CHAPTER THREE

Asatya Darsanam—Vision of Non-Truth

Verse - 8


मायैव जगतामादिकारणं निर्मितं तया ।

सर्वं हि मायिनो नान्यदसत्यं सिद्धिजालवत् ॥ ८ ॥


Then illusive relativity is the primal cause of the moving world structured by this;

Indeed, all is no other than the Magician, non-truth is like a magic net of psychic powers.


Sree Narayana Guru

Commentary


In this verse the sage tells us that illusive relativity is the primal cause, and this is how the moving world is structured. When we completely identify ourselves with the relative world and become attached to it, we experience all the fleeting joys and sorrows of phenomenal existence. It is then that humans are subjected to mental confusion and unhappiness. As the Kaivalya Upanishad (verse 12) points out: "Then the Self becomes deluded by illusive relativity, identifying with the physical body and all activities." When one ceases to identify oneself with illusive relativity, then anxiety and fear vanish.

Illusive relativity is associated with the Great Goddess Sakti, who is not merely illusive relativity but the energy-power which projects and conceals. She is the Great Magician as well as the Absolute. Here is what the Markandeya Purana says: "You are the supreme and eternal Goddess in whom all are established. The Absolute is supreme and imperishable and the cosmos is perishable. Just as fire is in a stick and atoms in the earth, so the Absolute and the entire cosmos remain in You."

Here it is a question of being able to distinguish between the absolute-constant and relative-variable mentioned by Sankaracharya in the Vivekachudamani.

Sree Narayana Guru