.
Similar is the case of Jagat or the world.
When we are awake , we are in our surroundings. It is our room, our bed , our friends and our surroundings. In the dream state we see an entirely different world. We might be in a different place. We might have travelled to many places in that dream. We might have done miraculous things, which are not possible when we are awake.
That means the world we see in dream is differenr from the world we see when we are awake. So the world we see is not without a change. Such a world cannot be eternal. It is a delusion
We did conclude that Atma/Self is eternal. We may review that logic of having declared Self as eternal.
With reference to Self , we know that it acts as a witness to all that happens . Even in deep sleep, though all body functions are withdrawn into sleep, after getting up we says that we had a great sleep. Who actually is stating that? It is the Self, which reamains awake, which tells though other body functions, after they area wake, that we had a great sleep. Thus Self which remains as a witness in all the three states is truly eternal by oour definition.
So is the case with world, which turns out to be not eternal, but a delusion.
Now we see the last Sloka on the topic of world.
Sloka 238:
भ्रान्तस्य यत् भ्रमतः प्रतीतम्
ब्रह्मैव तत्तत् रजतं हि शुक्तिः ।
इदंतया ब्रह्म सदैव रूप्यते
त्वारोपितं ब्रह्मणि नाम मात्रम् ॥
भ्रान्तस्य यत् भ्रमतः प्रतीतम्-
that seen by the deluded one in his delusion
ब्रह्मैव तत्तत् - it is Brahman only
with substratum as Brahman, that which is superimposed on that , which is seen to be different from or shape, isnothing but Brahman only. Just as with clay as the basis, all the pots made of clay in different forms and colors, are still a form of clay only.
रजतं हि शुक्तिः - silver shining is nothing but the mother-of-pearl.
Gurus says - that seen by teh deluded one is Brahman oly, llike teh silver is nothing but the mother-of-pearl.
इदंतया ब्रह्म सदैव रूप्यते
त्वारोपितं ब्रह्मणि नाम मात्रम् ॥
इदं तया रूप्यते ब्रह्म सत् एव
that seen in different forms is nothing but the reality of Brahman.
ब्रह्मणि अरोपिततं तु नाममात्रम्-
that which has been superimposed is a name only
That world by name, superimposed on the substartum of Brahman is in name only. It is nothing but Brahman.
Sloka summary:
That seen by the deluded one is Brahman only, like the silver mistaken is but a mother - of pearl. All of this which in reality nothing but Brahman, super imposed on Brahman and appears as this world in name only.
This is the conclusion.
We may trace a few steps back to see what we have learnt.
- that seen as some thing else in delusion, reappears as that, once the delusion is removed. It is like the rope mistaken for a snake, is seen its true form of a rope, once the mistake is discovered ( by shining light and going nearer)
- The dream seen the state of sleep, disappears as soon as one is awake. The dream is no longer there in the awakened state. That which changes is not true (truth). dream is not true or eternal.
- in our awakened state that which keeps acting as a witness is our Self. In the sleep state, the one that tells us that we have dreamt is also the witness which is Self. In teh deep sleep, when all activities recede into deep sleep, at the end of the sleep, the one that tells us that we had a graet sleep too is nothing but our Self. Thus that Self remains as a witness in all the three states. Thus teh self is eternal and true.
- here Guru etablishes the point of a thing being eternal means that it does not change with the state one is in awakened or dream or deep sleep.
. to answer teh query, is there something eternal, Guru established Self as eternal.
- using the same principle , Guru establishes that world is not eternal.
- When we are awake , we are in our surroundings that is our world. It is our room, our bed , our friends and our surroundings. In the dream state we see an entirely different world. We might be in a different place. We might have travelled to many places in that dream. We might have done miraculous things, which are not possible when we are awake.
That means the world we see in dream is different from the world we see when we are awake. So the world we see is not without a change. Such a world cannot be eternal. It is a delusion.
That is the summary of the previous Slokas.
With this Guru concludes teh discussion about world as delusion.
In the next four Slokas , Guru again focusses on the nature of Brahman.
||ओम् तत् सत्॥