[Advaita-l] Sivaanandalahari - 8

[Anbu sivam2]

*Sivaanandalahari - 8 (1)*

यथा बुद्धि-श्शुक्‍तौ रजत-मिति काचाश्मनि मणि-
र्जले पैष्टे क्षीरं भवति मृगतृष्णासु सलिलम् ।
तथा देव-भ्रान्त्या भजति भवदन्यं जडजनो
महादेवेशं त्वां मनसि च न मत्वा पशुपते ॥ ८ ॥

yathA buddhi-SSuk^tau rajata-miti kAchASmani maNi-
rjale paiShTe kShIraM bhavati mRugatRuShNAsu salilam |
tathA deva-bhrAntyA bhajati bhavadanyaM jaDajano
mahAdeveSaM tvAM manasi cha na matvA paSupate || 8 ||

Oh Lord Pasupati, the way our intellect considers shell as silver, glass
stones as gem, flour mixed in water as milk, the mirage as water, the same
way the foolish people worship other gods instead of worshipping you, the
Lord of all Gods.

*Commentary

*Those ignorant ones who have not known the Mahima of Saakshaath Parameswara
worship anyadevathaas. The root cause of this is agnaanam. Only those who
have done sukrtham in the past many janmaas would have the thought to do
bhakthi to Parameswara. Others certainly would not. Especially the ordinary
folks driven by kaamam would not easily have bhakthi to Parameswara.

Therefore all the praanis should try their utmost to do Easwara bhakthi,
otherwise their janmaa would be wasted. The Sruthi says: “ThamEva
vidhithvaathimruthyumEthi naanya: panthaa vidyathE ayanaaya.” Only that
nirmala aathmagnaanam has the ability to give Moksha Saamraajyam. The
saasthra says: “Paramaadhvaitha vignaanam krupayaavaidhadhaathiya:|
Sowyamguru: guru: saakshaath Shiva eva na samsaya: ||” The one who is
capable of giving upadesa of aathmagnaana is none other than saakshaath
gnaana dhaathaa Parameswaran. Therefore Parameswara’s anugraham is very much
essential to all the praanis. This is the secret. Without knowing this the
mooda jana worship anyadevathaas.

Just as a person takes a seashell as silver as he sees it from a distance, a
broken glass piece as a diamond, rice flour mixed in water as milk and
mirage as water, those confused devabraanthaas worship anyadevathas thus
wasting their janma.

In truth, ‘Sat’ means that which has no destruction in all the three periods
of time. And one should understand this ‘Sat’ as Parameswara. In the same
way that which cannot be found in space and time is ‘asat’. Two examples for
‘asat’ are ‘the son of a barren woman’ or ‘a hare with two horns’. From this
you have to come to the conclusion that ‘asat’ has no beginning and ‘Sat’
has no end. Knowing this secret of ‘Sat’ and ‘asat’ you should understand
that those objects that have ‘sat-asat’ vilakshaNam are all creation of
braanthi (error, confusion) and they are not truly ‘Sathyam’. That is what
our great AacharyaaL means when he says in this sloka of Sivaanandalahari:
“sukthou rajathamithi kaachaasmani manirjalE paishtaksheeram bhavathi
mrugathrushnaasu salilam” using the four examples of seashell, broken glass
piece, rice-flour mixed in water and the mirage.

That is, an avidvaan, seeing a seashell in front of him enjoys its sight as
that of silver. Vedaanthis call this as ‘sukthi rajatham’. Sukthi rajatham
is not real knowledge (yadhaartha gnaanam) but only a brama or error. Why?
Because it is neither ‘Sat” nor ‘asat’. If it is ‘Sat’ it cannot have
destruction in all three periods of time. But we do know all objects
including the seashell have destruction in time. In this particular case,
the moment it is known that it is seashell its ‘silverness’ is destroyed or
rather the knowledge that it is silver is destroyed. And if it were ‘asat’
you would never have known be it either as a shell or as silver. (Just as
you would never have come to know of a hare with two horns).

(continued)