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Hymn to the Lord

Dakshinamurti

A Commentary by

Shri Yellamraju Srinivasa Rao

Verse 2

बीजस्याऽन्तरिवाङ्कुरो जगदिदं प्राङ्गनिर्विकल्पं पुनः
मायाकल्पितदेशकालकलना वैचित्र्यचित्रीकृतम् ।
मायावीव विजृम्भयत्यपि महायोगीव यः स्वेच्छया
तस्मै श्रीगुरुमूर्तये नम इदं श्रीदक्षिणामूर्तये ॥2॥

When the world dissolves and everything appears as the Self, would the world be completely absent? Even if the world ceases to exist externally, wouldn’t the world continue to exist inside us? On one hand Shankara says the world is inside (antargatam) us, and on the other hand he says the Self is non-dual, that It is One without another. How can the Self be non-dual, if we continue to perceive the world inside us? What does the word “inside” (antargatam) really mean? When a thing is “inside” another thing, can the thing be the same as the other thing that contains it? For example, if a book is inside a box, can the book become the box? Similarly, if the world is inside us, it cannot become the Self. When there are two entities, it is duality. How can it be non-duality?

Shankara answers these questions using the analogy of a seedling. He says the world is inside the Self, just like a seedling inside a seed. The seedling manifests outside as a plant. Before it manifests externally, it is inside the seed. Only because it is already present inside the seed, it could appear outside. Nothing can appear suddenly out of nowhere. If it did not appear previously, it is only because it was hidden inside its source. Therefore, only that which is already present inside can manifest externally. This is in line with our common experience.

Another question now arises - how can a thing that is inside something be the same as the thing that contains it? The seedling analogy answers this question. The seedling came out of the seed. Before it came out, it was hidden inside the seed. What was the nature of that seedling when it was inside the seed? Would it be the same as the seed or different from it? If we break open the seed and examine it, we will only see a single, undifferentiated substance, which is the seed itself. There is no duality inside the seed.

Similarly, there is no duality in Consciousness (prAgnya). Before manifestation, this world of animate and inanimate objects is present, un-manifested and undifferentiated, in Consciousness. When we say the world is inside Consciousness, we are not suggesting a dependent relationship between them because Consciousness is a single undivided substance. If Consciousness is one homogenous substance, how can we say the world is inside It? Since we, in ignorance, incorrectly apprehend a world outside our Consciousness, to correct our misapprehension, Shankara first provisionally says that the world is inside us, but, later, to make sure we do not assume that there are two separate entities, he says that they are inside us as a single undifferentiated substance, that is Consciousness.

Just like the seed that manifests as a sprout, undifferentiated Consciousness manifests externally as the world. Because of the inherent power of the seed to sprout, the seed itself manifests externally as a seedling. This power or energy is formless, so it is undifferentiated from the seed. Power and the Powerful are not two separate entities. This is the operating principle we see all around us. The seed and its energy are a single entity. It is this energy that transforms the seed into a seedling and displays it externally. In reality, it is not a transformation. It is only an appearance, an illusion that the seed has transformed into a seedling. Whether it is a sprout, a plant, or a tree, wherever we touch and feel it, we will only touch and feel the attributes of the seed and nothing else. Therefore, it is the seed itself that appears as a sprout, plant, etc. only because of its inherent ability to manifest itself in various forms.

Similarly, AtmA or the Self is undifferentiated, pure Consciousness. Like the seed, Atma also has an intrinsic power. Because the seed and other worldly objects have a form, their power is limited. But Consciousness is formless. It permeates the entire world. Since It is Infinite, Its power is also Infinite. Additionally, unlike the seed which is insentient, Consciousness is sentient. The Vedantins refer to the power of Consciousness as mAya - that which measures and limits everything. mAya measures the Infinite Consciousness and presents it as though finite. Consciousness is not different from Its power of mAya. The power belongs to It. Hence, It is Consciousness Itself, by wielding Its own power, manifests the world of names and forms.

Space, time, and matter are the three dimensions of creation that modern day scientists acknowledge as well. These are the foundation stones of the entire appearance of creation. mAya first manifests space. When space moves, it is time. Time manifests as matter. Space is formless but does not move. Time moves but is formless. Matter has a form but does not move. mAya creates these apparent divisions in Consciousness. Like the combination of the seven basic colors to create various shades of colors, or the combination of the seven notes to create different melodies, these three dimensions of mAya combine together mysteriously to present the magical world we perceive!

Unlike the inert power of the seed to sprout, shakti or mAya, as the pure, un-differentiated, intrinsic power of Consciousness, is sentient (Conscious Power). As the intrinsic power of Consciousness, which is Intelligence itself, It is Self-aware. It is aware of Its own expansion and manifestation because Consciousness and Its creative power are not different. It is the un-differentiated power of Consciousness Itself that appears as the manifested world.

According to logicians, the attributes of the cause must appear in the effect. The world is the effect. Consciousness is the cause. mAya shakti is the power that manifests the world out of Consciousness. Although we refer to them as three (Consciousness, power of mAya, and the manifested world), they are not separate entities. The cause (Consciousness) itself manifests as the effect (world) through Its own creative power. The basic substance that the seed is made up of pervades the entire tree. Similarly, Consciousness Itself enters the creation and pervades it. From the viewpoint of the Absolute Reality, this means the entire creation is Consciousness alone, and the names and forms we perceive are only an appearance. A lie!

To illustrate this truth, Shankara provides two examples. The first is the example of a magician who hypnotizes people with his magical tricks. For instance, he creates a lovely city with celestial beings. Mesmerized by his magic, people watch his manifestations in wonder as though they are real. When the magician stops performing and withdraws his magical creations, nothing remains. He stands alone by himself. What happened to all the magical objects he displayed earlier? They were just illusions he created with his magical powers. Not real. His creations require the magician, his magical powers, and the objects he manifests. When he withdraws his creations, only he and his power remain. Since his power is invisible and intrinsic to him, it is not different from him. Hence, only he remains.

Shankara gives another example, that of the great yogis of the past. A yogi’s magical powers are far greater than that of the magician. Ancient Indian mythologies, are full of stories that describe the magnificent powers of great sages and gods in the past. In Ramayana, for instance, Sage Bharadwaja is said to have manifested a delicious festive meal for King Bharata and his army. In Mahabharata it is said that, when King Vishwamitra and his army arrived tired and hungry to sage Vashista’s hermitage, the sage received his guests with great respect and instantly served them a sumptuous meal with the help of his wish-fulling sacred cow (kAmadhenu). The king Vishwamitra, who later became Sage Vishwamitra, used his power of austerity to manifest a heaven in space! There are many such stories of different yogis at different times who displayed such great powers. Such yogis exist today as well, although we rarely see them.

How could these yogis demonstrate such great magical powers? What materials did they use? They did not require any external materials. They used their own inherent shakti (power or energy) freely to create. All they needed was an intention. Mere intention was enough to convert their knowledge (jnAnam) into action (kriyA). Hence, they manifested objects and situations according to people’s wishes. This power of the yogis is not like the inert power of the seed. It is “Conscious power,” so these yogis could manifest by mere intention. Inert objects, such as the seed, do not have such an intrinsic power. They depend on the universal all-pervading Conscious energy to transform into anything, from a seed into a seedling, etc. The shakti of these inert objects, therefore, is limited, while the shakti of enlightened yogis is the Supreme Consciousness Itself, so It is unlimited.

Based on the extraordinary powers demonstrated by yogis, we can imagine the Infinite power of the Supreme Consciousness. Since It is Complete and Perfect, Its power (mAya) is also Complete and Perfect. The world is the effect produced by the un-manifested mAya shakti (cause) of the Supreme Consciousness. Since shakti is the intrinsic nature of Consciousness, it is not different from Consciousness.

Therefore, in reality, there is no world that is separate from Consciousness. The world we perceive is only an appearance of the creative-power (mAya) that is intrinsic to Consciousness. Hence, the world is not different or separate from the power that manifested it. There is no difference between the ‘power’ and the ‘powerful’ (Consciousness). Together they are the One Supreme Undifferentiated Consciousness.