Fwd: World is mind alone: Shankara

[V Subrahmanian]

Posting this again in the context of the ongoing discussion about Drishti Srishti admitted by the Bhashya in the Brihadaranyaka and Aitareya Upanishads. 

regards

subbu

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: V Subrahmanian <v.subra...@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, Jul 29, 2017 at 4:10 AM
Subject: World is mind alone: Shankara
To: A discussion group for Advaita Vedanta <adva...@lists.advaita-vedanta.org>, Advaitin <adva...@yahoogroups.com>

World is mind alone: Shankara

In the Mundakopanishad 2.1 is this mantra:

अग्निर्मूर्धा चक्षुषी चन्द्रसूर्यौ दिशः श्रोत्रे वाग्विवृताश्च वेदाः ।
वायुः प्राणो हृदयं विश्वमस्य पद्भ्यां पृथिवी ह्येष सर्वभूतान्तरात्मा ॥ ४ ॥

4 The heavens are His head; the sun and moon, His eyes; the quarters, His ears; the revealed Vedas, His speech; the wind is His breath; the universe, His heart. From his feet is produced the earth. He is, indeed, the inner self of all beings (pancha bhūta-s).

While explaining the part hṛdayam viśvam asya (the world is his 'heart'), Shankara says:

हृदयम् अन्तःकरणं विश्वं समस्तं जगत् अस्य यस्येत्येतत् । सर्वं ह्यन्तःकरणविकारमेव जगत् , मनस्येव सुषुप्ते प्रलयदर्शनात् ; जागरितेऽपि तत एवाग्निविस्फुलिङ्गवद्विप्रतिष्ठानात् ।

//His hṛdayam = antaḥkaraṇam (inner organ, mind) , viśvam = the entire universe. For, the entire world is a modification of the mind, inasmuch as it is seen to merge in the mind during deep sleep, and even during the waking state it is seen to emerge out of it, like sparks out of fire, to exist.//  

The important points to be noted in the above bhāṣyam are:

1. The mantra is about the cosmic person
2. It is an imagery where the cosmos is spoken of as various body-parts of this person
3. The mind of this person is said to be the universe in the mantra
4. Shankara alludes the human experience to make this point no.3
5. He says that the world is a vikāra, modification, of the mind
6. The reason he gives is: since it is seen, experienced, to merge in the mind during deep sleep.
   
7. It is a norm in Vedanta that the layasthānam is the upādāna kāraṇam, for example, the pot, a product of clay, returns to clay when destroyed and hence is the material cause
8. vikāra in the context of creation in Vedanta is vivarta
   
9. It is on this basis the utpatti, sthiti and laya of the universe are taught to be Brahman
   
10. The world emerges from the mind, upon waking
11. The emerging of the multifarious world is akin to sparks flying out of a burning fire
12. Incidentally this analogy of 'sparks flying out of fire' used in creation shruti in the Br.up. and the Mundaka itself, is regarded as an instance of the shruti admitting yugapat sṛṣṭi (simultaneous creation) as different from 'krama sṛṣṭi', sequential creation, as for example in 'akāśāt vāyuḥ...' of the Taittiriya upanishad.  
    

It is evident that the above is an instance of jiva, who is antaḥkaraṇāvacchinnam chaitanyam (consciousness delimited by the mind), being the cause of the experienced world. In the Mandukya kārikā 2.32 bhāṣya Shankara says:

न हि मनोविकल्पनाया रज्जुसर्पादिलक्षणाया रज्ज्वां प्रलय उत्पत्तिर्वा ; न च मनसि रज्जुसर्पस्योत्पत्तिः प्रलयो वा, न चोभयतो वा । तथा मानसत्वाविशेषाद्द्वैतस्य । न हि नियते मनसि सुषुप्ते वा द्वैतं गृह्यते ; अतो मनोविकल्पनामात्रं द्वैतमिति सिद्धम् ।

// There is no origination and destruction of the rope-snake (which is just a mental concoction) in the rope. Nor is there its origination and destruction in the mind. Even so, dvaita (dvaita prapancha) is non-different from the mind. For, in the mind controlled (by meditation) or during deep sleep one does not experience dvaita (dvaita prapancha). Therefore it stands established that dvaita (dvaita prapancha) is only a mental concoction.

This mandukya bhāṣya is subsumed by the mundaka bhashya where Shankara gives the deep sleep, when the mind is dissolved, as the layasthānam of the world, prapancha, jagat. Gaudapāda and Shankara offer reiteration of the above idea in 3.31 with the help of a syllogism:

मनोदृश्यमिदं द्वैतं यत्किञ्चित्सचराचरम् ।
मनसो ह्यमनीभावे द्वैतं नैवोपलभ्यते ॥ ३१ ॥

रज्जुसर्पवद्विकल्पनारूपं द्वैतरूपेण मन एवेत्युक्तम् । तत्र किं प्रमाणमिति, अन्वयव्यतिरेकलक्षणमनुमानमाह । कथम् ? तेन हि मनसा विकल्प्यमानेन दृश्यं मनोदृश्यम् इदं द्वैतं सर्वं मन इति प्रतिज्ञा, तद्भावे भावात् तदभावे चाभावात् । मनसो हि अमनीभावे निरुद्धे विवेकदर्शनाभ्यासवैराग्याभ्यां रज्ज्वामिव सर्पे लयं गते वा सुषुप्ते द्वैतं नैवोपलभ्यत इति अभावात्सिद्धं द्वैतस्यासत्त्वमित्यर्थः ॥

It has been stated that the mind alone takes the form of the concocted dvaita just as the rope-snake is concocted. What is the basis, pramāṇa, for this? It is the anumāna, inference, of the form of anvaya-vyatireka. How? The pratijñā, claim is: the entire dvaitam is experienced as a concoction of the mind and therefore dvaitam is mind. Since in the presence of the mind, dvaitam is present and in the absence of the mind, dvaitam is absent. When the mind has been controlled by effort (in meditation) owing to discrimination and practice, just as the imagined snake merges in the rope, or during deep sleep, dvaitam is never experienced. Thus, by its absence (during meditation and deep sleep), the non-existence, asattvam, of dvaitam is established.

In the Brahmasutra bhashya commentary, the Ratnaprabhā summarizes the Vedānta siddhānta thus: सृष्टिर्दर्शनमदर्शनं लयः = perception is creation, and non-perception is destruction.

The Mundaka and the Mandukya bhāṣyam cited above demonstrate this siddhānta eminently.

Om Tat Sat 

 

 

   

[Sudhanshu Shekhar]

Namaste Subbu ji.

Thanks for the write-up.

There are two views regarding the material cause of dream. First view, which is more common sense, is to have mind as the upAdAna of dream. And second, where avidyA itself is the upAdAna. In the first view, the adhishThAna of dream is sAkshi-chaitanya whereas in the second, it is Brahman which is the adhishThAna of dream. Sanskrit VichAra Sagara, on page 206 says - स्वाप्न-पदार्थानाम्-उपादानम्-अन्तःकरणम्, अथवा साक्षात् अविद्या एव।  आद्यपक्षे साक्षिचैतन्यं स्वप्नाधिष्ठानम्। द्वितीयपक्षे ब्रह्मचैतन्यं स्वप्नाधिष्ठानम्।

Since dream and waking have identical properties in DSV, these two approaches are valid even within DSV. So, one view of DSV accepts waking-world with mind as the upAdAna, whereas the other view has directly avidyA as the upAdAna.

First view:

"सर्वं ह्यन्तःकरणविकारमेव जगत्", "अतो मनोविकल्पनामात्रं द्वैतमिति सिद्धम्", "तेन हि मनसा विकल्प्यमानेन दृश्यं मनोदृश्यम् इदं द्वैतं सर्वं मन इति प्रतिज्ञा" - these statements appear to be within the framework of first option.

Second view:

"घटादिस्थानीयास्तु देहादिसङ्घाताः स्वप्नदृश्यदेहादिवन्मायाविकृतदेहादिवच्च आत्ममायाविसर्जिताः, आत्मनो माया अविद्या, तया प्रत्युपस्थापिताः" - this appears to be within the second framework.

It appears to me that this distinction is merely with respect to शङ्का-परिहार-सौकर्य. The fundamental features of DSV namely "(a) prAtibhAsika-sattA of entire seen (b) eka-jIva (c) ajnAta-sattA-abhAva of seen (d) sAkshi-bhAsyatva of entire seen" are common to both.

Regards.
Sudhanshu Shekhar.

[Ananta Chaitanya [Sarasvati]]

Namaste Santoshji, Jitendraji,

On Tue, Apr 1, 2025 at 7:48 PM Jitendra Pant via Advaita-l <adva...@lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

If I may add my request to Shri Santosh's: I would love to know which
English commentaries and translations of the Upanishads to go for, and also
for the other seminal texts, such as Vedanta-Sara, Aporaksha Anubhuti, and
Drg-Drisya Viveka etcetera. It is difficutl to find one that is lucid as
well as punctilious to the original.

On Mon, Mar 31, 2025 at 8:45 PM santosh mahapatra via Advaita-l <
adva...@lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

>
> I am keen to read and understand Vedas/Upansihads (possibly the
> commentaries of Masters) in the English versions as I am not quite
> comfortable in Sanskrit. May I have your suggestions regarding the order in
> which I should begin my journey? Should I begin with Vedas or Upanishads?
>

I would suggest to learn under a teacher live physically, online or recordings on Youtube, etc, in that order. If not, I found the Upanishad+bhAShya translations of Ramakrishna Ashram's Sw. Gambhiranandaji useful before i learnt Sanskrit. You could also try Gita press publications. 

For Vivekachudamani, Bharati Vidya Bhavan's book with HH Sringeri's vyAkhyA is good. I think they still sell them, so pls prefer to buy.

For other prakaraNa granthas, you could try Ramakrishna Ashram, Gitapress, Divine Life Society, or Arsha Vidya Gurukulam publications, but it is difficult to get exactly what you are looking for. You could also teaching styled books/notes of Sw. Paramarthanandaji available at arshaavinash.in.

If you haven't studied Tattvabodha, pls start there; then study Drgdrshyaviveka, Vivekachudamani, and/or at least parts of Panchadashi, etc, before anything in prasthAnatraya.

(PS: Pls use appropriate subject lines instead of responding to any available thread)

gurupAdukAbhyAm,

Ananta Chaitanya,

/* येनेदं सर्वं विजानाति, तं केन विजानीयात्। Through what should one know That, owing to which all this is known! [Br.Up. 4.5.15] */

[Michael Chandra Cohen]

namaste, 

AJ Alston translations of Upadesha Sahasri (titled: Thousand Teachings)  and Naiskarmya Siddhi are must reads. He translates for clarity and is especially helpful with difficult verses. Alston is the author of the 6 volume Samkara Sourcebooks and has also translated two of HH SSSS's key texts. 

And if you don't like SSSS, Balasubramian's Naiskarmya Siddhi is the best. Email me. 

Regards, Michael

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