Monthly Archives: March 2009

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ULLADU NAARPADU (Reality in forty Verses), Verse #8

. Advaita and Yoga, ART & POETRY . , , , , , ,

ULLADU NAARPADU
(Reality in Forty Verses)

The famous Vedantic poem in Tamil by Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi
(consisting of two preliminary verses called Mangalam, 40 verses which form the main text , and another 40 verses called the Appendix)

Detailed Commentary in Tamil by Lakshmana Sharma,
adapted into English by Profvk

(Continued from ULLADU NAARPADU – Verse No.7
See Post #48160
Of Harsha Satsangh)

Introduction to Verse No.8

That existent Reality does not have names and forms. However, allotting names and forms to That Absolute, taking it to be God and worshipping it will pave the way for Self-Realisation. In spite of all these it is the actual experience that shows it truthfully. There is no alternate means of realising it. This is the content of this eighth verse of Bhagavan.

Verse No.8

Eppeyar iTTu, evvuruvil Ettinum,
Ar, pEr, uru, il apporuLaikkAN vazhi adu. Ayinum,
am-meypporuLin uNmaiyil tan uNmaiyinai Orndu oDungi
onDrudalE uNmaiyil kANal, uNar.

Translation (Lakshmana Sharma)

Even though to worship Him in any form and by any name is a means towards the right vision of Him, who (really) is without name and form, true vision of Him consists in being at one with Him, by merging in Him the Transcendental Being, through the realisation of the identity of the Real Self with His real essence.

Translation (Prof. K. Swaminathan)

Under whatever name or form we worship It, It leads us on to knowledge of the nameless, formless Absolute. Yet, to see one’s true Self in the Absolute, to subside into It and be one with It, this is the true Knowledge of the Truth.

Translation (Osborne)

Under whatever name and form one may worship the Absolute Reality, it is only a means for realizing It without name and form. That alone is true realization, wherein one knows oneself in relation to that Reality, attains peace and realizes one’s identity with it.

Word by Word

eppeyar-iTTu : Whatever name you assign
evvuru-vil: (and) in whatever form
Ettinum : (you) propitiate it
adu. : that is
kANvazhi : the means of realizing
Ar apporuLai: that full and complete Reality
il : (which is) without
pEr: name
uru: (and) form.
Ayinum: However,
kANal: the Vision
uNmaiyil : in truth (is)
onDrudalE: only in becoming one
oDungi : (after) subsiding, sublating (oneself)
Orndu: (and) cognizing
tan uNmaiyinai: one’s own reality
uNmaiyil: in the Truth
ammeyp-poruLin : of that Reality.
uNar: Know (this)

Commentary (Lakshmana Sharma)

The JIva, Ishvara and the Universe are all mental constructs. In sleep where there is no mind, they don’t exist; the only Reality therefore is the Atman which is sat-cit-svarUpa. But man, trapped in the mAyA of the mind, thinks, out of Ignorance, he is a separate JIva and thus revolves in the vortex of samsAra; as such he cannot but think of a God as the maker of all Jivas and Universes. So long as he thinks of his Jivahood as real, God also has to be real for him. That God is in fact the unique sat-cit- svarUpa Reality. Because of Ignorance, the Atman which is the ever-existent Reality becomes foreign to him and is termed by him as God or Ishvara. That Reality is assigned names and forms by the ignorant devotee and he thinks of Him as distinct from him, as the Overlord of the Universe and as the Most Compassionate One. We already said that this is but natural. Our Bhagavan says this Bhakti type of worship will lead to a purification of the mind and a discriminating intellect and finally will take him to Self-Realisation. The second line of the present verse means exactly this. To get out of the bondage caused by names and forms, one can thus adopt the means of worshipping the Absolute Reality as God by assigning it names and forms.

The first line of the verse says that Brahman can be given any name and form associated with Shiva or Vishnu and one can worship it according to one’s taste. It is quite fitting to say that, since the Brahman that is worshipped as God is nameless and formless, whatever names and forms are imagined by a devotee those names and forms are accepted by God. This is Equanimity. It is only nonsense to fight with one another using notions of ‘My God’ and ‘Your God’.

The form for worship may be just a construct by the mind; or one might take any form in the outside world and worship the Absolute to be in that form. Thus the Sun, the Firmament, Fire, Mountain, River – any such natural form might be imagined as the form of the Absolute and worshipped. The highest among all such forms is that of the Guru who is an Atma-JnAni (One who has realised the Self). For, a JnAni does not think of himself as something different from the Absolute, nor as a body. That is why Krishna says in the Gita (VII: 18): ‘JnAni is Myself’. The Guru who is himself a JnAni, whatever way he thinks of himself, in the same way we should consider him. It is wrong to think of him as something different from Brahman. That seeker who thinks like that and works for Self-Realisation will not attain it.

The devotee who worships in this manner, without understanding that Self-Realisation is the ultimate objective, would want God to present before him in the form which he has imagined for Him. By the strength of his devotion he may even get a vision of that kind. But the vision that appears would not be a permanent one. It will be mentioned later that since in actuality God is not distinct from the Atman, the vision that shows up to him is again a mental construct, not real.

Though the devotee may not want Self-Realisation, he will ultimately attain it. It has to be said that is only due to God’s Grace. And that Grace is nothing but Brahman, that is God, being the Atman in the heart.

It is this Self-Realisation that gives permanent satisfaction. The latter half of the present verse indicates only this Self-Realisation. The last few verses of this chapter give the same meaning.

Bhagavan used to say that the above truth is also the lesson that we learn from the story of Prahlada occurring in JnAna-VashishhTam (different froim the one that occurs in the Bhagavatam and other Puranas). Prahlada’s father Hiranya-Kashipu conquered the three worlds and was comfortable in the thought of his being matchless. So his son Prahlada was living without any fear. But the father was vanquished and killed by Lord Vishnu. Prahlada thought that the same Vishnu could kill him also and this generated the fear of death in him. In order to overcome this fear, he surrendered to Vishnu Himself. To obtain His Grace, he observed devotion to Him by means of pUja, japa and dhyAna. Vishnu appeared before him in person and said: “For you to obtain immortality, this vision of mine is not enough. You have to realise the Vishnu in your Atman inside.”. And he was also taught what to practise. Accordingly Prahlada attained Self-Realisation and Immortality with the attendant Fearlessness.

Thus it is confirmed in this verse that the existent Reality, Brahman, is nothing but the Atman.

[To be continued in Verse #9].

PraNAms to all seekers of Truth.
PraNAms to Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi.
profvk

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Surrender: By Mourad Rashad

. Advaita and Yoga . , , ,

SURRENDER. What are you going to  surrender? What are you going to let go of? What is in your grip that you are going to drop?

I remember Rinzai (Lin Chai) said “Just rid your mind of the principle from which action springs”.

The Principle of Action, your own inner conviction that you can act and do something to change anything or to reach anything. I do not mean action, in the material and physical sense, NO; action is Intention, action is having a Purpose, what is your Intention? What is your Purpose? That is why the Prophet Mohamed said “Actions are based on intentions, and each man will reap what he intends”. Intention, manifests as planning, scheming, devising, calculating and controlling, all these are expressions of intention. What makes you see the world as world, not as a Divine Manifestation, a Divine Existence, God’s Face, and the Kingdom of Heaven or the Garden of Eden?  It is to have a purpose, to have an object in mind.  Without your intention, without your purpose, you are THERE. Without intention the Kingdom of God is at hand.

Surrender your intention to Him, to the Lord, to God. Have no intention, simply be as a child. A child does not know. Intention means that you know what to do and you imagine that this is for your own good. The question is how am I going to live and function without this planning, scheming, controlling…etc.? Start with simple things; say to yourself, I am not going to plan -about any simple item in your life. Then observe carefully how this item will turn out. You experiment with life; you experiment with your world. It will be seen, that what you had left without any planning, scheming, controlling, turns up beautiful, better than what you have hoped for, if you planned it yourself. It cannot be better. That is how you start, cultivating your faith; from small things, going up to larger things, more important issues in life and so forth. Faith – in not having an intention, in not having a purpose, faith in abstinence from planning – will increase, till one day; you will say to yourself “What a burden to plan and scheme”. The Lord plans for me, devises for me and schemes for me. All I have to do is to stop planning and be attentive; Guidance will come, doors will open and opportunities will offer themselves to you.

Lao Tzu said:

As to the roaming of the sages,
They move in utter emptiness,
Let their minds meander in the great nothingness;
They run beyond convention
And go through where there is no gateway.
They listen to the soundless
And look at the formless,
They are not constrained by society
And not bound to its customs.

The sages roam; they have no self generated purposeful activities. Purpose for their actions is imposed on them from without, from the Kingdom of Heaven. Their rein is not in their own hands.

There is a great Sufi Master called Ibn Atta Allah the Alexanderian. This Sufi master composed a book called ” Become Enlightened; Just Stop Planning”. Another great Sufi Master called Ahmed Al Refaaie said:” When I was in Mecca during pilgrimage, I took an oath that I will have no purpose again as long as I live”

Planning for man constitutes his whole life, his whole existence; without planning, there is no man. Without a purpose, you do not exist.  You become egoless. You drop your ego. You drop any purpose. Planning is what makes you an ego, an individual and a mortal. Stop planning, stop having a purpose and re-discover what you used to call your life, re-examine your world without  planning.  Secrets will become no secrets; the world will be transformed into the Kingdom of Heaven, into the Garden of Eden.

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ULLADU NAARPADU (Reality in Forty Verses) – Verse #7

. Advaita and Yoga . , , , , , ,

ULLADU NAARPADU
(Reality in Forty Verses)

The famous Vedantic poem in Tamil by Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi
(consisting of two preliminary verses called Mangalam, 40 verses which form the main text , and another 40 verses called the Appendix)

Detailed Commentary in Tamil by Lakshmana Sharma,
adapted into English by Profvk

(Continued from ULLADU NAARPADU – Verse No.6
See Post #48121 Of Harsha Satsangh)

Introduction to Verse No.7

So the world is a mental construct. But that raises the question: Is the Mind real? If the mind is real, then the world that appears to it may be argued as real. Of course if mind is not shown to be real, then the unreality of the world is a certain conclusion. This is what is taken up in this verse.

Verse No.7

ulagu aRivum ondRAy udittu oDungumEnum
ulagu aRivu tannAl oLirum.
ulagu aRivu tOnDri maRaidarku iDanAy
tOnDri maRaiyAdu oLirum pUnDRamAm akdE poruL.

Translation (Lakshmana Sharma)

The two, the universe and the mind, arise and set as one; yet this inert universe is lighted up by the mind alone; know that that infinite Being whose nature is Pure Consciousness and in which the two (the universe and the mind) arise and set, but which itself neither rises nor sets, is alone Real.

Translation (Prof. K. Swaminathan)

Though the world and mind rise and fade together, the world shines by the light of the mind. The ground whence the world and mind arise, and wherein they set, that Perfection rises not nor sets but ever shines. That is Reality.

Translation (Osborne)

Although the world and knowledge thereof rise and set together it is by knowledge alone that the world is made apparent. That Perfection wherein the world and knowledge thereof rise and set, and which shines without rising and setting, is alone the Reality.

Word by word

ulagu aRivum: The universe and the mind (intellect)
ondRay: simultaneously
udittoDungumEnum: rise and set (fade)
ulagu: The universe
oLirum: shines, is lighted
aRivu tannAl: by the mind (intellect).
pUnDramAm : The Infinite Fullness
oLirum: (which) shines
tOnDri maRaiyAdu: without rising or setting
iDanAy : (but is) the base
tOnDri maRaidaRku for the rising and setting (of)
ulagaRivu : the universe and the mind
akde poruL: that (Fullness) is alone the Reality.

Commentary (Lakshmana Sharma)

The universe is a construct of the mind said the previous verse; in other words, the universe is contained in the mind. This is recalled by this verse in its second line. So ‘ulagu oLirum aRivu tannAl’. After this comes ‘ulagaRivu’. The meaning of this is not just ‘the universe and the mind’. In the context after the second line, this could be taken as ‘the knowledge that expands itself into the universe’ (Note: uru = personification). Since the universe is not distinct from the mind (knowledge), the locus of the rising and setting of the intellect that causes it is also the locus of the rising and setting of the univese.

Thus #s6 and & 7 together say that except for the Reality that is the Atman, the mind as well as its construct, namely the universe are unreal. Earlier what was said by Bhagavan in his explanation of ‘uLLadaladu uLLavuNarvu uLLadO?’ (cf. Mangalam – 1) as the definition of Reality, is again reiterated here. The substratum which forms the base for the rising and setting of the universe and the mind shines always, without rising or setting. Since that is shown here to be the Reality, it follows that the universe and the mind which have the property of rising and setting are unreal.

In addition, it also follows that since the universe and the mind rise and set together as one, in actuality they are one. The mind (intellect, knowledge) does not have the purity of non-appearance of the universe. Similarly the universe does not appear without the presence of the mind (intellect, knowledge). Therefore these two are each an expansion of something else. That is the Ego, whose characterisitic will be explained later.

The Reality which is the base for everything is nothing but the only existing reality that is Brahman. It is self-luminous. Not like the universe which requires to be lighted by something else. Also it is not associated with the world-appearance like the mind. It is pure. To explain that there is nothing else which is real, it is said to be the Complete Fullness (pUrNam).

(To be continued in Verse #8)
[See also: https://luthar.com/wisdom-and-action-no-3-by-v-ganesan ]

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Illusion and Reality! Fooled by my own mind. By Mourad Rashad

. Advaita and Yoga . , , , , ,

Illusion and to become disillusioned. What the mystics mean by the term “The world is an illusion”?  We have a proverb -where I live- it says “The one you think is Moses turned out to be Pharaoh”. The one you think is Moses is the illusion. You think that this man is as virtuous as Moses; you were under the impression that he is kind and you were bewitched by this impression, you were blinded by  the spell of this  illusion. The man turned out to be Pharaoh instead of Moses. The man was revealed to you as wicked as Pharaoh. You were freed from the spell of illusion and you were disillusioned. You had been living all your life thinking, imagining and hallucinating that this man is virtuous. Then circumstances proved to you that he is not virtuous.

If you are asked, what is your experience now? You would answer, “The world”. I am experiencing the world. I am in the world. You think that the phenomenal appearances -animals, humans, mountains, rivers and skies- constitute the world which you reside in and experience. This is the illusion. It is the way of viewing and reacting to these phenomena that constitute the world. This means it is my own thoughts about, and what I feel towards, and how I react to these phenomenal appearances, which gives me the impression that I am living in a world. If it is my own thoughts, feeling and reactions that are responsible for my experience of a world in which I reside. It follows that I am living in a world fabricated by my own mind. A world, fabricated by my own thoughts, feelings and reactions. This entails that I live in my own mind and in my own concepts. I come to believe that this world constitutes the sole reality. My only reason to believe that is UNANIMITY. The conventional way of seeing and experiencing these phenomenal appearances agreed upon by mortal humans, not by the Sages or Prophets. For the Sages and Prophets speak differently. For example, Lao Tzu said:   

As to the roaming of the sages,
They move in utter emptiness,
Let their minds meander in the great nothingness;
They run beyond convention
And go through where there is no gateway.
They listen to the soundless
And look at the formless,
They are not constrained by society
And not bound to its customs.

 Have you ever investigated  your experience of these phenomenal appearances without how you thought about them and how you felt towards them. Just like Jiddu Krishnamurti (JK) used to say “Have you ever listened or saw anything without your screens”. How I think about and how I feel towards these phenomenal appearances are my screens. The impression that I am living in a world is due to how I thought about and how I felt towards these phenomenal appearances.

Is there another Reality? Am I going to discover a more solid and truer Reality to this phenomenal experience without my screens?

The human mystical legacy insists that only God Exists and only Truth Exists, there is only One Reality in the whole Experience. Man is carrying out all his activities through this One Reality. Nevertheless, we are oblivious to this Reality, although every mystical writing states that you are living in this One Reality, this Divine Existence. Definitely this reality is not my mind’s world and my fabricated concepts about the phenomenal appearances. If my mind has fabricated my impression of living in a world, based only on UNANIMITY,  then Reality is masked and covered by what humans agreed on,  masked by convention  and this is my  screen. Convention is my screen. This one Reality is obscured and tarnished by my impression due to my screen. A screen that keeps on telling me  that I am living in a world. The Reality of man’s experience here and now is masked by these screens. This is man’s illusion. An illusion that there is a man living in a world with other men, amid other phenomenal appearances, all tied together by CONVENTION. My mind is the CONVENTION.

To become disillusioned, this is a horse of another color. First you must see that you have been fooled by your own mind. Then we can find a way to become disillusioned.

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ULLADU NAARPADU (Reality in Forty Verses) -#6

. Advaita and Yoga . , , , , ,

ULLADU NAARPADU

(Reality in Forty Verses)

The famous Vedantic poem in Tamil by Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi

(consisting of two preliminary verses called Mangalam, 40 verses which form the main text , and another 40 verses called the Appendix)

Detailed Commentary in Tamil by Lakshmana Sharma,

adapted into English by Profvk

(Continued from ULLADU NAARPADU – Verse No.5

See also Post #48090 of Harsha Satsangh)

Introduction to Verse No.6

The verses #s 6 and 7 elaborate the first meaning (Can there be a sense of Existence without something that is?) of the very first line of Mangalam -1: `ULLadaladu uLLa-vuNarvu uLadO‘. (See #47923 of Harshasatsangh. Also see https://luthar.com/ulladu-naarpadu). In this verse #6 Bhagavan explains that what we see as the universe is a mental construct.

Verse # 6

ulagu aimpulankaL uru, vERu andRu;

av aimpulan aimpoRikkup pulan Am.

ulagai manam ondRu aimpoRivAyAl OrndiDudalAl

Manattai andRi ulagu uNDO?

Translation (Lakshmana Sharma)

The world has no form apart from the objects of sense, namely sounds and the rest; thus the whole universe is just sensations of the five sense-organs; through these five sense-organs the one mind knows the world. That being so, say, is the world other than the mind?

Translation (Prof. K. Swaminathan)

The world is made up of the five kinds of sense perceptions and nothing else. And those perceptions are felt as objects by the five senses. Since through the senses the mind alone perceives the world, is the world other than the mind?

Translation (Osborne)

The world is nothing more than an embodiment of the objects perceived by the five sense-organs. Since, through these five sense-organs, a single mind perceives the world, the world is nothing but the mind. Apart from the mind can there be a world?

Word by Word

ulagu: The universe

Aim pulankaL : by the five sense-objects

uru : embodiment, form

vERu anDRu : nothing else

av aimpulan : those five sense-objects (aindu = five)

aimpoRikku : for the five sense-organs (poRi = sense-organ)

pulan AM : are perceptions

manam onDru: one mind

OrndiDudalAl : because (it) perceives

ulagai: the universe

aimpoRiyAl : by the five sense-organs

manattai anDRi : other than the mind

ulagu :the world

uNDO : does (it) exist?

Commentary (by Lakshmana Sharma)

He who says `I see the world’ thinks he is seeing the world which is outside his body; but he is actually seeing it, through and as, his mind, that is sitting in the body, sees it.

[Note by VK: One cannot but quote the 4th verse of

dakshinAmUrti ashhTakam by Adi Sankaracharya here.

The explanations below should be read in parallel with

the commentary on that verse. For an elementary exposition, see

http://www.geocities.com/profvk/gohitvip/63page8.html

For an exhaustive & substantial presentation of this verse,

see V. Subrahmanian’s posts #s30396 and 30466 of the `advaitin’ list.]

Bhagavan explains what the actuality is here. The JIva that is the seer has identified itself with the mind. The five sense-perceptions of sound, touch, form, taste, and smell actually arise in the mind. They are the sensations of the sense-objects. The mind `sees’ them. Other than these five types of sensations there is nothing else in the world.

Man thinks: These five sensations are having the objects outside as their source and their existence is realised by the mind through the five sense-organs such as the ear and the eye. This is only a mental inference, not the actuality. All enquirers agree that it is wrong to think that the objects of the world are visible and perceptible. Therefore those who conceive the world as a reality have the obligation to prove that these source-objects are `real’. Again, since they are `outside’ they have to prove that there is an `outside’.

Don’t say that you are seeing the worldly things by your own eyes and so what other confirmation does anybody want? The eye that sees is part of the body. That body itself is seen by the same eye. Since the body is part of the universe, the eye is also not distinct from that universe. So the eye cannot be a confirmatory witness to the truth of the universe. `uDalanDRi uNDO ulagam‘ (Apart from the body does the world exist?) says Verse #5. So the universe and the body are one and the same. So what is confirming what?

Also Bhagavan has already said that something which is real cannot appear and disappear. In the next verse (#7) also he reiterates this. By these two verses the conclusion is obtained that the universe is unreal.

Further it is those who contend that the universe is real who have the responsibility to prove it. Those who disagree with that contention don’t have that responsibility. Now therefore let us look at the arguments of those who say that the world is real.

This verse only says that the world is just mind-construct, that is, an imagination by the mind. It appears when the mind is active and disappears when the mind has vanished; so what else can be the world if not a mental construct, says Bhagavan. If it were not a mental construct it must appear even in sleep (where there is no mind) and in turIya also. But this is not so.

You may reply that the world does not appear in sleep because the sense organs are not live there, and that actually the world does not cease to exist. This is not right. In sleep the Atman does not cease to exist. It is the Atman that is Knowledge itself which is `the eye of the eyes and eye of the mind’s eye’. In other words the Atman is that Knowledge by which the eye becomes capable of its function. The Knowledge of the Atman is its very Nature, therefore it is eternal. That is why the Upanishads say that the Atman doesn’t require any eyes to see. If you ask `Then, why does the world not appear in sleep, or in the state of Knowledge of the turIya?’, the answer could only be that it (the world) is an imagination of the mind which is itself unreal. That the Atman is self-luminous will be taken up in Verse #7.

Some people do argue that the world does illuminate itself (= show its existence) all the time and so it must be taken to be real. A person asked the Bhagavan the following question: “How can I assert that the world does not exist when I sleep. Those people who were awake at the time have undoubtedly seen the world then. And they tell me about it. So should I not conclude that the world continues to exist even when I sleep?”. And Bhagavan answered: “You did not see them, right when you were sleeping”.

The meaning of this is: The doubt, that the world may be a mental construct because it does not appear when one is sleeping, cannot be resolved by a person who belongs to the world that appears only after you wake up from sleep. They and their words and everything connected with them are part of the world which is under contention here. So the question arises whether they are real or mental constructs. So long as you cannot answer this question, how can they be witnesses to clear my doubt?

Just as the world does not appear in sleep it also does not appear in turIya, that is in Self-Realisation. This comes out in many places in this text. Whatever remains in turIya that is the only Reality, all else is unreal. This is the conclusion.

Thus it is clear that there is no sufficient evidence that the world exists outside of our mind. The truth about the world is this: It is the mind that constructs the world and then confounds itself in the belief that the world is real. By thoughts does the world arise in the mind, and by the erasure of those thoughts is the world destroyed. Thus the mind has the power of creation and destruction; but the mind is not aware of this power. It creates and destroys, but not consciously. And then it confounds itself.

That the mind itself can create and can also confound itself is clear from the phenomena of dreams and daydreams. This power also exhibits itself in well-concocted fictitious stories and plays. This coordinates well with the teachings of the jnAnis who say that this waking-state world is also a mental construct.

Here there could be an objection. The dream-world is shown to be unreal as soon as we wake up. But, in the same manner, the waking-state world does never show to be unreal. The reply to this is found in all Vedanta texts and also in Bhagavan’s Arunaachala–ashhTakam. Just as dreams occur on the bed (`AdhAra‘) of what is called `sleep’, the dream of the waking-state has a bed (= base) called Ignorance (ajnAnam). It is itself a long sleep. It is in that long sleep does the dream of the waking-state occur. When this sleep of Ignorance vanishes by Self-Realisation, this waking-state dream also would be known to be unreal. This is the reply to the objection. This agrees well with all of Bhagavan’s teachings. Thus the waking-state world is as much a dream-world as the world of the dream.

[Note by VK: Those who want to delve more into this subject of similarity

of the waking-state to the dream-state, may go to

Chapter II called `Vaitathya-prakaraNa‘ of Mandukya-Karika

by Gaudapadacharya and the commentary by Adi Sankara.]

The succeeding verses will establish that the `outside’-`inside’ difference, as well as the difference defined by Time and Space, which are both the framework under which we perceive the world and all such differences are also not real

That all differences that are held to be real by unknowing people are in fact unreal is illustrated by a story in Vishnu Purana, where the jnAni by name Ribhu instructs his disciple Nidhagha about the theory of the Atman. Here is the story.

Nidhagha had upadesha from Sage Ribhu several times; still the vAsanA of `difference’ and attachment to Karma had not left the disciple. So Ribhu decided to go to Nidhagha’s place and enact a drama. Nidhagha after his bath in the river was returning home. There was a crowd of people on the way; so he stood aside for some time on the roadside. That is when Ribhu appeared before him. The latter did not recognise his Guru; he thought it was one from the crowd. A conversation ensued:

Ribhu: Why are you standing on the side?

Nidhagha: The King of this place is going in a procession; that is why this crowd. I am standing aside until the procession passes.

Ribhu: Who is the King here?

Nidhagha: The one who is sitting on the elephant.

Ribhu: Which is the elephant and which is the king?

Nidhagha: The one who is above is the King; the one who is below is the elephant.

Ribhu: I don’t understand; please explain this to me.

Nidhagha (jumping immediately onto the shoulders of Ribhu): See here. Just as I am above you, the King is above. Just as you are below me, the elephant is below.

Ribhu: Please explain who is the `I” and who is the `you’ in what was said.

Nidhaga was shocked. Suddenly he realised that it was his Guru who was talking like this. He jumped to the ground and fell at the feet of his Guru and said: “Who else can explain advaita in such a dramatic and simple way other than my Guru himself?”.

The moral of the story is: It is the Ignorance, which allocates the concept of `I’ to a single body, that is the root cause of all kinds of differences.

The complete truth of `the world’ will be taken up at the end of this chapter.

(To be continued in Verse #7).