Hari OM
'Text-days' are for delving into the
words and theory of Advaita Vedanta.
Can we work our way through the trickeries of Maya to reach the
Truth? Yes! Use those very same 'trickeries' as a path.
sdanNde
icdakaze mayame"StiqNmn>,
Ah<ta
gjRn< tÇ xarasarae ih yÄm>.40.
mhamaehaNxkare=iSmNdevae
v;Rit lIly,
tsya
v&:qeivRramay àbaexEksmIr[>.41.
Sadaanande chidaakaashe maayaameghas-tatinmanaH,
Ahantaa garjanam tatra dhaaraasaaro hi yattamaH ||40|
Mahaamohaandhakaare'smin-devo varshati liilayaa,
Tasyaa vRshterviraamaaya prabodhaika-samiiranaH ||41||
In the sky of Consciousness which is
of the nature of Existence and Bliss, Maya is the cloud, the mind the
lightening, the ego the thunder and verily the downpour is inertia.
In this pitch darkness of deep
delusion, the Lord rains sportingly. For the cessation of this downpour, Self
Realisation alone is the wind which disperses the clouds.
To assist us in our saadhana, Adi Shankaraacharya now points us to
nature. Space is empty and accommodating of all with it, with being affected in
any way itself. On our planet, we experience 'weather'; rain clouds gather and
the sky darkens. If this happens at night, we experience like pitch, not even
the moon can be seen. There may be lightning or thunder, depending on how heavy
the storm. The air might be funnelled becoming a frightening wind. Rain will
fall, sometimes so hard it causes damage, by the weight of its fall or by the
floods which result once it has landed.
Making a comparison, we are told that the Sat-Chit-Aananda is the
'space' in what all else sits. The clouds which arise are Maya/ignorance. The
thicken and swirl and cover the sky, obscuring S-C-A/'space'. This would be the
layer of vaasanas which are then manifested in our minds and, with lightning
speed, we are caught up in all the small, ridiculous storms they create.
Sometimes it is overpowering. Our egos take up the storms and rage with them,
becoming the thunder and adding to the ignorance by claiming everything as our
individual own - "I/my". The 'rain' is the doership, the body
identity and also qualities such as sattva, rajas and tamas. Ignorance
fully rains upon us.
Just as the wind ensures the clouds do not stay for long, so it is
that we can turn the mind upon the 'rain' and start to eliminate it, working
our way through to the pure 'space' once again.
