'**HKfl. l5varand S\YAMI ADVAYANANDA. ' R"f"" t" th" "t*y Maya i the july 2003 issue of Tapoaan Prasad'

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1 l5varand '**HKfl S\YAMI ADVAYANANDA il#- Maya, which is of the natqre of sattua-rajas-tamas, is called ajfrana, avidya, prakrti, pradhana according to the various contexts' This was the topic of our earlier essayl' Consciousness conditioned by total ignorance is called ISvara, and the same consciousness when conditioned by individual ignorance is called Praifta. From this total ignorance described rightly as the total causal ignorance, rise the subtle and the gross bodies. Consciousness conditioned by both the total causal ignorance and the total subtle universe is called Hiraryygarbha; the consciousness conditioned by both the individual causal body and individual subtle body is nam ed, Taijasa. This very same consciousness when conditioned by total causal ignorance, total subtle universe and the total gross universe is termed virat; the consciousness conditioned bylndividual causal ignorance, individual subtle body and individual gross body is named visva. Let's put these terms I svara, prajfia, Hiianygarbha, Taijasa, Virat, and ViSva rnathematically: 1.. isvara: Consciousness + total causal ignorance 2. Prajfla: Consciousness + individual causal ignorance a. Hiraryygarbha: Consciousness + total causal ignorance + total subtle universe b. Taijasa: Consciousness + individual causal ignorance + individual subtle body i. virat: Consciousness + total causal ignorance + total subtle universe + total gross universe Ii. ViSva: Consciousness + individual causal ignorance + individual subtle body + individual gross body' ' R"f"" t" th" "t*y Maya i the july 2003 issue of Tapoaan Prasad' August 2003

2 This introduction, filled with too many terms, is certainly full of hitherto unexplained concepts. This was only to give a bird,s eye view of the various topics and concepts that *e *ill study in the near future. In this essay our focuj will be on lfvara and Prajfra. maya. *ad Avtdyd, Though ignorance is one, it can be seen from two.aspects _ individual and total. In sanskrit, we use the word 'vya;!i'to indicate the individual aspect and the word. 'sam-a;ti'i to indicate the collective or the total aspect. For example, 'free' is the individual aspect (vya;!i) and forest is the colleetive aspect (sama;yi). A drop of water is the 'vya;gi' aspect andiocean is the sam.asti aspect. Book is thre vyagli aspect and libraiy is the sama;li aspect. One rupee is the vya;yi aspect and a hrindred rupees are the sama;1i aspect! In the same way avidya is the vyasti aspect and mayd is the samasti aspect of ignorance. we can summarily say that individual maya is avidya and total avidya is maya. From now onwards, in the context of ignorance, we shall for convenience of explanation2 use mayd for samagti and avidya for vyasti. -{g,t#g#i#*#ji# Both maya and avidya are associated with Consciousness _ they have the pure sat-cit-ananda-aastu as the substratum. when we speak of Consciousness with respe ct to maya as its conditioning, we cail it Isvara; when we talk of the sarne Consciousness with respect to avidya as its conditioning, we call it prajfia. The words.saz a;1i and vyasti ate d"rirred Wh,"l jh: prefi.x.'sam'is added to,as,, it l_llt9i': becomes,of total pervasion, and when the prelix'tti' is added to 'a.f', the meaning changes to,of limiij p"*urio.r,. Though all teachers ol vedanta recognise the concepts of sama;1i and, vyagli some do not accept that the tetms maya and avidyd shourd respectively mean the sama;yi and v)dsti aspects only. They opine that only the contexi can determine whether these terms are used as samasti or vya.g1i. The-author of this essay arso favours this opinion. Hence the mention of 'convenience of explanation, in the essav. Tapovan Prasad 27

3 But what about pure Consciousness, which is unconditioned? Does it also have different names? Yes. When we talk of the pure Consciousness unassociated and unconditioned by maya rt is called Brahman and the same pure Consciousness unassociated and unconditioned by avidyd is called Atman. Please note that pure Consciousness is one and homogeneous. so Brahman is Atman and Atman is Brahman as both of them are pure Consciousness only. If thus, Brahman and,[tman, are one and the same - the pure Consciousness only, then why havg two different names at all, as though they both are different? This would be the natural question of any serious student. These two different names are given to analyse and differentiate at the cosmic and individual levels the various concepts of Vedanta llke maya - avidya, Isvara - itva, Hiraryygarbha - taijasa etc. for a student who has begun his intellectual and spiritual journey using the adhyaropa and apavada methodology of Vedantal. wit"rg" ii' Isv*li, Even though both maya and avidya are essentially ignorance, characterised by sattaa-rajas-tamas, yet because of the association wlth lsvara and praifia they have different properties. The same knife in the hands of a doctor saves life but in the hand of the murderer it takes life! Vedanta-sara of Sri Swami Sadananda makes this amply clear ui qqfu: sq Bqfrrflr frqjd-sf,-sqnr t Iy am s ama ; t I h utkr s t a- up a dhit ay a v i S uddha - s at tv a - p radhana' This collective ignoranc being an adjunct (or conditioning) of the Highest, i.e.,lsiarat, is characterised by the predominance of very pure sattva. t F", "dhya-p" ^"d apavada methodology ol vedanta refer to June 2003 issue of Tapouan Prasad., 'prdrya' The word rgferc collectively to the five pratla-s: prdna, apana, vyana, udana and. samdna. At the same time, it is also the name for the first of the five prdrya-s.ln the same way lswara the word, refers collectively to all the three aspects of the totality: i fvara, Hiranygarbha and nrat, but at the same time it is the name of the first aspect also. August 2003

4 The knife is a potential danger for a child, but not so for its mother - she uses it in the kitchen for many purposes, with ease. Since maya is wielded by ISvara, it loses its power to bind. Tamas and rajas are overpowered by sattaa, thus making maya very pure. This is technically called visuddha-satna-pradhdna i.e. predominated by pure sattaa. Sattaa being the cause of knowledge and since mayd is dominated by sattaa, maya cannot delude lsvara. Ifvara remains as the mdyd-pati, the Lord of mayat. He thus remains as GOD, the G-enerator of the cosmos, the O-rganiser of the cosmos and the final D-estroyer of the cosmos. He becomes sarvajfia - omnicient, sarvesvara - omnipotent, sarygniyanla - universal controller. Because of being sarvajfia, sarveivara and sarvaniyanta, He is designated variously as ISvara, Jagat-karana and Antar-yamin. Let us have a look at Subodhini, a commentary on Veddnta-sara, which defines these designations of ISvara briefly and beautifully. l.l{vara: the Lord or Ruler S arv e ;aqn j lv anam karma- anurupa-l p sita- phala- datr tv ena 3v aralt iti ucyate - Since He gives the fruits of actions to all the jivas as per their actions (and thus rules and lords over them) He is called lsvara. 2. Jagat-karatta: the Cause of the Cosmos "orr^yo roryryo vrvarta-a[rhtsth anatvena jagat-kararyam iti vyapadisyale - since ISvara is the very non-changing substratum of the world characterised by the moving and the unmoving2, he is'called Jagat-karaqta or the cause of the universe. g 2 I But jlva is 'mdyd-ddsa, the servant oi maya'. In a lighter vein lsvara is GOD arrd jtva is an (under) DOG. Cara-acara i.e. moving and unmoving, is an idiomatic expression in Sanskrit which just means 'all that is there', 'the whole without any exception'. Taoovan Prasad 29

5 3. Antaryaml: the inner-controller Sarvesaqn jtvanam antarhydaye sthitva buddhi-niyamakatvena antaryaml iti ucyate - staying within the hearts of all jivas, He propels and controls the intellect of all. Therefore He is called Antamamt or the inner-controller. I.l-:: 1: r r n!"{;fer6j4i; Now that we have elaborate.d on maya - the samagi aifiana and ISvara,' let us see avidya - the vyasti aiflana or the individual ignorance and prajfla which is the Consciousness conditioned by avidya. Vedanta-sara explains the nature of avidya: Fi qfu: FqE BqtRrRqT qfuq-ss-etr-qr I Iy arp vy a ; t ih nikr s t a - up a dhit ay a malin a - s at tv a - p r adha na The individual ignorance (avidya) being the adjunct (orconditioning) of the lowest i.e. jiva, is characterised by the predominance of impure sattva.,r If maya was a knife in the hands of the wise mother, avidya is the knife in the hands of a restless ignorant child! In the case of thre jiva's avidya, sattaa is overpowered by rajas and tamas. This impure sattoa is technically called malina-sattva-pradhanar, i.e. dominant with impure sattaa. Because of avidya being impure, it deludes the jtva, binds him to samsara and mercilessly buffets him up and down in the cycle of birth and death. The iiva is characterised by alpaifiatva - limited knowledge, anlsvaratva - absence of lordship, and niyamyakataa - the nature of being controlled2. And this jlva i.e. Consciousness having avidya as its upadhi (adjunct or conditioning), is called by a single name3, as prajfta - prayzna ajfta -'one who is mostly ignorant or almost ignorant'. 2 Contrast this with isvara who is samaifia, san)esvara and sarvaniyanta 3 Unlike I fvara wlno has got.three different names I Svara, Jagat'karaga and Antar'yamin. 30 August 2003

6 He gets this name because of his experience of deep-sleep. In deepsleep all that the prajfia is aware of is only the complete absence of everything. And because he is aware of this 'absence' he is called almost ignorant and not totally ignorant for even the knowledge of absence is knowledgel. $'e ls{4s#f# lt The essential state of experience for the prajfia is the state of susupti or deep-sleep where the prajfia exists. with its sole conditioning of avidya. Herein, as we have descriled above, who experiences nothingness. The essential state of'experience of ISvara is when who is with his conditioning 6I *aya. That state is called pralaya. Compared to susupti or the individual deep-sleep we can say that this is a cosmic-sleep. Hereih all the inert world of names and forms and the sentient jfvas lie in an undifferentiated homogenous state. Just as su;upti or the individual deep-sleep is at the individual level so too pralaya or cosmic dissolution is at the universal level where all the gross and subtle worlds are dissolved into the causal or 'seed' form at the end of each creation. r Prajfia is also explained as prakargena ajftah exceedingly ignorant'. But here also the 'exceedingly' word is to be taken in the sense of 'almost fuily' and not 'absolutely'., l!!t!:r ( ii ii,t i Tapovan Prasad 31

7 :##gi i Let us summarise all the ideas and the terms we have seen in this essay in the form of a tabular column. Aspects ISvara Prdjfla Upadhi-the conditioning MayA Avidya. a. sarvajftatva-totai knowledge a. alpajftatva-limited knowledge Nature b. sarvesvaratva-totalordshio b. anlsvaratva-absence of lordship c. sarvaniydmakatvd-controller c.niyamyakatvd-nature of all beins controlled Designation a. ISvara (Lord) a. Prajfta-'almost ignorant' or 'exceedingly ignorant' b. Jagat-kara4a F (cause of the universe) c. Antar-yamln (inner-controller) State of Experience Pralaya Susupti Pure unconditioned Brahman Atman Conscioushess It is important that one understands these basic concepts thoroughly, because the essays which follow will be based on these concepts and these terms will be referred to quite often.. Th" spd;g" fr"m *hiah d'gh;"il"' manifests ard called tasanas. ts :r ts {Etf$! ir r;, l;r lir glrffisffi,t ariiijlii Swami Chinmayananda August 2003