tvam ādidevah purusah purānas- tvam asya viśvasya param nidhānam |
vettāsi vedyam ca param ca dhāma
tvayā tatam viśvam anantarūpa ||11.38||
You are the first among Gods, the one who was there even before, the one who fills up everything. You are the ultimate place of resolution of this world; you are the knower and also what is to be known and you are the ultimate abode. The world is pervaded by you O Lord, the one whose forms are endless!
sat eva somya idam agre āsīt ekam eva advitīyam - oh dear one, this world before creation was sat-existent alone, without followed by second (Chandogya Upanisad 6.2.1).
idam - this world which is name and form is available for perception and transaction, agre āsīt - was sat eva - existence alone. Sat alone is not available for perception, only when name and form have come to being, then perception and transaction is possible. When pure existence doesn't associate with any object, there is no attribute which we can perceive, because attributes belong to name and form, not to the existence. Just like we don't perceive light per se, but when a particular object associated with light, we perceive that particular object. Actually what we see is the light which enveloped that particular object. In the same way all the incidental attributes we perceived belong to name and form, but superimposed to sat ātmā. By having superimposed attributes, sat ātmā doesn't become possessed with attributes. Therefore this universe which possessed with attributes was sat alone which has no attributes whatsoever.
The word eva-alone (from sat eva) is to emphasis excluding from everything else. This world which is perceived as product endowed with name and form, was sat alone. Therefore before the creation, sat alone was there. Whether now after creation, is the world still sat? Yes, even now this world is still sat, but now is available for transaction as "this - idam" which can be perceived. Just like when we say this pot earlier was clay alone, now even as a pot, but also is clay. But we always perceive only the pot and miss the clay. Just like in our deep sleep, there is no name and form which we can objectify as "this" body-mind-complex, therefore we don't perceive anything including myself who identify with this flesh and skin. But in fact, I existence only was there, otherwise we will not know that we slept well.
When only unattributed sat is there in deep sleep, and śāstra said one is free only if one is not taking attributes of name and form into oneself, does it mean we can only be totally free in deep sleep state or samadhi in meditation? No, if moksa only can be there in a particular situation, it is not moksa, and who would like to be alive and only stay in the deep sleep state. Total freedom can be there only if one has understood the unbound nature of oneself even all these name and form are there.
Śāstra is negating the absolute reality of name and form, but not trying to negate the mithyātvam - status of having dependent reality. If a son is the source of happiness of the mother, it is not absolutely real, because the same son can be the source of sorrow also. It is not that the son is not real, he is pretty much there, perceivable and transact-able. But his status being the source of happiness or sorrow is depended on how the mother look at it.
ekam eva advītiyam - one alone which has no second. That sat was absolutely no differentiation whatsoever. The word "no second" is to rule out any internal division like a tree is one but the branches are many. In the same way there is internal differentiation or variety in a single body, like the right hand will be different from the left hand, one finger is different from another finger, one part of the body is different from another part of the body. This is called svagatah bheda - difference within one's own self. Though the object is single and is a unity in itself, yet there is an internal variety of this nature. There was no such variety in sat, therefore the word advītiyam was bring about to negate the idea that individual jiva is a part of sat brahman.
If sat is understood, one will understand that sat is purusah - that which fills up everything, pervading all, nothing which he is not. nidhānam - the resolution ground, just like in dream everything which is manifested from the dreamer will resolve back to the dreamer upon waking up. vettrāsi - knower and vedyam - to be known, he is the truth of all knower (subject) and known (object). paramdhāma - ultimate abode, by reaching which nothing is to be reached anymore.
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