[Advaita-l] gItA bhaashhya sudhaa bindavaH - 12

[Ramakrishna Upadrasta]

OM shrii shankaraachaaryavaryaaya namaH
OM shrii gurubhyoH namaH

namaste,

We continue with the series of quotations from gItA bhaashhya of Adi
SankAchArya, as selected by mahamahopAdhyAya Shri Pullela
SriRamachandrudu Garu. Now, we enter the most extensive section of it,
the xetraGYa bhaashhya.


34. avidyaamaatraM saMsaaraH yathaadR^ishhTivishhayaH eva | na xetraj~nasya
kevalasya avidyaa tatkaaryaM cha |  na cha mithyaaj~naanaM paramaarthavastu
duushhayituM samartham.h | na hi uushhaaradeshaM snehena pa~NkiikartuM shaknoti
mariichyudakam.h | tathaa avidyaa xetraj~nasya na kiMchit.h kartuM shaknoti |
ataH uktam.h idam-- ##'## xetraj~naM chaapi maaM viddhi ##'##\, ##'##
aj~naanenaavR^itaM j~naanam.h ##'##
iti cha || 13.2 ||


##The mundane state consists of nothing but ignorance, and is an
object of perception (to the ignorant man who sees it) just as it
appears to him. Ignorance and its effects do not belong to the Knower
of the field, the Absolute. Moreover, false knowledge cannot taint the
supreme Reality. For, water in a mirage cannot make a desert muddy
with its moisture. Similarly, ignorance cannot act in any way on the
Knower of the field. Hence has this been said, "And understand Me to
be the knower of the field" [13.2], as also, "Knowledge remains
covered by ignorance" [5.15]##

35. nanu sarvaxetreshhu eka eva iishvaraH\, na anyaH tadvyatiriktaH
bhoktaa vidyate chet.h\, tataH iishvarasya saMsaaritvaM praaptam.h\;
iishvaravyatirekeNa vaa saMsaariNaH anyasya abhaavaat.h
saMsaaraabhaavaprasa~NgaH | tachcha ubhayamanishhTam.h
bandhamoxataddhetushaastraanarthakyaprasa~Ngaat.h\,
pratyaxaadipramaaNavirodhaachcha | pratyaxeNa taavat.h
sukhaduHkhataddhetulaxaNaH saMsaaraH upalabhyate\;
jagadvaiichitryopalabdheshcha dharmaadharmanimittaH saMsaaraH
anumiiyate | sarvametat.h anupapannamaatmeshvaraikatve | na \;
j~naanaaj~naanayoH anyatvenopapatteH ||13.2||

##Objection: Well, if it be that in all the fields there exists God
alone, and none else other than Him, as the enjoyer, then God will
become a mundane being; or due to the absense of any mundane creature
other than God, there will arise the contingency of the negation of
mundane existence. And both these are undesirable, since the
scriptures dealing with bondage, Liberation and their causes will
become useless, and also because they contradict such valid means of
knowledge  as direct perception.

In the first place, mundane existence which is characterized by
happiness, sorrow and their cause is apprehended through direct
perception. Besides, from the perception of variety in the world it
can be inferred that mundane existence results from virtue and vice.
All this becomes illogical if God and individual soul be one.

Reply: No, because this becomes justifiable owing to the difference
between Knowledge and Ignorance.##

36. sarvajantuunaaM hi prasiddhaH dehaadishhu anaatmasu aatmabhaavaH
nishchitaH avidyaakR^itaH\, yathaa sthaaNau purushhanishchayaH . na
cha etaavataa purushhadharmaH sthaaNoH bhavati\, sthaaNudharmo vaa
purushhasya .  tathaa na chaitanyadharmo dehasya\, dehadharmo vaa
chetanasya . sukhaduHkhamohaatmakatvaadiH aatmanaH na yuktaH\;
avidyaakR^itatvaavisheshhat.h\, jaraamR^ityutvaat.h ||13.2||



##It is a well known fact in the case of all creatures that their
self-identity with the body etc. which are not Self is definitely
caused by ignorance. Just as, when a stump of tree is firmly regarded
as a man, the qualities of a man do not thereby come to exist in the
stump, nor do the qualities of the stump come to the person, similarly
the property of consciousness does not come to the body, nor those of
the body to the consciousness. It is not proper that the Self should
be identified with happiness, sorrow, delusion etc., since they, like
decreptitude and death, are equally the products of ignorance.##


(To be continued.)
bhava shankara deshika me sharaNaM!
Ramakrishna