[Advaita-l] Karika bh 3.27 'Atman is born only seemingly as the world'

[V Subrahmanian]

In the Gaudapada Karika 3.27 we have this verse:

सतो हि मायया जन्म युज्यते न तु तत्त्वतः ।
तत्त्वतो जायते यस्य जातं तस्य हि जायते ॥ २७ ॥

 What is ever existent appears to pass into birth through maya, yet from
the standpoint of Reality it does not do so. But he who thinks this passing
into birth is real asserts, as a matter of fact, that what is born passes
into birth again.

The Upanishad teaches that the Atman/Brahman is never an object for
comprehension/perception. A doubt may arise that such an Atman might well
be non-existent. To clear such a doubt this verse brings an answer:  Atman
is never born: aja. Upon perceiving the world, an effect, of the cause -
Brahman, we conclude that the latter exists. The analogy is: The magician,
who exists, brings forth the magical display of elephant, etc. So, the
display is the indicatory mark for the existence of the magician. Similarly
with the existence of Brahman being inferred from the effect.

Does Brahman really become the world? Is Brahman born as the world? No, for
the Upanishadic statement that Brahman is ajam, unborn, will be violated.
It would be a contradiction to say 'Brahman is unborn and Brahman alone is
born as the world'.  The conclusion is: The 'birth' of the world from
Brahman OR Brahman 'becoming the world' is only illusory.  In truth nothing
is born.

>From the Bhashya we get the implicit message: The creation passages of the
Upanishad are there only to indicate that Brahman, the Creator, Exists.
This is because, Shankara has said above that from the effect, we infer the
existence of the cause. The Cause cannot be directly perceived because it
is beyond speech and mind. The creation that the Upanishads talk of is only
illusory creation, which is confirmed by the usage of the magician and his
display: the illusory things he shows.

regards
subbu