1

Vaitathya Prakaranam

Summary of Agama

It is main prakaranam as Upanishad occurs in it. It is foundation for other prakaranams. In this
chapter also some 29 karikas were written. But predominantly they are only summing up or
rearranging the upanishadic contents except for a few points regarding srishti prakaranam. They
were his contribution. He discussed sad karya and asad karya vada. Most others were just a
simple notes on Upanishadic mantras.
We can broadly classify the contents of Upanishad into two sections - one dealing with atma
section and the other OM vicara. Each section has six mantras each. First atma vicara is discussed
from 2-7. OM vicara follows 8-12 plus mantra. Atma vicara is in the form of avastha traya vicara.
Based on this atma was divided into 4 padas - atma with first avastha, with 2nd avastha and with
3rd avastha and without avastha. First atma was called visva, second taijasa, third prajna and
fourth Turiya. Atma with no avastha is not another avastha. People do think that it is an avastha
like nirvikalpa samadhi. It is in and through all the other three avasthas.
Of this, the first three are mithya and fourth is satyam. Since first three are mithya, we can say
that even though all the three avasthas constantly change, the fourth one remain the same all the
time. Mithya avastha changes do not disturb the satyam, the turiyam. So atma is turiyam all the
time. Just as rope is rope all the time even when sarpa appears, survives or dismissed, rope is
same all the time. So too atma the turiyam. This fact we have to know and be aware to it. Visva is
there from worldly angle and at that time also I am turiyam. So too with taijasa and prajna. So
jnani is turiyam. Jnani is turiyam all the time. When we say atma is turiyam all the time, atma is
not some peculiar thing but it means I. Upanishad is all the time talking of I only. It is the only
reality in all three avasthas. Entire body and mind complex centres on I. Do not say world is there
for other people in waking. To say that also I am required. Neither others or world of others is
there. In svapna also I am central factor for dream experience. Whatever is experienced is mithya
and experiencer, I, is satyam. The only thing is with respect to object of experience, I get
different names. I am ever the turiyam, satyam. In this fashion mandukya has to be understood.
Otherwise I can only make charts of all categories. - padas and matras. I am called visva etc. I am
turiyam in fact. I am asangah. I am unaffected. No tragedies in life. In sushupti itself I am free
from all problems. What to talk of in turiyam.
Upanishad has to be studied from the standpoint of I. Then you can find change in our attitude.
Problems should disappear after study. There are situations only for certain actions to be done.
There are situations and no problems. Objectively they are situations. When it is thrown on
yourself it has become problems. Seeing objectively I am turiyam. If I am visvah then I have to
worry. There are no problems in the vision of Vedanta to solve. Vedanta does not resolve any
problem. I am santam sivam and advaitam.
Om vicara has also to be done similarly. Four padas are compared to four matras. A stands for
visva. And so on. Silence is turiyam. As I chant Om, I should remember that I am thinking of
2

myself. As the thought of akara comes, it is referring to me, the caitanyam who is satyam
alongwith the entire world which is the object of experience. As it comes to ukara, the entire
jagrat world is resolved and still I am there with sukshma prapanca. When I say m, the sukshma
prapanca is resovled stil I am there with karana prapanca. When there is silence, I alone am there
- prapancopasama, santam+ The process is same. Instead of padartha vicara, it is pada vicara. . A
standing for jagrat world words, u for dream world words and so on. Silence is caitanyam in
which all world of words are resolved. In atma vicara, we are taking three padarthams. In both
enquiry both should be included. Result in both is silence.
Of course, for those people, who find it difficult to do this, upasana is prescribed. In akara virad
upasana and ukare HG upasana and so on for manda madhyama adhikaris. Ayam atma Brahma
for uttama. Ayam atma is turiyam and Om refers to amatra. Turiyam as well as amatra is
Brahman. Lakshyartha we have to take. Om is Brahman - here also amatra is lakshyartham. What
is turiyam the amatra? It is I the silence the awareness.
Introduction to second prakaranam
In Vaitathya etc Acharya is building up certain hidden ideas from the Upanishad. Hidden ideas
refer to ideas not directly said by Upanishad but it is there indirectly. It is said implicitly. We have
to read between the lines. Acharya does this in second and third. We have no mantras at all
hereafterwards. 38 in second and 48 in third. Fourth has 100.
Which idea he is to take up mainly. The two words advaitam and prapancopasama are the two
words which Acharya very elaborately discusses. Prapancopasama literally means atma is
turiyam in which the entire dvaita prapanca is resolved. Prapapncasya Upasamah yasmin. What is
resolution here? Dissolution can be two fold. It is like the salt dissolving in water. Salt is there or
not? Is. But I do not see in solid form but it is in invisible form. For taste it is available. If you
evaporate the water, you will get back the salt. Now the question is when the Upanishad says
dvaitam has dissolved in turiyam, does dvaitam continue there in unmanifest form or is it totally
absent. All the other darsanas say that dvaitam is part of lord and it comes from Lrod and it
resolves in lord and is sustained by lord. We say dvaitam is not there. It is not that dvaita is there
in dormant form but it is absent in turiyam. How do you say that? It is established by the other
word ‘advaitam’. Because if dvaitam is resolved and continues to be there in dormant form, you
cannot use the word advaitam because dvaitam is still there like salt in water, turiyam cannot be
called advaitam. Dvaitam in manifest form or unmanifest form is dvaitam only. A seed cannot be
called advaitam as it contains dvaitam within it. It willl later become branches, etc. It will become
many seeds. Advaitam cannot become dvaitam in manifest or unmanifest form. Either karana
rupena or karya rupena dvaitam nasti yatra tadeva advaitam.
So maya or prakriti also cannot be called advaitam because even though during pralaya maya
remains one, during srishti she becomes many. As 5 elements etc. Maya contains dvaitam in
unmanifesf form. World contains dvaitam in manifest form and so it is also not advaitam. Maya
and world contain dvaitam in karana and karya rupa. Turiyam is called advaita meaning it does
not have karana dvaitam or karya dvaitam. It does not have jagat or maya in it. So it is called
prapanca upasama. In it dvaitam is absent and not dormant.
 3

The question is how can dvaitam be absent when our senses clearly reveal dvaitam. It is right in
front of our eyes. How can there be absence of prapanca when it is available for experience. It has
to be reconciled now. There is contradiction between sruti and pratyaksha. Sruti is pramanam.
Pratyaksha also pramanam. Both are valid means of knowledge. For that alone we bring in new
idea called mithya. There are certain things which we experience but which are not there. Any
number of them like blue sky or mirage water or sun rise stationery earth. 60000 miles per hour
or something. Pratyaksha gives experience which need not be a fact. Pratyaksha means seeing,
smelling etc. Pratyaksha often misleads. So too Acharya says pratyaksha gives experience of
dvaitam but it is not there. What we experience need not exist. Such a status of the world is called
mithya. That which is experienced but on enquiry which is not there. So turiyam is satyam and
visva etc are mithya.
Upanishad does it say? It does not directly say but it is indirectly saying. How does the
Upanishad say indirectly? When turiyam is advaitam, definitely dvaitam like visva etc must be
mithya. If the visva etc. are there in manifest or unmanifest form then turiyam cannot be
advatiam. So dvaitam cannot be there but still it is experienced and so it is mithya. So falsehood
of universe is the implication of the word advatiam. This falsification is discussed in second
chapter. Jaganmithyatva niscayah. Establishing the falsehood of the universe. All six items -
vyashti and samashti are mithya. All of them really one turiyam. If visva is satyam or mithya?
You can answer both ways. If you take the essence of visva it is turiyam. So as turiyam visva is
satyam. Turiya rupena visva is satyam. Visva rupena mithya. Associated with jagrat prapanca he
is called visva. So from the standpoint of upadhi, the jagrat prapanca, visva is mithyatva. Upadhi
drshtya mithya. Nothing is totally mithya. Because it has to have satyam as adhishthanam. Status
is mithya and content is satyam.
Instead of using the word mithya, acharya is using the word vaitathya. Vitathah is adjective.
Vaitathyam is noun. Falsehood. The second chapter establishes it. It is implied idea.
Though Sruti is pramana, Acharya is going to use logic to establish mithyatva. By sruti and
anumana he is doing this as sruti based logic it is. Anumana idea we should have. First thing is
inference has to be used when pratyaksha does not work. Anumana works in a particular manner.
For that pratyaksha basis is necessary. Like standard example of fire inference seeing smoka. This
is based on pratyaksha of seeing both together. Where there is smoke, there is fire. Not reverse.
Gas stove has fire but no smoke. This knowledge is vyapti or coexistence of two things.
Thereafter where I see only smoke far away like in hill top, then I infer its presence. I recollected
vyapti for this purpose. Smoke becomes hetu or linga. If smoke should become hetu for jnanam
of fire, vyapti jnanam is must which is pratyaksha based. Locus which is here mountain, is called
pakshah. Conclusion is parvatah vahniman. This is called sadhya. Presence of smoke is reason. It
is called hetu. Finally an example should be given which points out vyapti sthalam. As in the case
of yagasala. It is called drishtanta. An anumana vakya should have all these four factors.
In this prakaranam also we want to prove jagat is mithya through logic. Locus of discussion is
jagat. Pakshah. Sadhyam is it is mithya. Reason given is hetu which we will see. Drishtantah is
dream. Jagrat prapancah mithya amuka hetutvat. For these so and so reasons. Drishtantah is
svapna prapancavat.
4

We use anumanam all the time. When a doctor is checking blood of a patient, patient is paksha.
Sadhya is disease is there or not. Hetu is the presence of factors like virus. Drihstantah is
experience of previous patients or research. Then vyapti is arrived. Wherever such symptoms are
there, disease is there.
If we have to use svapna as example, it must be mithya. Svapnam must have been proved as
mithya. This person is beautiful like Rama, then Rama must be beautiful. Otherwise he cannot be
given as example. We want to say jagrat prapanca is mithya like svapna prapanca. So it must be
mithya. Some people say svapna also is satyam. Then we cannot take this as example. So the first
job is to prove svapna prapanca is mithya. Once svapna is proved as mithya, then example has
been proved. Drishtanta siddhi is there. Once the example is established we can sue this to prove
jagrat prapanca also is mithya.
How does he prove svapna prapanca is mithya. For that he uses another inference. We require a
second inference now. For this anumana the paksha is svapna prapanca is pakshah. Sadhya is it is
mithya. Hetu is uchita desa kala abhavat. It does not have required space and time. Example he
does not give. Like magic world. Logical establishment of unreality of dream world is the first
topic and it goes upto verse 3.
*The need for proof comes because the world is taken as real. Why real? Drsyatvat. Dvaitin’s
argument is that since there is illusion, there must be satyam of that vastu. (So translating the
word as illusion they get into problem.) Mithya is vastunah atmanah ananyatvam alone. Subject,
expereince of sukha and duhkha and obejcts are all not separate from atma. Both waking and
dream world are so.
Karika 1
Manishinah ahuh - the wise men say the following. No acharya claims any idea as his own.
They always say this is ho we have been taught. He is guru of Sankaracarya. He also says so.
Manisha is wisdom. Manishin is man of wisdom. Svapne is saptami. Sandhi rule makes it
svapna. In dream. What do they say? Bhavah. Bhava means object. All objects are vaitathyam.
Paksha and sadhya are mentioned. Reason is bhavanam antasthanat. Objects are within oneself.
Dream world does not exist outside the body of dreamer. Everything is seen within only. Even
that is not within the whole body. It is within mind only. What is wrong with it? We are seeing
many things within the body like pancreas etc. They are not unreal. Just because within the body
how can it be unreal? So hetu is samvrtatvena hetuna. Within a limited space. Samvrtam means
limited space. Idea is that heart within the body is acceptable because body is bigger and heart is
smaller compared to the body. What about elephant in dream world. Or mountain or train with 33
compartments. Can you accommodate them within the body. A real such object cannot exist
within the body. Why? Because uchita desa abhavat. It does not have required space to
accommodate the real elephant. Here only desa abhavat. Put together is hetu. The conclusion is
dream elephant is unreal. It is mithya.
Example can be any magic that you see. From his hand he will go on taking different things like a
dove or a long rope etc. So it is mithya. A chocolate is acceptable in the hand.
Karika 2
 5

Uchita kala abhava is going to be told in the next sloka.

In the previous sloka the objects of dream were taken and they are unreal due to limited space.
Now in this sloka the event, the incidents of svapna are taken like travelling in train upto Bombay
and going and attending a wedding etc. All these take place in what time? Maximum 8 hours.
Every dream is supposed to take one and a half minute. Even if you sleep for eight hours you
cannot go to Bombay and come. We do dream. So ucita kala is not there. So it cannot be a real
going and coming. It is unreal or mithya.
Kalasya adeergatvat. Time is shorter. Not sufficient for the events to take place. So one cannot go
and see many places. Still he goes and sees. So it is mithya. Joining both together, svapna
prapancah mithya ucita desakala abhavat mayadi prapancavat. They say in Kerala kankatti vidya.
By his magical powers he covers the eyes and shows tricks. One was showing. I am going to
swallow the whole building. When they all admitted, except a person who was sitting away. He
was shouting - you have not even bitten the tip of the temple. He exposed the magician by
shouting at the crowd that nothing has happened. Magician got angry and looked at the fellow.
The fellow wanted to avoid him and looked down. He saw water all over down and thinking it is
real water, he jumped down. He died. It is a story may be. When you know the temple cannot be
swallowed due to ucita stomach abhavat. Rajjusarpavat also you can give example for this
anumana.
With this anumana pramana is over to prove svapna is mithya. In the second line he is giving
pratyaksha pramana to prove svapna is mithya. Previously it is inference. Our anubahva is that
when we wake up we do not find ourselves in the place of dream. It means suppose he has really
travelled to Bombay and there his son embraced himself and in that embrace he woke up and
where does he find himself? He is in Rishikesh only. So it is clear that travel to Bombay is only
unreal. Tasmin dese means in that place which he is experiencing in dream. He says it is only
dream. That means it was not real, thank god.
Hereafter wards he gives sruti pramana or sabda pramana for the same anumana. It comes in the
next karika.
An example must be free from controversy. So that is done in the first three karikas. They say
three pramanas viz anumana, pratyaksha and anubahva. Yukti is anumana. Anubhava is
pratyaksha pramana. Sruti is sabda pramanam. Pratyaksha is our personal experience.
Karika 3
+¦ÉÉ´ÉÉ ®úlÉÉnùÒxÉÉÆ ¸ÉÚªÉiÉä xªÉɪÉ{ÉÚ
´ÉÇEò¨ÉÂ*
´ÉèiÉlªÉÆ iÉäxÉ ´Éè |ÉÉ”ÉÆ º´É{Éî +ɽÖþ&
|ÉEòÉʶÉiɨÉÂ** 3
Here Acharya is referring to a section of Br. Up. (4th ch 3rd section 10th mantra). In Br every
section is known as brahmanam. Like Valli in Tai Up. In Mundaka it is called Mundaka. This
section is very famous. It is called svayam jyoti brahmanam. In this section atma is revealed as
svayam jyotih. A very famous section. Sankaracharya writes a very elaborate commentary. That
6

mantra is referred here. The context is svapna experience there. Upanishad says that this person
creates so many things in dream. For example a chariot. Those days. Now Maruti Car. He creates
asvas, horses to drag the chariot. He creates the roads. Panthanah, etc list is given by sruti.
Having said that he has created all of them, at the end sruti syas really speaking there are no
horses, no chariots, no roads at all. It is all imagination. Svapne na rathah, na ratha yogah, na
panthanah still sarvam pasyati.
The absence of chariots etc. are heard in the sruti. Chariot is upaklashana for svapna padartha.
Sruyate here means Srutau ucyate. Sruti also supports itself by logic. So Acharya says with
reason. Sruti makes the statement with reasoning and it is not casual. So vaitathaym praptam.
False hood oh the dream or objects in the dream is revealed by sruti also. Prakasitam means
revealed.
The idea here is sruti does not reveal the falsehood by herself. It is proved by pratyaksha and
anumana. What already has been proved by us sruti supports. It is a supporting statement. It is not
a proving statement. It is pratyaksha praptam. It is therefore anuvada vakyam and not pramana
vakyam. The difference between them is that fresh revelation unknown through other pramanas is
pramana vakyas. Svarga pradipadaka vakyas are pramana vakyas. If sruti says fire is hot, it is
anuvada vakya. Pramanantara siddha bodhaka vakyas. Na tatra rathah etc are like that. Acharya
indicates that by the word praptam. Pratyakshena anumanena praptam. So three pramanas say it is
mithya. So drishtanta siddhi is there.
Dream world is mithya. This is not a problem to accept. To accept Jagrat prapanca as mithya is
very difficult. That is going to be the discussion from Karika 4.

+xiɺlÉÉxÉÉkÉÖ ¦ÉänùÉxÉÉÆ
iɺ¨ÉÉWÉÉMÉÊ®úiÉä º¨ÉÞiɨÉÂ*
ªÉlÉÉ iÉjÉ iÉlÉÉ º´É{Éîä ºÉÆ´ÉÞiÉi´ÉäxÉ
ʦÉtiÉä** 4 *
iɺ¨ÉÉiÉ VÉÉMÉÊ®úiÉä ¦ÉänùÉxÉÉÆ
(´ÉèiÉlªÉ¨ÉÂ) º¨ÉÞiɨÉ ªÉlÉÉ º´É{Éîä iÉlÉÉ iÉjÉ
(VÉÉMÉÊ®úiÉä +Ê{É ´ÉèiÉlªÉÆ º¨ÉÞiɨÉÂ)
+xiɺlÉÉxÉÉkÉÖ ºÉÆ´ÉÞiÉi´ÉäxÉ SÉ º´É{Éî&
VÉÉMÉÊ®úiÉÉnÂù ʦÉtiÉä ** 4 *

From fourth onwards the discussion is jagrat prapanca is mithya. What are the pramanas for that.
Sruti Pramana is already there for us. Sruti pramana is the word ‘advaitam’. If Brahman is
nondual, then anything else is mithya. Here Acharya’s job is not srutipramana. He wants to show
anumana pramana. So it is head ache. Anumana means logic means reasoning means head ache.
Four factors must be there. Paksha etc. Jagrat prapanca is paksha. It is disputed. Svapna is mithya
- this is not anymore disputed. We have already established it. Jagrat prapanca is mithya - this is
sadhya. Drshtanta is svapna prapanca. Both worlds are in the same boat only. The hetu is being
 7

given here.
The hetu for svapna prapanca was antasthanat. The hetu here is going to be given later. Yatha
tatra svapne, tatha jagarite smritam. Just as the objects in the dream are false, similarly objects
in waking are also false. Bheda means vastus. We have to supply the word mithyatvam. Smritam
means accepted or concluded. By whom? By wise people. That is understood. Hetu he does not
give. He says only this much. Hetu for svapna is ucita desa kala abhavat. That cannot be applied
here. Why? In svapna I see within my head. I am sure it is false because there is no space.
Howsoever empty it is, it cannot accommodate elephant. So legitimate reason. In waking world, I
do not see elephant inside. It is outside. Outside it is ucita desa for elephant. So too ucita kala is
there. In jagrat world, when I go to Bombay and come back ucita kala is there. With respect to
these hetus, jagrat and svapna are different. So that hetu cannot be applied.
So he says: Since svapna is inside the person, since it is within limited place, that much is the
difference between the objects of the two world. So that reason I cannot give. What should I give?
I should give some other reason. That he gives in the next karika.
º´É{ÉîVÉÉMÉÊ®úiɺlÉÉxÉä
BEò¨ÉɽÖþ¨ÉÇxÉÒʹÉhÉ&
¦ÉänùÉxÉÉÆ Ê½þ ºÉ¨Éi´ÉäxÉ |ÉʺÉräùxÉè
´É ½äþiÉÖxÉÉ** 5 **
|ÉʺÉräùxÉè´É ½äþiÉÖxÉÉ ¦ÉänùÉxÉÉÆ Ê½þ
ºÉ¨Éi´ÉäxÉ º´É{ÉîVÉÉMÉÊ®úiɺlÉÉxÉä BEòÆ
¨ÉxÉÒʹÉhÉ& +ɽÖ& ** 5 **

Here Acharya says with respect to ucita desa and kala both are different from the angle of hetu.
But both objects are false. Mithyatva vishaye both are same. It is like saying one is different from
the other because one is male and another is female. But both are identical from the standpoint of
human beings. Or both are Indians. So both are ekam from the standpoint of mithya. It is not my
personal view. Manishinah ahuh. Wise people declare. It is traditional wisdom.
Bhedanam + Objects in both states are similar. Similar in respect of mithya. Acharya does not
say that. We have to supply that similar in being mithya. What is the hetu then? If we ask him the
reason he says prasiddhena hetuna. He does not say openly. What is it? You will be irritated. He
will give it in the next karika. Sankaracharya says one in this sloka. He says drsyatvat. Because it
is an object of experience. Very subtle reasoning. Whatever is the object of experience is mithya.
Did you see, Then mithya. By my own eyes I saw. So it is mithya. Yad drsyam tat mithya. I saw
god yesterday. Sasankha cakram + Then mithya. So many people do not like Vedanta. Many
people saw like Tyagaraja, Meera etc. Still it is mithya. It is not Sankaracharya’s statement. Kena
says : tadeva brahma tvam viddhi nedam yadidam +
So everything is mithya. Yes. Then what is satyam? What you cannot experience is satyam.
Experiencer is satyam. Drik alone is satyam. What is the logic for this? Definition of satyam and
mithya is - that which depends on something for its existence is mithya. That which is
8

dependently existent is mithya. That which is independently existent is satyam. Which depends
on what? Drik on drsyam or reverse? Object depends on subject. The existence of any object is
proved by the subject alone. The existence of the subject is not proved by the object. But it is self
evident. This is very important.
Suppose somebody says there is an elephant in this hall. Do you accept its existence. You do not
accept. Why? I do not see it. You may not see it but let it be. I can accept its existence only when
I know by one pramana or the other. So hetu is drsyatvat. Can we use this hetu for svapna
padarthas. In svapna prapanca hetu is there. Svapna prapanca is drsya. So it is applicable for both.
Karika 6
In the first three slokas svapna is mithya is established. It was done by sruti, pratyaksha and
anumana pramanas. The reason he gave was ucita + He comes to jagrat prapanca now. While
saying this he points out that both have some differences. But both are mithya. The question is he
should give reason. That hetu given for dream world is not valid. Prasiddha hetu he says. It is
drsyatvam. It is bold hetu because it is used for proving reality by others. Gaudapadacharya gives
a hetu now. Pramata is satyam because svatah sat. Pramata proves a prameyam by using a
pramana. Through newspaper also. So prameyam is dependent on pramata, not on another
prameya which also is dependent. I have a horn or not? No. Because no pramana proves.
Pramanadheena prameya satta. Or pramatradheena (user of pramana) prameya satta. Not reverse.
No need for any pramana for my satta. So sarvam mithya drsyatvat. This is well known hetu.
+ÉnùÉ´ÉxiÉä SÉ ªÉzÉÉκiÉ
´ÉkÉǨÉÉxÉä%Ê{É iÉkÉlÉÉ*
Ê´ÉiÉlÉè& ºÉoù¶ÉÉ ºÉxiÉ& +Ê´ÉiÉlÉÉ <´É
™ôÊIÉiÉÉ&** 6
Adyantayoh - Adau ca ante ca. Lakshitah Pointed out. Tan madhye in bhashya means pratitikale
api. Drsyatve sati adyantavatvam. If not drsya then anadyantvatvam.
The reason of Gaudapada is given here. He puts in a round about manner. Anityatvam is the
simple word for that. Yatra anityatvam tatra mithyatvam. Impermanent objects are mithya. He
shows this by saying what was not before and will not be there later is mithya. Past is before
birth. Future is after death. Adau yad nasti. Beginning means before birth. Ante yad nasti. Ante
means after death. It exists between birth and death. It is a temporary existence. That which has
temporary existence is mithya.
Anything that which has an attribute temporarily has that attribute borrowed from outside. It is
not a natural attribute. It is always borrowed. Water is hot. Is it nitya or anitya. Anitya. Then you
know it is not natural for water but borrowed from fire. Heat in fire is nitya. It is its own because
not borrowed. Every temporary object exists temporarily. It has existence only for sometime.
Existence must be borrowed. So dependent on that from which it borrowed. So it is mithya. What
exists in all three periods of time enjoys existence which is of its own. So satyam.
If a temporarily existent thing has got borrowed existence it must borrow from where. Not
definitely from another temporary thing. It must be from nitya vastu. So every temporary thing is
 9

mithya.
Example will make this clear. Yesterday clay was there. Now there is pot in its place. Yesterday it
was not there. After it is broken tomorrow, it will not be there. It has anitya existence. This
existence of pot is its own or borrowed? Definitely borrowed. Because of simple reason it exists
only for limited time. Pot has an existence borrowed from clay. Clay was, is and will be. So
karnam nityam and so satyam. Karyam is anityam and mithya. Gaudapada does a mischief here.
Today pot is there for us. Pot was not before and later will not be. Then today also it is not there
for Gaudapadacharya. Clay alone is. Because of our clay buddhi we are calling it by the name
pot. If pot is not there today also, then how does people call it by the name pot. It is due to
confusion. Pot is nothing but name and form Name and form does not have an existence of its
own. The existence belongs to clay which we take it away from it and attribute to name and form,
the pot. Really speaking in the vision of wise, he says clay alone is when everybody else is
transacting with pot. Isness of pot belongs to clay alone. How to prove? Remove the clay and pot
cannot exist. We can extend to any impermanent thing which is a karyam and it is a name and
form and it does not have its own existence, it has a borrowed or seeming or apparent existence.
Whatever was not before and will not be later tat tatha. It is not existent in the present also. We
say it is today. He says it is not today also. Tatha means nasti. When? Now. I am seeing it. That is
called delusion. So he says that even though waking world is mithya like dream world still it
appears as though real or existent. Vitatha is word for mithya. Avitatham is satyam. Because they
are anatmavid, it is said avitatha iva lakshitah. We have to extend it for waking and dream. Dream
was temporary. It was not before sleep and after waking up. So it does not have its own existence.
I was there before and after and during. So I am satyam lending existence to dream. So mithya is
adhishthana tantra. Adhishthana is which tantra? Svatantram.
Same thing is true with respect to waking world also. It is there only now in waking world.
Before and later it is not there. I am there. So mithya. The difference between the two hetu is
drsyatvat and anityatvat. I am satyam because adrsyatvat and nityatvat. I lend existence to waking
world including physical body. How do I say world is there. I am taking satta of atma, me and
attributing it to the world. Clay is and pot is iti we cannot say. So too I am and world is - this is
not right. I alone am. We give existence to world and get frightened. The svapna tiger is due to
my lending existence to the tiger. It begins to chase me and I get frightened.
What is said in this karika is anuvada only. You do not require sastram for this. It is anubhava and
so it is anuvada. So sastra deshtya anubhava drshtya ca.
Varttamana is sanac pratyaya. Continuous. Varttaman is also present tense. Really there is no
present tense in pacati because when you say he cooks, he cooks for three hours. How three hours
is present? Present itself is kalpitam.
Karika 7
Continuing,
Saprayojanata+
In the previous slokas Acharya established that jagrat prapanca is mithya excatly like svapna
10

prapanca through anumana. He did not give sruti or pratyaksha. For svapna all three were given.
The two hetus in waking word is drsyatvat and anityatvat. Many objections are raised for this
hetu. Some will not be convinced by this argument. So we have akshepas now. There are going to
five objections. All of them want to prove jagrat prapanca is satyam and so opponents to advaita.
(Some among them even do not accept svapna prapanca is mithya). Acharya will nagate all of
them. Objectionist is purva pakshi. Purvapakshi’s view he does not give. We have to supply from
the answer he gives. Sankaracharya does that.
First pruvapakshi:
He says I accept svapna is mithya. But I do not accept jagrat prapanca is mithya. He also gives
arguments in support of this. In svapna prapanca whatever is gained etc is useless. Lottery of
bumper cannot be used in waking world. Objects of waking are useful. Money, clothes everything
is useful. So waking world is satyam why? because saprayojanatvat. Svapna is mithya because
aprayopjanatvat. His argument is reality is not dependent on drsyatvam or anityatvam. The reality
must be dependent on utility. Waking world is useful and so it is real. Svapna prapanca is useless
and so unreal. Svapna food does not appease hunger with which I went to sleep. I get up hungry
like wolf.
Dvaitins and visishtadvatins argue like this. They say god is nityam and other things are anityam.
But they say one is nityam and another is anityam. That does not mean one is real and another is
unreal. But both are real. One is eternally real and another is non eternally real. Permanence and
impermanecne do not determine reality. The criterion is utility. Shell silver is not useful and so it
is unreal. The silver in the shop is useful and so it is real.
The answer:
Even by going by your own definition you will be in trouble. Taking utility criterion jagrat
prapanca is unreal because it is useless in svapnam. Jagrat prapanca therefore is mithya. Suppose
you are in dream. In dream you are thirsty. Nearby there is a pot full of water. This water is
useless for quenching the dream thirst. You can keep the money closely with your body so that it
is not stolen. You are travelling in Pallavan Bus. You want 50 paise. Will it be useful. Jagrat
prapanca is useless in svapna. So waking world’s usefulness does not continue in dream.
Purvapaklshi may get angry. You are playing mischief. Jagrat prapanca is useless in svapna
prapanca but it is useful in jagrat prapanca. So it is useful only. In that case, svapna prapanca also
is useful in svapna. When you are thirsty in dream you require only dream water. So both
prapancas are useful in respective avastha and are useless in the other avastha. So both are either
satyam or mithya if you take utility as the hetu. So utility is highly relative. Even in waking state,
if you go to USA you cannot transact with rupees. So tesham + For the jagrat padartthas, the
utility of them is vipradipadyate. It is contradicted or nullified. When? In dream. So it cannot be
the criterion.
Then what is the criterion? Adyantavatvena+ Permanency alone can be the factor. By this
criterion, svapna and waking both are in the same boat. Therefore, means since utility cannot be
the criteria, so. Because of the impermanance. They are considered to be mithya only. Svakela
satyavat bhati.
 11

Ayamatma brahma. SO tesham bhedanam mithyatvam is told by Sruti. If you say jagat is satyam,
how do you say it is satyam? I the siddhanti does not say it is not seen. It is seen and therefore it
is mithya. What is pramana for you to say world is satyam? If you ask him this question, he has
no answer. (We do not require dream example for getting vyapti that drsyatva has mithyatva-
sadhya. In waking world itself we have examples like rajju sarpah. But svapna is germane
example or most appropriate because totality of mithya is clear there. Pramata, pramana and
prameya are all mithya). I see and therefore it is real - you cannot say. Pot is drsya but it has no
reality. So drsya does not prove reality. Yat drsyam tat adau nasti ante ansti varttamane api tatha.
Thus we have to keep adding every idea presented.
*Mudhah is not fool. If I address fool seriously then who I am? So mudha means anatmavid.
Now comes the second objection.
Karika 8
Apurvam sthanidharmo hi yatha svarganivasinam + tanayam prekshate gatva yathaiveha
susikhitah
Sthaninah dharmah sthanidharmah.
Here another person comes. It is very difficult to say this world is unreal. So all have sympathy
with dvaitam and visishtadvaitam. We may accept because Swamiji says. So Advaitin is not
surprised. He will sympathise with them rather than get angry and try to argue out.
Here he says svapna itself is unreal. We do not know in which svapna he is. He says your
anumana cannot be accepted. Jagrat world is mithya anityatvat svapna prapancavat. Like svapna.
You are taking for granted that svapna is mithya. ‘Like svapna’ itself I do not agree. I dispute the
drashtanta. Drshtanta asiddhi is there. Why I do not accept svapna as mithya. If svapna has been
mere projection of jagrat vasana, then it is an imagination. It is not mere replay or projection of
jagrat prapanca. But it has got many types of new experiences which are never in waking world.
Objects like man with horn. Peculier objects are seen. He calls it as apurvam. Purvam na drshtam.
So it is different type of world. So it must be there separately as another reality. So it is satyam.
The view of opponent is not given in the karika. I say that. Karika contains only answer.
Answer
It is not true. Apurvatvam or strangeness is not becasue there is a separate real world. It is due to
the sthani dharma or peculiarity of the individual associated with a different upadhi or instrument
of dientification. I see a particular world in front of me. Suppose I wear dark glasss, then the
whole world is darker in colour. It does not mean a new type of world has not come but it is due
to new type of glass. Similarly in waking state, waker has got a upadhi which is more phyical in
nature. It is mind plus shtula sariram. That too, the rpedomiannce is for the sthula sariram. In
svapna sthula sarira abhiamna has gone and identification is to a great extent with mind. In dream
wse have withdrawn from body to a great extent but not total withdrawal. In death. Some
connection is there for sthula sariram with sukshma sariram and that is why prana is still there
and it is alive. Since thought world is coming there and it is highly fluctuating and so experience
also is highly fluctuating. So mix up takes place. Physically you cannot bring opposed people
12

together but in dream you can do it because merely it is thought world. It is all due to peculiarity
of mental upadhi which is withdrawn to a great extent from body. Gaudapadacharya says it will
be still more stranger if a person completely detatches from the body and takes the body of
another world like Indra upadhi. The experience will be still stranger. They do not touch the
ground while walking - they say.
Apurvam+ So the strangness is an attribute of the jiva in different sthanam. Sthani is one who
has upadhi. Like the strangeness of svarga nivasis. You falsely attribute to the world the
strageness that belongs to you. Then you try to give reality to the world.
Acharya gives an exmaple in second line. A person who travels different countries. In those days
generally a scholar travels in different countries. A vidvan generally travels. He wants to learn or
teach. Sva-grhe pujyate murkhah. Svagrame pujyate prabhuh (village head). Svadese pujyate raja.
Vidvan sarvatra pujyate. So education was the reason for travel. A well educated person
(susikhsitah). He experiences different countries. He may feel strangeness in their behaviour,
dress, eating etc. It belongs to object there or your upoadhi. Another American who watches does
not feel any strangeness. So it belongs to upadhi. It is subjective experience.
Tan sarvan apurvan are seen by a person well educated. So too in dream from the jagrat vasana
we try to judge the svapnam. So it is apurvam. Apurvatvam is not objective. It is subjective. So it
does not form hetu for proving reality of an object.

Karika 9 & 10
The third objection is now begun. First is hetu is wrong. Second is drshtanta is wrong.
Svapnavrttavapisvantah cetasa kalpitam jagat.
Bahisceto grihitam sad drshtam vaitathyametayoh.
Drshtam means yuktam.
9 and 10 should be taken together. Both together answers the third objection. The third objection
is also questions the condition for reality or hetu for reality. He tires to bring in new hetu. He
says whatever is experienced outside commonly by all people must be accepted as real. It is not
my mental projection but it is common to all people for perception. This mike I am not imagining
because you also see, touch etc. Not only that. Even if I go to sleep, I am not experiencing this
mike at all, this mike continues to be there for other people. Just because I do not see I cannot say
it is not there. It has an objective existence. It is not a subjective creation. This is his aim. It was
there before my birth. They had lived in this world. World continues to be there even in my
absence. Generations and generations can come and go but world continues to be there. But
svapna is a subjective creation. and it is not available outside. How do you know it is not
available outside? Others do not see. I am lying very very near to my friend, I see tajmahal in
dream but I cannot call him and show it to him. It is only for me. It has no external existence or
common or objective existence. It will be there as long as I am. Before my death my dream world
was not and after my death my dream will not there.. Why death? After waking up. So what is
internal and subjective is mithya. What is external and objective is satyam. On the basis of this
 13

jagrat world is not mithya. Svapna is unreal okay. Like rajju sarpa is mithya. But rajju is not.
Acharya says this condition cannot be accepted. My condition alone is acceptable. Your condition
cannot be accepted? Why? Gaudapada’s argument is simple. We will see that first. You say
svapna is internal. When do you say svapna is internal? In jagrat or svapna. After waking up you
say tiger was in my mind. In svapna the world was not seen as inside but experienced as very
much outside. You ran to the railway station thinking it is five miles away. So inside and outside
are relative just as utility is relative.
The concept of inside and outside is also relative only. Svapna is internal - thus one says only in
jagrat avastha. In svapna avashta itself svapna is not seen as internal. The point of reference has
changed. During jagrat avastha the point of reference is sthula sariram. So from the standpoint of
sthula sariram the svapna prapanca, thought world happens to be inside. Whereas in dream we
are not identified with this physical body at all and you are identified with another body which is
projected in dream called vasnamaya sariram. This body is not like physical body but one of the
objects in the dream world. Within the physical body dream world may be there but dream body
is one of the dreamt objects. So when I am identified with dream body the dream world becomes
outside the dream body. When I have gone to svapanavastha I do not use the word dream body
but I myself have become the individual in dream. In dream nobody says I am waker lying down
and I have created all these things etc. I am the dream individual in dream and so the whole
dream world including the dream body is solidly tangibly real. Glass I take there is solid, the
water in it is real. My drinking is real. That is why fear etc. are very real. So during svapan it is
bahih only. After waking up only it is falsified as not outside.
He takes another interesting thing. In svapna also you have real and unreal division. In svapna
you may see a rope snake. All the time we are talking this. So you see. Rope is outside and so
real and snake is my projection and so it is within my mind and unreal. Even though you make
such a division, it is falsified later. Unreal as well as real are unreal. In the same way we have
kept the division of inside as unreal and outside as real. On waking up from this ajnana nidra one
will understand both are unreal.
Svapna vrittau means during dream state whatever is imagined within by the mind is unreal.
Whenever whatever is grasped outside by the mind is real. We are in svapan and I have division
of inside and outside. Whatever inside is unreal and outside is real. This outside and inside is
based on dream body. What happens? On waking up etayoh + both outside world and inside
world both become unreal. I need not prove this. It is anubhutam or experienced by all. I saw a
tiger and it chased me..etc he says which is no more. No need for sastra upadesa to know that it is
unreal. In waking world also it is same story but we do not accept. What is that?
Karika 10
Jagratvrttavapisvantah cetasa kalpitam jagat.
Bahisceto grihitam sad drshtam vaitathyametayoh.
Here Gaudapada comes to jagrat sariram. Keeping that as reference point we say that world seen
outside is real and whatever seen inside including svpana prapanca is unreal. What he says as
inside now was outside during dream. Reference point has changed. You are all outside when I
14

keep my room as reference point. You are all inside if this room is reference point. With reference
to space all are in side. So too with reference to caitanyam everything is within only. With
reference to the body some are in and some are out. From svapna sariram to jagrat sariram
reference point has changed. So now it is inside.
So jagrat vrittau api, in jagrat avastha also, antah cetasa + whatever is imagined within is mithya
being inside. Whatever is grasped outside by the mind is saytam. This also will be falsified if you
change the reference point. If caitanyam is reference point then everything is within and so
everything is mithya. If dream body is reference point, then svapna prapanca is real. If waking
body is reference point, then svpana prapanca will become unreal. If jagrat sariram is reference
point, then waking world becomes real. If caitanyam is reference point the waking world also is
unreal. If we are not able to accept the world as unreal, the reason is what? It is due to taking the
body as reference point. Then it will not be possible to see the unreality of the waking world.
From the standpoint of body food real and hunger is real and so on. Social problems will be there.
We do not deny problems, We say they are unreal from the standpoint of Brahman.
Bahih ceto grihitam sat. Etayoh vaitatyam. With reference to ciatanyam. That is not said. We have
to supply. Both means external world and internal world with reference to jaguar sariram.
Previous Karika - external world and internal world with reference to svpana sariram. There both
are unreal from the standpoint of jagrat sariram. Yuktam means logical. No defect here. That the
external world is unreal from the standpoint of ciatnayam is perfectly logical eventhough the
world is external, it is useful and it is experienced. These three are the arguments the dvaitins
give. Similar to svapna prapanca. It is unreal from the standpoint of physical body though it is
external (with respect to dream body), is useful in dream and expereinced in dream. So is waking
prapanca real or unreal ? You should ask the standpoint. Generally the question is from the
standpoint of waking body. So world is real. First we have to teach him about atma caitanyam the
new reference point and say world is real and then alone he can see the standpoint. Even after
teaching it is difficult. How can one see the unreality if it is not known. It is like the Vetalam
climbing the tree. If reference point is clear no confusion in Vedanta. It is like time difference. In
USA it is American time. So we have three words - vyavaharika (waking) and pratibhasika
(svapna) and paramarthika. When paramarthika satyam will beocme mithya? There is no more
further reference point available. Vyavahrika satyam iti satyam word is used there because it is
available for vyavahara.
Karika 11
So outsideness also does not decide reality. Then nityatvm alone is criterion for reality. Three
objects we saw. First and three questioned the hetu and second the drshtanta. Before going to
fourth and fifth objection, Acharya changes the topic here from 11 to 13. In 14th and 15th sloka
only the last two conditions will be seen. In these three a person is asking a question. He is not
objecting the anumana but asking a question seeking an answer.
The whole world that we know contains the svapna prapanca and jagrat prapanca. There is
nothing other than these two. In both prapancas triputi is there. Other than these six factors there
is nothing. If you say both svapanm and jagrat are mithya it means everything is mithya. Where is
satyam? What is satyam? Mithya cannot be there without adhishthanam which is satyam. What is
 15

the adhishthanam? Who is doing the adhyasam. Any creation somebody has to see or appreciate.
Who is the expereincer? The answer is given in the next slokas
ubhayoorapi viatatyam bhedanam sthanayor yadi
ka etan budhyate bhedan ko vai tesham vikalpakah
Gaudapada had mentioned that jagrat prapanca is mithya. Because it is anityam. Three objections
were raised and answered. We never questioned utility or outsidedness etc. Svapna also is useful.
World is solidly experienced by sense organs outside. Svapna also is tangibly experienced by
sense organs. So they are real in their own respective states. Each one gets dismissed in the other
state. In spite of it they are unreal. They do not have the existence of their own. So either both are
satyam or both are mithya. But reality being determined by self existence or permanent existence.
In this sloka we saw a person asked a question that if both worlds are unreal it seems then
everything is unreal. Everything we know falls under wither one of the two worlds. The dreamer
and dream world belong to dream. The waker and the waker’s world belong to waking state. Then
what is real? It cannot be logically accepted that every thing is unreal because unreality has to
depend upon some reality. The question is what is that reality which is supporting the real or
knowing the unreal.
Ubhayoh sthanayao bhedanam vaitatyam yadi. If padarthanam unreality is there. Ubhayoh
goes with sthanayoh. In both states. Why does he takes only tow avasthas. We are not taking the
third avastha into account. In that avastha we are not experiencing any object. So there is no
question of reality or unreality of these objects. Only if its there, then the question arises whether
it is real or unreal. If both are unreal, then who knows these objects as unreal. Bheda is not
difference here.
A subquestion is also there. Who is vikalpakah. Who is creating these objects? Why this question
is asked? Because in our general experience unreal objects are our imagination. Rope snake is
unreal and we find it is our imagination. It is not there. Mirage water. Dream is similar. Generally
it is so. We call it vikalapanam in Sanskrit. Imagined by some one and that some one is real or
unreal. Our experience the imaginer is real. We experience it. I imagine a dream and I am real.
Imagine dream is unreal. Extending this rule, if both the worlds are unreal, there must be some
one other than these two who is doing the kalpanam of these two. That some one must be real.
He ascertains this is true, this is not true. That real some one must be projecting six items. There
is no one else because the whole world is contained in these six items.
If you say there is someone else who is that some one? Kah vikalpakah. You can re-arrange the
question first who is vikalapkah and then kah budhyate. First creation and then knowledge of
them. Vai is emphasis. Which blessed one does this job.
In next kairka he answers.
Karika 12
Kalpayatyatmana atmanam atma devassvamayaya,
Sa eva budhyate bhedan iti vedanta niscayah
16

Here Acharya is smart. Till now he talked in terms of reasoning using anumana. When the
question of reality other than jagrat and svapana comes he drops all anumanas and he is going to
sruit pramana. Iti vedanta niscaayah. This is firm teaching or conclusive teaching. No tarka. As
pramata, tarkikah I can never see myself as apramata. Because if we try to know the reality
through anumana then our very search takes place either in jagrat or svapana. Infact only in jagrat
prapanca. When we are searching in these avasthas we will be pramata as searcher. Any
instrument I use will be pramanam and whatever I will come across will be prameyam. I will be
going round and round within these three or six only. The question is about not about the triputi
because all of them belong to jagrat svapanavastha. We want to know someone who is beyond
these. So our own effort can never give an answer. Naisha tarkena matirapaneya + Logic may
prove svpana is unreal and jagrat is unreal.
We have to go to Vedanta pramana.. Vedanta says adhishtanam is nothing but you. You are the
adhsihtanam, the reality. How can I say I am adhsihtahanm. I am a pramata of jagrat avastha or
svpana anastha. Acharya has dismissed them as unreal. Answer is I as pramata am unreal and I as
pramatru caitnayam is real. I am not pramata in my innate nature. That status is temporary. when I
am making use of pramana I have the status of pramata. When I do not use any pramana like
pratyaksha etc the very same I has dropped my pramata status. This pramanam is called upadhi.
when I take upadhi I am pramata. Sopadhikah I - am pramata. Nirupahdikah san I am apramata -
atma, then I do not belong to any avastha. I am the adhsihtanam of all avasthas. This is santam
sivam advaitam of 7th mantra. A scientist keeping his pramatrtvam will be seeking eternally.
Search has to be dropped.
The question is who creates all these bhedas. My true nature is caitnayam. I the caitanyam creates
all the pramanas and prameyams, not pramata is created, like sthula sariram and sukshma
sariram. I the apramata myself identifies with the mind and senses by entering the created and
once I come down to mind and senses I myself get the status of pramata I. I cidabahsa is said to
be pramata. This is avatara of I. This is vyavaharika I. Like the movie director himself becoming
hero. In dream also people talk about who is the creator? Tad srshtva * + Like waker creating a
dream and identifies with dream body and plays the role of dreamer. This is further falling down.
It is pratibahsika I. Both I-s are unreal. As vyavaharika I, I am unreal and as paramarthika I, I am
real. Devah here is not indradi devas. Because they also are created.
*He entered into the place where experience is taking place. So paramata.
Acharya has given the whole essence in one karika. Some more points are there. Who is the real
one was question. That was revealed as apramata I, How can this atma cerate an unreal sthula
sukhsma sariram and prapancam? Only after creating it can identify but how does it create? To
create, nothing is there. The question how does it create arises because in any creation we need
creator, raw material and instruments. Suppose I build a house. I have know how. But I require
materials. I also need instruments, like mixer etc. Vibhaktis are there for any action. Where is
karta, karma and karanam for atma to create this world. Atma is ekam and advayam. Acharya
answers that all the three are atma itself. Atma by atma converts atma itself into the universe.
Atma atmana atmanam srjati. We get this again from Vedanta pramana alone. See taittiriya. Tad
atmanam svayam akuruta. It converted itself into prapanca. What type of atma? Devah the
 17

effulgent one. How can one atma be karta etc? Can carpenter create out of himself a furniture.
Svamayaya. It is also known from Vedanta. (The word atmanam is used because jagatrupena
atmanam kalpayati. So no karma really. So rajjusarpa example. Exampel related only to show
akarmaka here.) (srupa)
I am within jagrat prapanca and insignificant I and how can I be the creator of the whole jagrat
prapanca. It was answered that I am pramata only when I am identified with my upadhi or body
and mind. I become part of svapna prapanca only when I idenitfy with svapna prapanca. I become
a creature of the dream world or jiva in dream world. When I disidentify with it then I see myself
as the creator of the dream, isvara of the dream. As apramata I am adhshthana for everything. I
the atma create the world without requiring any material, karma and karanam. Kalpayati+ I
convert myself by myself into the world. I am nimitta and upadana karanam. How it is possible?
Mayaya+ With my special power called maya I the atma do all these things. Even though each
karakas are different from other karakas, all karakas become by the power of maya. Is there any
case like that? Yathornanabhih+ Spider by itself creates the web without requiring any material.
Spider by itself does the web and I convert myself by myself into a dream world. I am everything
in the dream world. I am arpanam, I am havih, I am agnih etc. This world is created by
mayasaktih. At vyashti level called nidra nd and samashti level called maya. Dream appears real
though unreal and so too this jagrat world.
One difference we should know between the two. From dream when I wake up I know the dream
is false. Not only that, I do not experience it. Dream world disappears. When I know I am
caitanyam brahma, identify with brahman, I will understand the world is false. But experience of
the world will continue. Why? Svapna upadhi also is not there whereas here upadhi continues.
The difference between him and ajnanai is that jnani knows it is mithya. Sun rise is experienced
by child as well as grown up but one knows the fact it does not move and earth rotates. The sign
of the waking is mithyatva buddhi. Dream world is false created by nidra sakti. This world by
maya sakti. So acharya says mayaya+**
** Generally the answer is given from two stands. That is, from the isvara srishti and jiva srishti.
Both prapancas are mixed up and taken together. Other than atma everything is mithya iti he
wants to establish for advaita siddhi. SO atma kalpayati.
Then if maya creates then how many realitites? Two? No. Svamayaya+ Maya is not an entity
having a separate existence of its own. Chistle is separate from carpenter. There is dviatam
between them. Here it is not so. Maya enjoys satta borrowed from atma like pot. So maya also is
mithya. Atma creates a universe with its own maya.
Who knows the objects? Bhedan? If atma creates everything he alone knows or experiences the
world. Sa eva+ Atma is apramata. How does he become the knower? Atma without any upadhi is
paramata. With upadhi, obtaining in the mind and body becomes the knower. Apparently
becomes. It is a role.
We build the house. We enter ourselves. Then we get a new name. grhasthah Before agrhasthah
aniketanah. I take up the role. Brahman has done this job of building universe entering it and
taking the role of pramata. Then all experiences come. In svapna also same. How did you know
18

all this things? Is it by pratyaksha or anumana. Atma sees everything / knows everything and
allows others also to look at like in dream.
Note: To prove mithyatvam of world you do not require Lord. Atmanam srjati. World that is
created is atma. Viyat is atma. Vayu is atma. (atma is kutastha atma). We can add sixth case also.
Whose jagat? Atmanah jagat. Where does he stand and create? That is also atma.
Karika 13
Vikarotyaparan bhavan antahcitte vyavasthitan
niyatan ca bahiscittah evam kalpayate prabhuh
Aparan bhavan svapne vikaroti. Niyatan ca vikaroti. Cakarat aniyatan ca. Prabhuh atma.
The previous answer is further clarified further in this verse. How atma creates jagrat svapna
prapanca. Both the prapanca is mentioned here. When atma identifies with the mind and the body
and remains extrovert bahishpranjah then it experiences a jagrat prapanca. When atma identifies
with mind alone then with vasana samskaras in it, when it is antah prajnah turned towards itself
or inward, then the same atma experiences the internal dream world. Identified with one upadhi it
becomes extrovert and identified with another upadhi it becomes introvert. As extrovert external
universe and as introvert it is internal world. This is the essence of the sloka.
Extrovertedness and introvertedness are from the upadhi standpoint alone. By itself neither.
Aparan bhavan vikaroti - svapne is understood. Atma also is understood. Prabhuh is there to
indicate that.
Aparan bhavan is inferior objects. They are svapna padarthas. They are inferior from the
standpoint of jagrat padarthas. Waking objects are vyavaharika satyam and svapna padarthas are
pratibhasika satyam. In lie small and big. So too both are mithya, one is superior mithya and
another is inferior mithya. Vikaroti means projects. Vikaroti nana karoti. Therefore nana is not
there. What is it then? Because atmanam nana karoti. Deliberate proves karyatvam like in dream.
Where was it before? Antah citte (antah is explained as citte in karika) vyavasthitan (Vyavasthitan
it is. Therefore no new creation. Anaditvam is said thereby. Avyakta to vyakta only) - which were
residing in our mind. In what form? Vasana rupena. samskara rupena. Cittam is storehouse of
memory. We have a big video library here. Day after day without paying any price you just switch
on you have video there It is colour recording. Atma throws out that svapna prapanca from
vasanas.
Similarly jagrad avasthayam (the subject and verb supply) atma creates niyatan* objects. It is
paran. Superior objects. In what sense? Vyavaharika drshtya. How? Bahiscittah. By becoming
extrovert. Identified with both GB and SB. When atma becomes extrovert there is this jagrat
prapanca available for experience. When it goes to sleep condition what happens. Both
extrovertedness and introvertedness are resolved and we neither have jagrat nor svapna prapanca.
So it is two in one. In the middle sleep is there. Radio and tape. Svapna is tape recorder and jagrat
is radio. It can be extended to both vyashti and samashti level. Sleep is intermediary state in
vyashti and pralaya is intermediary state in samashti level. Evam prabhuh kalpayate. Prabhuh
means master or isvarah. You are paramatma. So nirmata is same for both world. It is not that
 19

nirmata should be different because experiences are different like one lasting longer and another
short.
* There is method in methods. In Shakespeare - A character was asked what do you read? He
replied words, words, words. There is reply in the answer to the question. Though it is not answer.
So too in mithya there is order. It is not chaotic kalapana. Prakara is there.
Note the word kalpayati. It means project. Srijati and kalpayati are different. Srjati - in this
creation is as much real as the creator. Like mother. Child is as real as mother. So too table is real
as the carpenter. When creator and created enjoy the same degree of reality we use the word
srjati. When creation does not enjoy the same degree of reality as creator then it is referred to as
kalpanam or adhyasah. For others world is srishti and for us kalpanam. Like dream world has
apparent existence as compared to dreamer who is waker.

Karika 14

The topic of answer to the question is over in three karikas 11-13. . Now objection continues.
Three were over. Two more are going to come. You can rearrange the karikas and bring the
question and answer later.

cittakala hi yentastu dvayakalasca ye bahih

kalpita eva te sarve visesho nanyahetukah

Cittakalah - ye bhavah antah santi. Viseshah can be explained away.

Here also the purvapaksha must be supplied. His argument is that jagrat and svapna can never be
compared. Why? Svapna is unreal okay. But jagrat is false like svapnam. ‘Like’ I do not like.
Because drshtanta is vishama. Ye antah te cittakalah. Inside world of objects obtaining in dream
are cittakalah. They exist only as long as you experience, you see. Dream tiger is only when you
see the dream tiger. Dream tiger is gone when you think of man. It does not exist any where else.
When your mind is completely withdrawn from dream, dream world is no more there. Some fell
into well. Your hand almost reached to pick him up. You woke up. Now are you worried that
person in the well is still struggling and I wanted to save him I am very much upset - you will not
say. Svakale only they exist. It is because you see. It is as long as you see it. Out of mind out of
sight. When you do not see it is not there at all. So citta kala means cittavritti kala. Citta vrtteh
kalah eva kalah yasya sah. To put it simply it has subjective existence. Vritteh kshanikatvat.
Whereas jagrat prapanca is dvaya kalah Those which are external obtaining in waking state they
are not citta kalah. They are dvaya kalah. You cannot say that that object is existing as long as I
see. Even when I do not see, I accept the existence of all of them. You do not see me when you go
back to your room. Whether I am existent or not. I am existent. So you again come to the next
class. So even then the waking objects are not seen by me and my citta vritti does not correspond
to those objects. I accept the existence of those objects. The continued existence of the objects is
proved by another experience. When you come for the next class, you see me as not a new
swami but you recognize that this swami is that same swami. It is pratyabhijna. It has two factors.
One is experience or pratyaksha of swamiji. While experiencing you know that it is same person
20

whom you experienced before. So the memory of past experience also is there. When you see for
the first time then there is pratyaksha knowledge. When you think of me when I am not in front of
you, that is called smritih. In pratyaksha no smriti. In smriti no pratyaksha. Pratyaksha was first.
Then smritih. Anubhava janya samskara janya smritih. You come to the second class and you
see me. How do you see me. As same swami whom you saw before. It cannot be either one. You
see me. So pratyaksha is there. So smriti cannot be there. At the same time you have recognition.
So it is called pratyabhijna. Collection, recollection and recognition. You know a second time. It
is expressed as soyam. That is this is pratyabhijna. It is not discussed very much here. But
understanding of that is good for seeing the thing that pratyabhijna proves the continued existence
of the objects. Past Swami has survived till date. So object has continued. He is connected with
two times that is yesterday and today. Pratyabhijna indicates the existence of object in past and
present. It proves the association of an object with past and present. So he calls dvayakalah.
Association with two times i.e. past and present. Anubhava kalah and pratyabhijna kala. It proves
that I was existing inspite of your not seeing. I existed yesterday night - your pratyabhijna proves.
Svapna does not exist when you stop to perceive. So it is cittakalah. Therefore svapna and jagrat
are different. Word is real. One is ‘because’ and another is ‘therefore’.
Rope snake and pot both do not exist independently. So both are kalpitah only. Being mithya
alone they have visesha. Just because nocturnals are active in night, so you cannot say that this
fellow who does night shift is nocturnal. Visesha is not due to their existence absolutely. Kalpitam
means not different from atma.
The answer is given now.
1) One answer is accepting that this difference is there. One has subjective existence and another
has objective existence. One is jiva srishti and this world is isvara srishti. So we call one as
pratibhasika satyam and another as vyavaharika satyam. One is fool’s bluff. Another is clever
man’s bluff. But both are mithya only. Adau ante ca yannasti + Short or long does not affect the
hetu.
2) The second approach is we do not want to accept this difference in dream. Because this
difference we are making only in waking state. In dream itself we do not make this difference.
There also dvaya kalah is there. Pratyabhijna is there only in waking and not in dream. All are
from waker’s standpoint. The continuity of yesterday’s things are known through recognition in
waking. In dream it is not there. Each dream is different. Between dreams no pratyabhijna. But in
dream itself you have dvaya kalah etc. Do not look at dream from waking. You have to look at it
from dream itself. There also pratyabhijna is there. External world there has objective existence.
In dream you have avastha trayam. Jagrat avastha there in dream. He dreams there and wakes up
to waking state which again is dream only. Whatever you say is there in dream also. Bahyatvam,
dvayakalatvam etc. So that cannot be an argument. Continuity in waking state is from waker’s
standpoint. Your money is my money and my money is my money. That is logic. Waking also
from waker’s standpoint and dream also from waker’s standpoint then it illogical.
Te sarve kalpitah. All of them. Means both svapna bhavas and jagrat bhavas. Viseshah is not due
to anya hetu. This internal difference of dvaya kala and bahyatvam etc do not prove that one is
satyam and another is mithya. Both are mithya inspite of internal differences. Internal differences
 21

do not affect the hetu. One may be Tamilian and another kannadiga but it does not prove that one
is Indian and another is not Indian. This avantara bheda does not prove one is satyam.

Karika 15

Avyakta hyeva ye antastu sphuta eva ca ye bahih

kalpita eva te sarve viseshastvindriyantare

The general observation is that all purvapakshis look at dream from waker’s standpoint. So they
cannot see what we see or say. Conclusions will be wrong if standpoint are wrong. With wrong
scale you cannot have right measurement. I jagrat pramata happen to be relative entity and so it
cannot know the absolute entity. I will come across only prameyam. If I am a dog or elephant the
world will be different. Dream is vague according to purvapakshi. It is not clear. So you are not
able to remember many times the dream. Many experiences are very vague. I cannot recollect
dream after a few days. It does not stay for long unlike waking world experience. It can be
strange experience also. Whereas jagrat prapanca is vyaktam or very clear. I can see with my
microscope and I can study everything including the composition of an atom. Avyakta prapanca
must be some imagination and so it is false due to its being vague. Vyakta prapanca is real
because very clearly experienced. Dvaitins will go one step further that where Vedas and isvara
are available how can you falsify it as mithya. If world is dismissed what role lord has. So they
cannot accept that. So jagrat prapanca must be real.
Answer is that I cannot compromise. You are committing same mistake of looking at dream from
waker’s standpoint. From dreamer’s standpoint it is not vague. It is clear there. In whatever way
he looks at the waking world in the same way dreamer looks at the dream world. It is distinct and
clear and real for him. So both are mithya.
Some dreams you can recollect clearly also. Are they real? Yat spashtam tat satyam can we say?
Rope snake is clear. Sun travel is clear. Can we say it is real? Go to mental hospital and see. They
are all very clear about what they see and say. Also what is unclear is false - you cannot say. Rope
is seen unclearly. So is it false?
Ye antah te avyaktah eva. The dream world which is experienced within appear to be avyaktam
or vague. It is vague from the standpoint of waker. That is accepted. Similarly whatever
experienced outside that is jagart prapanca is definitely clear from the standpoint of waker. But
still both are mithya. Kalpitah is used in the sense of mithya only. In the previous sloka also it
was used in the same sense. Superimposed means mithya. Then why do we experience such
difference between jagrat and svapna prapanca etc. That is due to difference in the organs of
experience. You do not see dream world with waking senses. You have dream eyes there. Senses
include mind here. In dream it is purely a thought world.
From this we get an important clue. The world that we experience will depend upon the
instruments that we use for experiencing the world. Prameyam will depend upon the pramana that
we use. So what happens. If we change the pramanam then world of experience will also be
different. Is it not? Use microscope and see bacteria. It is another world. So every time the view
of the world will be relative in nature because it depends on the type of instrument. Therefore
22

suppose somebody wants to know what is the real nature of the world. How to find out? Nobody
can talk about the real nature of the world because I have seen it and it is of this nature. Another
will say some thing else because his instrument is different. Anybody’s view is correct from the
standpoint of instrument he uses. If we use our senses world will of this nature. Suppose we have
eyes to see atoms only then what will happen. We will not see wall and clock and people.
Everybody will be only bundles of atoms moving. Suppose we have special eye to see energy
again the world that we see will be energy clouds floating. Which view is correct. Either all are
right or all are wrong. So we can never get the real nature of the world. Asya jagatah svarupam
na upalabhyate in 15th chapter. It keeps changing according to the instrument of observation. So a
scientist can never the world’s nature as it is.
To avoid this problem what we should do. As long as we use the instruments the view of the
world will depend upon the type of the instrument. If you should get the pure view of the world,
Only way is you should not use any instrument. Instrument colours the nature of the world. If it is
shtula instrument it gives sthula picture and sukshma instrument sukshma picture. So therefore
without any coloration if you should know the world as it is do not use instrument. Then what
will happen. Then you do not know anything. So the only way to know the truth is to remove all
instruments. All prameyams are gone because pramana is gone. And pramata also is gone.
Because pramata will be available only when pramana is there. What is left is true nature of the
world. How to know that? If you try to know that you are becoming pramata using pramana. You
will know only some prameya as interpreted by the pramana. Paramata you is the true nature of
the world. Coloured truth is called world. How many coloured truths will be there. As many
pramanas are there. So he says that jagrat prapanca is one twisted form of truth. Svapna prapanca
is another twisted form of truth. Neither of them are real. The differences in them are caused by
the differences in pramana or upadhi.
That is why we say world will ever remain mithya because nay pramana will give different
different pictures of the world. Every picture is correct from the standpoint of that pramana.
Jagrat is mithya. If you want to know the real nature of it, I the apramata is satyam.
With this the fifth objection is also answered. Hereafter the topic is going to change.

How Kalpana takes palce is answered :-

Karika 16

Jivam kalpayate purvam tato bahvan prthagvidhan

bahyan adhyatmikan caiva yatha vidyastatha smritih
Isvara Srishti is not separate from jiva’s srishti. Both depend on atma and so mithya. This is the
topic. Atma alone is in the form of jiva available due to mistake. So Jiva is kalapna.
Hetuphaltmakah. Jiva is karta, karma karoti, adrshta-dvara ishta phalam parpnoti. So jiva is
karyam and karanam. It means mithya.
 23

In the 11th to 13th karikas Acharya had answered one question from a questioner. If both worlds
are mithya who creates the worlds and experiences. I the apramata atma alone am the creator with
the help of Maya and experiencer. Here onwards the topic of creation continues. It will be nice if
we arrange the sloka numbers. 10th then 14th and 15th and then 11-13 and pick up 16. Then it will
be cogent.
What is the order of creation? Jivam kalpayate + The subject is atma or paramatma or paramatma
atma. It creates the jiva first. Purvam means in the beginning. tatah thereafter. Then it creates
varieties of things. What type? Which are external and which are internal. Objective and
subjective. Both are created after.
Creation will become meaningful only when there is a jiva who is bhokta. So jiva srishti first and
jagat srishti next. Bhoktru srishti first and bhogya srishti next. Even we talk in this order, it is
only for understanding purpose. We should not take it literally as timewise order. Because you
cannot talk of bhogya srishti before bhokta and so it is said bhoktru srishti. Actually it is
simultaneous. For discussion we have to start from somewhere and so we begin with jiva srishti.
Jiva who has karma mutta, sancita karmas and to exhaust these punya and papas he requires
various lokas like hell and heaven. So we go from jiva to jagat. First jiva and then loka if I say,
where was he before? He requires place. So it is not kalakrama but pratipatti krama. Because of
punya papa creation comes and because of creation punya papa comes. Which came first? If first
jiva had come, then first jiva had what punya and papa. Who determines the punya papa of the
first jiva. What basis he will be created. All logical problems. Between jiva and jagat we cannot
have any krama,. So jivam kalpayate.
Then bhavan - bahyan means the external universe. Even though the external universe is same
for all the jivas, you find the response and reaction of jivas will vary. One person is happy.
Incidents of listening being same different people react differently. Sukham for some and
duhkham for somebody else. Sukham creates iccha for repeated experience. From iccha arises
pravritti. This is internal world of me. My internal world consist of happiness and therefore raga
and therefore pravritti. My neighbour is developing boredom. You brought him. He will be
waiting to get out. Once the internal world has differed, the external world he faces next will also
differ. He will be doing actions for repeated experience. So external world one will face will keep
changing. The internal world depends on external surrounding. The external surrounding a man
creates will depend upon his internal personality. This is within one life itself. The internal
personality will decide the next janma or the world where he is born in.
So world is there. It has created raga dvesha. It has created pravritti and nivrtti. They create punya
and papa. Punya papa creates next janma. Adhyatmikan. The external world decides my internal
personality. The internal personality decides the external world that I am surrounded by. If
somebody ask why am I born in India? tatra tam buddhi+ it is because of my karma or
personality. Why did I get such a personality? Because of external world which created raga and
dvesha in me. Why did I get such a birth. it is because of raga and dvesha. Raga dvesha
determines the type of world. Type of world determines the raga dvesha. Which is the cause and
which is the effect. Birth is it because of my karma of Karma because of my birth. Personality
determines the surrounding and surroundings decides the personality. So yatha vidyas + As the
24

knowledge of a person is, so will be the memory of the person. it is very cryptic. We have to get
all these meanings out of these two statements.
Knowledge is determined by what? External world. What you know dependent on the
surroundings. Surrounding gives knowledge and knowledge gives you memory or vasana.
Vasanas are in the form of raga dveshas and raga dveshas creates pravritti. Pravritti gives janma
and that will determine world you are in and that world will give you knowledge which will you
give you memory... So as the external world is so the internal world is. Yatha bahyam tatha
adhyatmikam. Also yatha-smritih tatha-vidyah. So the account goes on once the jiva comes into
being. It is not that comes into being. Once you have understood the concept of jiva, thereafter
you know how the jagat continues. It is like the adhascordhvam +

Karika 17
Anisacita yatha rajjuh andhakare vikalpita
sarpadharadibhirbahvaih tadvadatma vikalpitah.
Aniscita - not known as adhishthanam. Not recognised as it is. Not known as adhishthanam.
Andhakara is veiling power of maya or ajnanam (maya is half sattvam+ half rajas). Between
sleep and jnanam i.e., waker. Then vikalpita - atma alone appears as pramata etc. identifying with
buddhi.
We saw the adhisthanam is apramata atma. Because of Maya the sukhshma and sthula sariras are
created. I identify with the upadhi and begin to play the role of a pramata. Once I have become
the pramata using a pramana I have denied the adhishthanam atma. Then whatever I experience
will be prameyam. All pramata, pramana and prameyam are nothing but superimposition on
apramatru atma I. Example of dream will be clear. Waker I, am non dual during sleep. Identify
with svapna sariam, I become pramata and with respect to the pramata there is division of
pramana and prameyam. All the three are waker I myself. I am diving myself into three in dream.
As long as I am dream pramata these divisions will continue. How to know the adhishthanam?
You use any number of pramanam, you will know only different different prameyam. How to
come to the adhishthanam? There is only one way. I pramata should become apramata. I should
drop my pramata status and when the pramata status is resolved, then pramanam and prameyam
also are resolved. So there is only one way of arriving at the adhishthanam and that is recognizing
myself as apramata. As long as I do not recognize this fact, I will be taking myself as pramata and
as pramata I will be hunting and getting varieties of prameyam and it is endless journey. Every
pramayem is one one mistake of the adhishthanam Brahman only. This is the idea he conveys
here that until I have ignorance I will continue to take Brahman as varieties of prameyam,
varieties of twisted form of Brahman. Ignorance of adhishthanam is cause of misconception
adhyasa. This is clarified through famous example of rope snake.
Yatha rajjuh vikalpitah. Just as one rope is mistaken or misconceived as snake, streak of water
etc. garland etc. How many mistakes possible. Two plus two - how many correct answers. One.
As many maths ignorant are there, so many mistakes possible. Bhranti is many and jnanam is
only one. So rope papers as snake from a distance. Or water flow. Bhucchidram when there is no
 25

rain. If I am crack it can be mistake as crack also. There is one condition for this mistake.
Aniscitah When it is not known as rope. Why it is not clear. My eyes are very clear. Due to semi
darkness. Semi is important. Partial knowledge. There is something but I do not know how it is.
Somebody sends a telegram that I am not well. If no telegram no problem. Or say I am having
cold then no problem. But we will imagine it is cancer and so on. Partial knowledge is dangerous.
So too atma is vikalpitah. Atma is Misconceived. When it is aniscitah. When not known as
apramata adhishthanam. There it is semi darkness. Here it is Maya or avarana sakti. Ajnana
timirandhasya. Tamo misrita satvam. Sattvam is some light. Tamah is some darkness. We are
neither total sattvam nor total tama like table. Maya is half sattvam half tamas.
In these verses Acharya talks about dvaita srishti out of advaita atma. Through maya body mind
sense complex is created. Identified with this I become pramata, jivah I. I refuse to recognize my
original nature of apramata I. I take myself as pramata I on the other hand. So divisions come into
existence. Non recognition of adhishthanam is responsible for the duality. Acharya gave the
example of rajju sarpa to clarify this point. Here the beauty is rope is one and mistakes are many.
It is due to avarana. For isvara total brightness. For world total tamas. We are in between with
malina satvam. We can take the worldly example of ourselves. Asleep totally then no knowledge
of myself. Jnanis also have no problem because they clearly know aham brahmasi. Either sleep or
be awake. Waker is semi.
The solution is can we sleep all the time. Total ignorance is no problem. But we cannot go to total
ignorance all the time. The only way out is to come to full light from semi light or total darkness.
This is said in the next verse.
Karika 18
Niscitayam yatha rajjvam vikalpo vinivartate.
Rajjureveti cadvaitam tadvad atma-viniscayah
There is only one method that is to know it is rope A mistake can be removed only by knowledge.
Not by any other method. If you manage to remove by any other method, then one mistake will
be replaced by another mistake. I cannot merely dismiss snake. I will then take it as something
else. Any mistake is born out of ignorance. So knowledge alone solution. Removing branches
will not solve to remove the tree. Only by removing the roots. So do not try to forget the worry.
If you do so, it will be replaced by another one or it will come back again. Worries are due to
ignorance. Yoga only makes me forget the worries.
When rope is clearly recognised then all mistakes are removed. Vikalpah should be plural. You
need not drive the mistake away. Knowledge is enough. Know the rope. Snake is gone. It will not
take time also. Now head is gone, now middle portion and so on. At once it goes totally and
completely. Not come back also. He understands that it is after all an innocent rope. What type?
Advaitam. Relative nondual there. So too in the case of atma. I know I am sat and cit. I am and I
am conscious. I have to know I am ananda. When atma is clearly known then what happens?
Then all misconceptions go away. Every adjective we add to ourselves is mistake.
Rope can be known clearly only when you throw more light. Here also we have to throw more
26

light which is sabda. Santam sivam etc

1. Knowledge of vastu is enough. One need not drive away all notions or mistakes.
2. Does not take time for mistakes to go once knowledge is there. No time-lag after knoweldge
3. No coming back of mistakes.
4. More light there and rights words here.

Karika 19
Pranadibhir anantaisca bhavairetaih vikalpitah
mayaisha tasya devasya yaya sammohitah svayam
Sammohitah iva
Here Acharya wants to give a list of mistakes that are committed on the atma. Mistakes are
infinite. Knowledge is one. Mistakes are committed by ordinary as well as educated as well as
philosophers. Ordinary people commit when they say I am father of so and so. Deham prana +
Identifying with annamayadih. Philosophers talk of atma in various forms. All these he sums up
and gives a list in the following portions.
Anantaih bhavaih vikalpitah. In endless forms atma is mistaken. Beginning from pranah.
Pranah means isvarah here. Isvara also a kalapana, a mistake. It is within duality. What is
meaning of isvara? Is to rule. Isvarah is ruler. So within duality because ruler implies ruled. That
is why isvara came under the third pada. First three padas are adhyasas. It is karana pada. That is
why some are angry with Gaudapada. We negate only paramarthika satyam for Isvara. God has
vyavaharika satyam. God is real from the waker’s standpoint. When waker is real god is real. So
it is religious mistake and first mistake. There are many further mistakes which he will tell later.
All this because of what? Esha tasya devasya maya. All these mistakes are because of Maya of
the Lord, Atma. Who is satyam. How Maya is responsible for mistake? Through avarana sakti it
covers the truth. Because of which maya everybody is confused regarding themselves. Confusion
about other things are okay. Here it is confusion regarding myself. If it is regarding other things, I
am sane. But confusion about me points out insanity of myself.
In the following slokas he gives a list of mistakes which we introduced in 19 th sloka. I will give a
general idea of the mistakes and then read 20th to 28th together.
How from infinite finite can come? Cannot come. It has come. It is maya. Impossible is made
possible by maya. Each note is not music.That means music is based on non-music notes. Jagat is
based upon non-jagat.
Karika 20-28
From 20 -28 all views talked. People include lay people and thinking people. Adhishthanam is
missed by all of them. All mistakes and how many philosophers hold how many views is given.
Some take it as pramata, some pramanam and some take it for varieties of prameyam. All are
 27

mistakes. Vidhah is repeated. Meaning the person holding that view. View is given within
quotation. Iti indicates quotation.
Pranah iti - prana philosopher (Hairanyagarbhas or Vaiseshikas) takes atma as prana, or isvarah.
Most dvaita philosophies take isvarah as satyam, ultimate truth. Acharya takes it as another
mistake. Bhutani means panca bhutas. Some philosophers (Laukayatikas) say 5 elements are
atma or ultimate reality. In stead of taking atma as ultimate reality, they take five elements as
reality. Gunas mean three gunas (philosophers like sankhyas talk of three gunas). Tattvani refer
to various categories. Philosophers categorize the creation into groups. Scientist categorizes as
more than 100 chemical elements. These categories are taken as real. Tatvam means divisions of
creation or categories of creation. (Saivas talk of three and so on). Padah means four padas we
saw. Vishayas are sense objects. (like Vatsyayana). Sensualists given to enjoyments in life for
them pleasures alone are the reality. Lokas are 3 lokas (pauranikas talk). Devas are Indradi devas
(devata-kaandeeyas). Vedas are the truth, say Veda-phatakas. Sabda Brahman they will call.
Creation itself has come from the Vedas only. Purvamimasakas will say. For us Vedas are also
vyavaharika satyam. Yajnas are rituals. They are karmathas. Bodhayana etc yajnikas are
karmathas. Bhokta means enjoyer. Jivas. (Sankhyas say that). Others say bhojyam or objects of
enjoyment are reality. They are called soopakaras, a vareity of carvakas.) Without bhojyam where
is bhokta? Without bhokta also where is bhojyam. Some give importance to sukshma, subtle
things. Like Scientist say energy mayam. They are sukshma vidah. Digambaras also come under
this category. No. Fundamental is not energy but matter. So sthulah iti. it is a laukayatika bheda.
Some say murta, various forms are real. Agamikas advocate forms. No it is amurtam. Formless.
Sunyavadi says this. Kalah is time. Time is ultimate truth. This is the vada of astrologers or
jyotirvidah. No disah, quarters are truth. Space is included in bhutas. So direction is better.
Sakuna-sastra vadis say this. Vadah is debate. Whatever you say is wrong. Because you said.
Bhuvanani means various worlds or various places within the creation or lokas. They bhuvana-
kosa vidah. They say it is 14. Some say mind is ultimate like psychologist. (Bauddhas of
kshanika vada variety also). World itself is a mental projection. Some say buddhih. Some cittam.
None of them but dharma and adharma. They are mimamsakas. Because all these are governed
by dharma and adharma or punya papa. Some divide truth into 25 categories. Others divide into
26. Some others divide 31. Some say anantah endless. Lokas are fields of experiences.
Repetition. Asramas are truth. Stages in life. Grammarians are bothered about lingas. Some
people say it is karanam and some say it is karyam. Some say srishti is important. Some say
layam and some sthitih. In short sarve ca + All people go on imagining in all these manners.
Confusions are endless. Anandagiri writes commentary but not Sankara.
Foot Notes on 20-28
In verse 21 padas said. If padas include fourth also, then they must be right. But they consider all
four padas as real. Then fourth pada they refer is one of the reality. Then it is limited. Their
concept of fourth pada is also wrong concept and so it is adhyasa. Their idea of turiyam is wrong
but not turiyam.
Lokas come in two places. One in 21st is three lokas or bhuh etc three. Or we can take it as jagrat
to sushupti three. In 27th AG says loka anuranjanam that is pleasing the people. Making every one
28

happy is ultimate truth. Service minded people.

In 24 buvanani comes. There also AG says 14 lokas.
(Karika 20 - 28 Pujya Swamiji’s Class based notes)
1 Mechanical materialists called Carvaka and Dialectic materialist is Communist. Hairanyagarbha
have tarka for saying isvara is ultimate because karma points out that yat karyam tat sakartrukam.
Is it ekakartrukam or aneka kartrukam I ask. You have to say it is aneka kartrukam. Jagat is aneka
kartrukam But how do you say? Sruti. No, sruti does not say but it says ‘so kamayata’ +
2 Bhutas - refers to four elements. They alone are ultimate. Are they inert or cetanam? You
cannot say cetanam because they do not respond.
3. Gunas - who created disharmony of samyam. If isvara does, then how do you know Isvara
does? What is pramanam? Sastram is pramanam. Then understand well what sastra says
4. Tatvani - Saivas talk of three viz. pasu pati pasa. Sivaloka prapti is moksha. If siva is separate
from atma then he is jadam. If same then Vedanta it is.
5. Padah - Visvadayah.
6. Vishayas are tatva. Go for them. Vishasya vishayanam duram atyantam antaram. Vast
difference. Visham destroys only when one consumes. Upayuktam visham hanti. But vishayas
smaranad api. Sangat sanjayate + No vishaya without vishayi. What about vishayi subject if
vishayas are tatvam.
8. Bhurbhuvasuvah - Three vyahritis are truth. SO we have to go to other lokas. Svaragaparah.
Most religious people are like that. What about the one who goes to lokas. Then which loka is
tatvam? If one then the other two are not. What basis? If all are tatvam then none. It points out to
mithyatvam of the three. If rope is nothing but the three strands, no rope at all if you separate the
three strands. The three lokas are savayavam or niravayavam
9. Devas - Deva priays. You have to propitiate devas. Because they give results. You make them
do to you by your actions. Then he is servant. Devadattasya bhrityas. If they give without your
action, then you need not do any worship. Then how come there is death etc. Even when you pray
you go.
10. Vedas - Mimamsakas say Vedas are eternal. No Isvara. What is the difference between
laukika words and vaidika words? Is a word Veda? If so is it varnatmaka? Then varna is truth.
Together is Veda. Then we are superimposing meaning for them. SO jnanam is truth. Jnanam of
what? Vishayas etc. Then same problem. Mithya Veda removes mithya problem Even satya Veda
cannot remove problem if the problems are real.
11. Yajnas - yajna is co-operative endeavour. Yajna’s constituents are like yajna devata, dravyam,
mantra etc. Not any one is yajna. Put together is yajna means it is then mithya.
13. Bhokta - atma is enjoyer. Sankhyas say so. Karta (kartri) is pradhanam. Is it svarupa of atma.
Then you do not require a bhogya vastu to be bhokta. If not svarupam, then it comes into picture
with reference to a given object. Then you are not bhokta by yourself.
 29

14 Bhojyam - Carvaka says so. Objects are tatvam. Food is ultimate. Food means rasa. Which is
the taste of any given food? It is all combination. So not ultimate. It goes virasa. It depends on
taste bud. There too sweet depends on sweet buds and so on. If taste buds are not there it is fuel
tank only.
15. Sukshma - Anu iti Ramanujacharya says. Atma cannot say I am anu. Andamatramapi na
manam. Mamaivamso jivabhute + What about satyam jnanam anantam + Sastra is not pramana.
Atma anu - what is pramanam? You are adjective to Lord who is advaita. Remove all viseshanas.
Then what remains? Tree and treeness - treeness where does it exist? In tree. Then if it is tree,
treeness already is there. Treeness exist in treeness. How?
16. Sthulam - Body alone is atma. Is cell atma? Is bones atma? Put together is karyam. Therefore
mithya. Then the one who put together it is for his sake. Dehi is tatvam.
17 Murtah - Bhaktas worship. Anantaya is also there in any sahasranama. What about that? So
one murtha is dismissed by another murta. Then which murta is truth? Form is only for
upasanam.
18. Amurta - No murta at all. Sunyavadi can be taken. What is pramanam. It is ‘is not’. It will
mean. To say sunya is atma no pramanam. No experience. No, in sleep sunyam. Zero is nirgunah.
It is Vedanta. Nirakara is another meaning. It has to be worshipped they say. How can you
worship nirakara.
19 Vikalpas - The view becomes predominant commitment in their pursuit like yajna. Time is
important for people. When they go out they will say this time is not good. Prasthana. Complete
surrender to kala. Committed to time. Paramartha is time. Time is absolute. What is kala? Is it
present or past or future? We have to ascertain kala. We have to study present for that. No present
kala. Present is kalpita. Because no action ha present. It is complete action which has past or
future.
20 Disas - He will say - go by dhwani. If you hear a sound from a given direction they will decide
their endeavour. We have lizard’s sound. From which direction it comes. You have to know.
Committed to sakuna. They are experts in determining the time based on svara from a particular
direction. Disah are also vastu people.
21.Vada - is rasavada etc. Here mantra vadah. For everything there is mantram. If mantra serves,
then mantravadi should not require saviours. But he himself is not eternal. It is not paramartha.
What is mantra? It is useful. Bu will not solve all problems.
22. Bhuvanani - Pauranikas. Desirable lokas. Below lokas are in terms of experience. They
cannot be called paramartha. 14 of them. Are they seen? There can be many more also. Which
one is paramarhta because number is there.
23. Mana eva - Carvaka. Another carvaka. Deha is there but prana is not there. So prana eva
atma. When prana is there, enjoy? Sense organs are necessary and mere prana alone is not enough
for perception. Another says without mind sense organs cannot function. So mind is atma. If mind
is not there as in sleep or between two thoughts, then what happens to atma? What do you mean
by mind? The consciousness that is there in mind is what? Is it product of material like brain
30

cells. is it existent consciousness produced or non-existent consciousness produced? Both cannot

be. It comes to manifest. That means already there. Coming into being is abhasa.
24. Buddhdists - vijnanavadis. Calam buddhim ca + Changing or kshanika Buddhists. This
alone recognises the objects outside. Another fellow does not accept bahya vishya at all. Both are
subjectivists. Kshanika vadis alone Both are included here. Truth is atma but atma is kshanika
vijnana. How can you say it is kshanika. If there is none to mark the arrival and departure of it. I
can say it is kshanika because I am there all the time. Vadas become kshanika.
25. Dharma dharma - alone tatvam. Mimamsakas say. Whole Veda talks of these alone. Vedas
want to give you something hitam. Hita praptaye vidhi. Duhkha nivrttaye nishedha. No
siddhavishaya vakyas. Most theologies of world are these alone. Dos and donts. and a little bit of
god. Because he is different form everybody else. What is dharma and adharma? Dharma can
become adharma. And vice versa. Destroy aatatayi - it is himsa. But it is dharma. Krishna asks
Arjuna to fight war. Pushes Arjuna into war. Because it is dharma. So interpretation required. No
vyavastha. That is why vikalpas are there in any karma. If this is not there do this. So option is
there. If you cannot do on this date you can do next tithi. If no bath possible because fever etc,
then he can have vibhuti snanam. Between cultures also it varies. Even in samanya, dharma is
subject to vyakhayana. What to talk of visesha dharma. Paramrtha is abadhita. Again it is
dharmadharma means two. Which is paramartha. Not both. One. Then which of the two. If both
then both are limited. Dharma changes for varnashrama etc. You say the whole Veda is sadhya
vastu vishaya. Our argument is 1. Veda talks of siddhavastu also like Ayamatma Brahma. 2. In
fact the whole Veda talks of siddhavastu. Agnihotra karmana svargah labhyate. This is also siddha
vishaya only. Every sadhana sadhya is siddha vishaya only. That order is siddha. Jnapaka
paratvam. Not kriya paratvam. Pramanatvat. Cakshuradivat.
26. Sankhyas says 25 categories are tatva. One pradhana, 5 tanmatras, one mahat and one
ahankara ten senses, five objects, one mind and one purusha - total 25. Prakriti/vikiriti. How can
you count vikriti which is included in prakriti. You cannot count pots included in clay. How do
you say 25? You are really loo9king at things which cannot be counted or you have not counted
many. You see many more numbers. That is why you restrict to 25. What is not counted also to be
counted. You discounted some. Why? One is there who is non-counter as anantah + You have to
add one to 25 for sesvara sankhya that is patanjala darsanam. Is Isvara other than purusha? If so
then jadam.
27. Pasupatas say 31 tatvas. Add raga, avidya, niyati, kaala, kalaa, maya.What is the difference
between avidya and maya? If raga is listed then you have to add dvesha. If raga is karya, then
avidya alone is enough. Why restrict to 31. So either one or ananta.
28. So anantah says another. Tatvas are infinite. All are real. Why count? Do not count. Not
countable. Padarthas means real. Each padartha is endless because you can go on dividing. If one
becomes many then many becomes mithya.
29. Lokan - Making world happy. Nara seva narayana Seva. You require seva. The whole world
has to serve you. Why nara seva only. Why not other prani seva. They live according to their
svabhava and not transgress. How are you going to make people happy? You cannot. Because
 31

lokah bhinna rucayah. Different agenda. This is born of saviour psychology. I require saviour is
one thing. I am the saviour is another thing. One has self pity and another is empty. No
philosophy for them. But they require therapy.
30. Asramah - Daksha prabhrtayah. Stages in life. How many of them. Then each one dismisses
the other. Because one is not the other. So atma is none. In fact one is in and through all stages.
Even sanyasa asrama is not atma because they do not stick to atma. Then how do you recognise
brahmacari? Danda, sikha, deer skin, mekhala etc You cannot recognise any one of them.
Grahastha - if he does not do agnihotra etc then cannot say I am grhastha but still he is grahastha.
So one can be asrami without asrama lingas. Vanaprastha does not cut his nail and hair. Anyone
cannot have them. What makes asrami? All are atmani aropitas.
31. Strinapumsakam - Vaiyakaranas divide the whole world into three. In Hindi it is only two.
But in Sanskrit the world is divided into three. Both Hindi and Sanskrit has no vyavastha of
gender. Caval is masculine while kicchdi is feminine. In Sanskrit also not based on physical linga.
Neuter is free from linga. But you give another linga. Why not napumstri linga. In linga no
vyavastha iti Panini says. It depends on loka. You can convert one to another by adding pratyayas.
Again stem is linga or pratyaya is linga? There also mithya. If stem is not linga then how it
becomes linga? Is pratyaya strilinga? No. Both are not lingas. Joining they become. Wherever
joining is there it is mithya.
32. Paraaparam - others say. Param and aparam. Two Brahman we should know. Both are real
for them. Sastras says one. Param is not aparam and vice versa. What is param Brahma? You
cannot define. Only if aparam is mithya param is established as ‘nirgunatve sati sagunatvam as
aropitam’ like aakase malinatvadivat. Sagunam Brahma you cannot be because you have
tadatmyam with body. You are what your upadhi is. So you seek moksha from upadhi. That is
called nirguna. So you cannot divide as two, sagunam and nirgunam it. Nirguna is not saguna.
33. Then our bhaktas srishti iti srishtividah - who are committed to Brahmaji, Brahma upasakas.
They are not committed to creation but creator. He is paramarthah. No Siva is paramarthah. He is
committed to resolution in the sense one who is in charge of resolution is greater than creator
because the power of destroyer is more. Brahmaji cannot do anything. Other is I am interested
only in how to take care of what is. So Vishnu alone is paramarhta. I am not concerned about the
other two. Srishti is what? What ‘is’ cannot be created nor what ‘is not’ like vandhya putra
cannot be created. So there is no real creation but only manifestation. When samhara karta comes
into picture? As the srishti takes place at the same time laya is there. New cells are born and old
cells are gone. New second is born and gone. It is continuous. Vishnu says let me have a role. Let
me make a thing look as though it is existent. He is mayavi. name and form play alone is all there.
it is all mithya.
Verse 29 (Story of Phatphatvala in Mandukya 57 A side middle)
yam bhavam dasayet yasya tam bhavam sa tu pasyati
tam cavati sah bhutva asau tad grahah samupaiti tam
From 20th sloka onwards upto the 28th Gaudapada talked about varieties of views of various
people regarding the atma. It includes lay people as well as great philosophers. They missed atma,
32

the adhishthana satyam. Consequently various adhaysas they have taken as reality. This is the
main essence of these nine slokas. When Sankaracharya finds it is not useful he leaves it.
Yam bhavam+ This is very important sloka. Gaudapada said all the ideas of these people are
adhyasa, misconception. Does it mean they are spiritually lost? That they have no way at all. That
they are condemned people. Here alone his words come. No. He says none of these people need
worry at all. Let them continue to have their views. This is the basis of tolerance of Hindu
religion. They will try to change the other people to their way of thinking. Nothing wrong. Sooner
or later they will be blessed by the lord in that respective form and they will come to yathartha
jnanam. The idea is that whatever adhyasas they worship, the substratum behind those
misconceptions is the same atma. Behind all mistakes it is one rope. If you offer flowers thinking
it as snake etc. flowers will go to rope only.
Let any bhakta worship me with any name and form, he will come to me even though all names
and forms are wrong, I the atma is there. They think they have worshipped various deities.
Unknowingly they worshipped me alone. Yo yo... sa taya+ So I strengthen their sraddha. Through
which adhyasa or false form I was worshipped through that false form I will bless him. Bhakti
increases to Ganesa. Once sufficient bhakti has come slowly I will give him wisdom and take him
out of that particular name and form and he will ultimately come to me only.
Why do you wait patiently for this much of time and why not immediately convert him and
change him. To a Ganesa bhakta go and tell ganesa form is mithya. He will get wild. Tell Krishna
form is mithya. They cannot swallow. They make him sleep and morning wake him up. It is so
real for them. So I should not do that. Whatever a person is taught by his guru that alone he will
see.
Yam bhavam acharyah darsayet - whatever deity or form has been shown to the person by the
guru. They call kula deivam etc. Guruvayurappan in kerala Venkatachalapathy in Tiruppati.
Srinath in Gujarat. Bhavam here is prana etc. Adhysata bhava. Tam bhavam sa tu pasyati - that
person sees that particular form only. Sometimes it may go to even fanaticism. Just like in
Vishishtatdvaita Vishnu is introduced as ista devata but it gains such a status that they get hatred
for other forms. Not utter word Siva. Do not condemn them, That deity will protect him. Sah tam
avati. Sah means that deity. That bhavah. Tam bhaktam. How? Asau bhutva by becoming one
with the bhakta. Asau means Bhaktah. Bhakta tadatmyam apya. He enters the bhakta as it were
and blesses him. Purifies him. Advaitin will say any form is okay. Others will canvass for their
deity. Anything is okay as an intermediary step. Nothing is okay as an ultimate step.
Tat grahah lit means that view of the lord. Here that view is that false view. Committed to that
false view. That saguna view. That grows in him. That enters in him and grows in him. That over
powers him. That means bhakti increases. We load the nama and we benefit. It is all subjectivity.
Like we write the cheque because we have deposited. When nama is loaded with power, I get the
blessing. tatgrahah that devotion or abhinivesa the intense attachment takes charge of him. takes
him over. So what? All adhyasas are useful. So scriptures themselves do the adhyasa and ask you
worship form.
 33

Verse 30
Etaireva aprthakbhavaih prthageveti lakshitah
evam yo veda tatvena kalpayet sovisankitah
What is the mistake that is committed by these people. Since all these deities are adhyasah, they
do not exist separately from adhishtanam Brahman. Since they are name and form they do not
exist separate from nirgunam Brahman. The fact is that there is no Krishna or Rama separate from
Brahman. So they do not have their own reality or independent reality also. These people look
upon these deities as independently real deity.
Eshah atma prtak lakshitah - this atma is seen as separate or different from forms. Due to
what? Etaih bhavaih. Du to these misconceived forms this atma is seen as different or distinct.
Atma becomes a separate reality and deities become a separate reality. Each gets an independent
reality. They begin to compare also the deities. In their view also four padas will become and
each one is different from other and real. Vasudeva sankarshana anriuddha and pradyumna they
will say as four padas. Vasudeva is turiyam. All of them will be finite in nature. Vasudeva will
become prthak. Lakshitah means considered to be.
The fact is aprthak bhavaih. They are non different from atma. First pada or 2nd pada etc. cannot
exist without adhishthana turiyam.
Yah evam veda - one who knows this fact, that there is no deity different from atma or Brahman,
all forms are mithya. Formless is satyam. Tatvena in reality.
Sah (sastram) kalpayet. he alone can interpret the sastras which we have to supply. He alone
can interpret the sastras. How? Avisankitah without doubt without contradiction. Very distinctly.
All others will be able to beautifully describe puranas etc. form of lord like even one sloka for
nail description. But they cannot explain the all pervasive nature of lord and so on. It cannot be
both finite and infinite. Upanishad will become nightmare for them.

Verse 31
svapnamaye yatha drshte
tatha visvamidam drishtam vedanteshu vicakshanaih
How does he explain? They say nirguna atma alone is adhishthanam. They do not dismiss the
world. They do not dismiss isvara totally. They are at a lower plane. Adhishthanam is at higher
plane it is paramarthika satyam. Therefore he says - yatha svapna maye drshte + Just as dream
and maya or magic and the city in the sky seen due to formation of clouds create an appearance of
city. All these things are there as pratibhasika satyam. When a person is within that satyam for
him it is real. (svapna drshtantah svapne vyabhicharah) It is very real. Like in dream. It is not
pratibhasika for him. One who has come to vyavaharika satyam calls it pratibhasika. Tatha idam
world drishtam. It is vyavaharika satyam superior to pratibhasika. But as long as I remain as
vyavaharika satta or pramata, from that standpoint this world is very much real. Lord’s forms are
real. We dismiss from paramarthika standpoint. World is real or not? You should ask for whom.
34

For me, of such and such description, then it is real. Because vyavaharika pramata is asking. After
teaching him then we can tell him the truth that he is apramata and from that standpoint world is
unreal.
Vedanteshu + For those people whoa re experts in Vedanta. Meaning who’re established in
paramarthika satyam. Esha brahmi + nantah + Idam visvam svapna+ This world is only
vyavaharika satyam.
Sloka 32
na nirodho nacotpattih na baddho na ca sadhakah
na mumukshur na vai muktah ityesha paramarthata
30-34 is samyag darsanam. Nothing exists separate from atma. How does he looks at from his
view is said in 32. Highest view of advaita is given in this sloka. It is most famous. This is the
view from apramata atma. From advaita drishtih there is no dvaitam at all. When? For others
before srishti no dvaitam and after pralayam no dvaitam. But for us during the so called srishti
also no dvaitam. In between also there is no such thing as pot. Pot is vacarambhanam+ So in all 3
times only advaitam. No dvaitam means it is as though and not satyam. Gaudapada will use the
word dvaitam is not there. It means it is not there in reality. Experience as well as utility is not
denied. Anubahva and saprayojana dvaitam is accepted but not satya dvaitam. It cannot be
counted. So when dvaitam is negated where is srishti of it? It was never there. Advaita srishti also
is not there because it is always. When not there, where is pralayam? What is the nakshatra or
tithi for sarpa on rope. Stithi? Not because no srishti and pralayam. Is there jiva and isvara then?
Jiva is one who has to live in the field of duality, where is jivah? So no baddhah. Isvarah is there
when baddhah is there. So too no sadhakah because no baddha. So no mumukshuh. Who becomes
mumukshu? Baddhah. Not even muktah. Because no baddhah. Na guruh also. Iti eshah+ This is
from the standpoint of paramarthika satyam If you are waker etc. all these are there.
Verse 32
The highest view of advaitam is given in this sloka. One of the most famous verses in the entire
Vedanta literature. Sankaracharya is never tired of quoting this karika. This is the view looked
from apramata atma or adhishtanam. What is that view? From advaita drishti there is no dvaitam
at all. There is no dvaitam at all. When? It is very important. Other people also say before srishti
there is no dvaitam and after pralayam there is no dvaitam. But the glory of advaitin is before
srishti no dvaitam and after pralayam no dvaitam and during the so called srishti also there is no
dvaitam. Even now there is no dvaitam. What is the logic? Adau ante ca yannasti vata+ It only
appears to be there in the middle. There is only a seeming appearance in the middle
Before the birth of pot pot was not there. After the destruction of the pot it will not be there. In
between everybody will say pot is there. But we say in between also there is no such thing called
pot. In between also clay alone is. Pot is what? It is not a substance. It is a mere name for a form
without any saram in it. Asaram. The ultimate view is dvaitam is not there in all the three periods
of time. Tri kale api dvaitam nasti. Tri kale api advaitam eva.
If there was no dvaitam at all, it means it is mithya. It is only as though there. Gaudapada will say
 35

dvaitam is not there. We see with our eyes and how does he negate it? Whenever he negates
dvaitam, he is not negating the experience of dvaitam but negates satyatvam of dvaitam. Dvaita
anubhava is not negated. He will often use the word dvaitam is not there. It should not create
confusion. Experiential dvaitam is accepted and factual dvaitam is not accepted. Experiential pot
is accepted and even the utility of pot is accepted. He will have a pot with water in his room.
Saprayojana dvaitam is accepted. But satya dvaitam is not accepted. Since dvaitam is not satyam
it is as good as not there. It cannot be counted. So Gaudapada will say it is not at all there.
Since dvaitam itself is not there is there a srishti? Srishti of what? When you negate the very
dvaitam itself, there is no question of any srishti. Can you talk of advaita srishti? There is no
question of advaita srishti, because it is permanently there. It is ever there. Dvaita srishti is not
there because it is never there.
What about pralayam? Same story. No question of advaita pralayam because it is ever there and
no question of dvaita pralayam because it is never there. A thing should be there for pralayam.
What is the tithi of our rope snake. There is no tithi because no nakshatram for snake.
Nakshatram is for birth and tithi is for death. Snake was never born. It is only a confusion in the
mind. So na utpattih. Na nirodhah or pralayam. What about stithi? If no srishti then no stithi also.
Then if there is no creation at all, is there jiva and isvara? Jiva is one who has to live in the field
of duality and since there is no field of duality there is no jivah. na baddha. There is no samsari at
all. Samsari is one who travels in the world. If there is no world at all, who is going to travel. If
there is baddhah then he has to worship isvara to get the qualifications but If no baddhah then no
sadhaka also. Baddha has to do sadhana to mukti. Therefore na mumukshuh. The one who desires
for freedom. Who becomes mumukshu? Baddha alone should become mumukshu. No baddha
and so no mumukshu. Is there atleast muktah. Gaudapada goes to greatest height here. No muktah
also. No liberated person also. Because no baddhah. Baddha alone can become muktah. One who
is in jail can alone be called released person when he comes out. I am now free from snake if you
say what kind of freedom it is? If there had been a snake then going away of the snake will be
called muktih. Freedom is the going away of bondage. When bondage is mithya,. bandha nivrittih
also will also be equally mithya. If snake is false, the disappearance of snake is equally false.
Na guruh is not said here. I am supplying. But Sankara says somewhere else. Gururnaiva sishyah
cidanandarupah sivoham. After listening to this sankara’s statement some may sympathize. But it
requires a special mind to know this. isvaraha also is mithya only. Isvarah means ruler. Ruler
requires ruled. Jivah, jagat and isvarah - all are mithya. Sarve bandha vyavaharah are mithya so
too moksha vyavaharah. moksha also mithya.
Bandha vyavahara is vyavahara of baddha purushah going places buying and selling things.
Samsari’s vayavahra. Moksha vyavahara is vyavahara of sadhaka like japa tapah sravanam,
mananam etc. Listening to cassettes. Sarvam. Except atma. Otherwise it will be buddhism.
Except adhishthana atma sarvam is nasti. Nasti means not really there. For experience it is there.
Yathartah nasti. pratitih asti.
This verse can create lot of confusion. So he adds a statement. This is the fact from the
paramarthika satyam standpoint. If you are a waker, identified with body, jagrat pramata, then I
will withdraw the sloka. Na will be removed. They are there from the standpoint of jagrat
36

pramata. From apramata standpoint nothing is there. Just as svapna pramata standpoint, svapne
sarvam asti. From jagrat pramata standpoint, svapne sarvam asti. So standpoint must be very
clear. This is emphasised because inspite of the repeated statement. visishtadvaitins and dvaitins
have written a lot condemning advaita. I do not say world is not there or it is mithya for normal
person. I am talking about the world from Brahman standpoint. They do not grasp the point.
Sankara is teaching. But he says advaitam. If there is no guru etc. why and how did he teach to
Padmapada etc. These statements should be properly understood. As pramata he was a teacher
and as pramata Padmapada is student. The vyavahara is taking place between pramata and
pramata. Both pramatas are mithya from the standpoint of apramatru adhishthnam.
When I say moksha is also mithya some people argue - If it is so, then why should we work for it
with so much interest. Before we were seriously working for moksha and after hearing this sloka
our mumukshutvam has dampened. Why should we work for mithya moksha. Then we ask - do
you accept my statement that moksha is mithya? If not, then moksha is satyam for you and you
have to work for it. If you accept my statement, that moksha is mithya, then you have to accept
my other statement also that bandha is also mithya. If you accept bandha is mithya, then you need
not do any sadhana. I say both are mithya. When sufferings come, I should be able to say it is
mithya. Then no sadhana is required. If bandha is satyam then moksha also is satyam. So do
sadhanam. All sadhanas are for knowing that bandha is mithya. If bandha is known as mithya
then you need not work for moksha. That is called moksha. Bandha is mithya knowing this is
moksha. It is not to be gained or reached. Should I work for moksha or not? I should ask do I look
upon my problem as real? If real then bandha is satyam and moksha also is satyam and I should
do all sadhanas. If not real, then no sadhanam at all.
Verse 33
Bhavaih asadbhirevaym advayena ca kalpitah
bhava apyadvayenaiva tasmadadvayata siva
From 30th karika onwards Acharya is giving samyag darsanam of atma. Here he goes one more
step further. He said srishti etc. are mithya. Then what about advaitam? We will say advaitam is
satyam. He puts a bombshell. He says advaitam also is mithya. Then what will happen? Then no
satyam at all. It will be like sunya vada. When he says so, we should understand the concept. The
word or concept of advaitam is used from the standpoint of dvaitam. If word dvaitam is negated
then the word advaitam also we cannot use. The word advaitam is a relative word. Brahman is not
relative. The word advaitam is relative So too the word adhishthanam is also relative word. It is
also from the standpoint of adhyasta. Whatever word you use will be mithya. Satyam we say
then satyam word is an idea as opposed to asatyam or false. You use the word truth because
asatyam is possible. If satyam alone one can talk then no word satyam necessary. He talks - that is
all. Like day and night are relative. Nirvikalpa is used because vikalpa is there. What word we
can use? Brahman or infinite word also is from the standpoint of finite. No word. Amatrah
caturthah. No word can be used. Yato vaco+
Ayam kalpitah - this atma is mistaken as asadbhih bhavaih as many unreal objects. This atma is
mistaken for many unreal objects which we listed. Advayena ca kalpitah. It is mistaken as
 37

nondual. Nondual word also cannot use. Bhavah api advayena and these unreal objects also
cannot exist separate from the adhishthanam nondual Brahman. Even the kalpana is not as an
independent vastu but as non-different from adhishthana atma. Kalpitah - this we have to supply.
Bhavah api advayena eva kalpitah. Objects of the world are also superimposed as non-different
from adhishthanam only. Second line - advayam means atma. Even the imagined objects exist
supported by atma.
Tasmat + Therefore advayam Brahman or akalpitam Brahman alone is auspicious. Brahman
which is neither dvaitam or advatiam alone is auspicious. That alone can give anandah. Any
kalpana is asiva if not understood as kalapana. Advayam atma means dvaita advaita vilakshana
atma. Because advaitam also is kalpana. So we cannot use advaitam for atma.
Verse 34
natmabhavena nana idam na svenapi kathamcana
na prthang naaprthang kincit iti tatvavido viduh
Here he points out that word is indefinable anirvacaniyam. Because when you look at the world,
as a identical with atma, you find the dualistic world cannot be there because atma is nondual. If
you look at the world as identical with atma, plurality is not there. Suppose you take the world as
separate from atma, and look at the world by itself then can we say world is plural. That is also
not possible. When you separate from atma it does not have existence at all. Remove from the
atma duality does not exist, Identical with atma duality cannot be there because atma is nondual.
So logically speaking plurality is not there. At the same time I cannot say it is not there because I
experience it. So the condition of the world is it is experienced but not logically definable.
Separated it has no satta like snake minus rope. Snake identified with rope means rope alone is
there. Snake is neither difference from rope nor identical with rope. So what is snake? You cannot
define. Bhinna abhinnabhyam anirvcaniyam. This is general rule regarding any adhyasa. Any
adhyasa cannot be defined. It is neither different from adhishthana nor identical
Idam atmabhavena na nana bhavati. This world cannot remain plural or dual as atma or as
identical with atma. Na svena api kathancana. Nor this world can remain plural by its own or
itself separate from atma. The reason is once world is separated from atma, it does not have satta
of its own. satta of the world is borrowed from ayam. What is world then?
Kincit na prthak na aprthak. Nothing can be said to be different from atma and nothing can be
said to be identical with atma. It is anirvacaniyam. So mithya So we say if it is identical with
atma it should have been sat and separate then asat. So neither sat nor asat. Sannapyasanna+
Atma satyam tad anyat sarvam anirvacaniyam.
In the following portion acharya talks about sadhanam for getting this samyag darsanam from 35
Verse 35
Vitaraga +
This atma can be known only by those people who have these qualifications. Vita + Those who
are free from raga. Raga is well known. Vita means free. Those who have deivi sampatti.
38

Munibhih - those who are manana silas. Those who make enquiries. Muni includes sravanam
and mananam. Vita + refers to sadhana catushtaya sampatti. Vedaparagaih - experts in
scriptures. Well versed in scriptures. Dharma adharma jnanartham purvabhaga is necessary. So
self enquiry is not independent enquiry and it is through sastra and sastra means guru also comes.
By them ayam atma is seen. Definition of atma in 7 th mantra is reminded here by saying
nirvikalpah etc. Free from divisions of pramata pramanam and prameyam. Nantah prajnam etc. is
said. Three padas are mithya. Not ultimately real. It is free from entire universe. Advayah is free
from dvayam. Such an atma can be recognised only by these people. What about nididhyasanam?
Following sloka will talk about it.
Verse 36
tasmatdevam viditvainam +
Tasmat therefore. Wherefore? Since Advaitam is sivaa, others are asiva, one should think of
advaitam all the time. Evem + thus knowing advaita atma. Enam this atma. Evam - in this
manner. That it is nirvikalpa etc. How? Through sravanam and mananam. Thereafter one should
fix the mind in advaitam. Dwelling upon this teaching. Smriti here means mind. Memory means
whatever is heard in class should not be forgotten. One should be alert to this teaching always. Do
contemplation. Next chapter will elaborately discuss it as mano nirgrahah.
Having become well established in advaitam through nididhyasnam. Sravana and manana is for
knowledge. Nididhyasnama is for sthiraprajna. We can call it assimilation. Jadavallokam acaret +
One should remain in the world as an ordinary person. Like any other person. The idea is when I
am soaked in Vedanta I will feel like telling to somebody. I drag him to Vedanta. When he may
not be interested. Let it remain secret. Like any other ignorant person remain. This is called
jivanmukti.
Verse 37
Nistutir nirnamaskarah nissvahdakara eva ca
Calacala niketasca yatir yadricchiko bhavet
In this karika acharya says that no sadhana is there for this jivanmukta. This person has already
become siddhah. Sadhana is for sadhaka. For siddha no sadhana. He gives example of few
sadhanas. Stutih is parayanam and japa, prayers and suktams. He has no worship or puja to do.
Here it is kayikam. Earlier it is vacikam. Svadhakara. Svadha is an expression used when
offerings are given to forefathers. Any ritual connected to forefathers like sraddham, tarpanam
etc. Nitya naimittikadi karmas. All these are not there for him. He is free from all of them. All are
meant for cittasuddhi and guru upasadanam and jnanaprapti. Jivanmukta does not require any one
of them. He does not require all of them. But it is not said he should not do them. A jnani may do
all of them for loka sangraha or setting an example. It is not compulsory. The general convention
is that if a jnani takes sanyasa and he goes out of the society he need not set an example because
there is no one around. When he is in the society he becomes an example for others. We cannot
question him if he does not do. So he is free from all karmas. Cala acala niketah. He does not
have a place. He does not stay in a particular place. He is a paramahamsa parivrajaka. The one
who does not own any thing. So his abode is cala acala niketah. He has two houses. Others have
 39

one only. One is moving house. Portable house. Another is immobile house. What are they?
Sariram is mobile house. Navadvare + Aste. Every body is his abode including his body. He is the
atma indwelling body. Another is atma, the adhishtanam Brahma which is acalah. When he is
doing vyavahara he is identified with body. When he is not doing vyavahara he abides in atma.
Atmana atmani tishthati. Svasthama means I am with myself. He is yatih. Yatih means a sanyasi.
Paramhamsa parivrajaka. Greatest sanyasi. A jnani need not be sanyasi. Here he is taken as
sanyasi.
If he is a sanyasi what will he do for his shelter, clothing etc. That is fundamental worry.
Yadriccikah bhavati. He is satisfied with whatever comes on his way. Wherever he goes he stays
there. Whatever food he gets he eats. Rathyacarpata + Any dress available he wears. Suramandira
taru+ We have seen in gita also. Yadrcchalabha santushtah. What do you mean by yadriccha.
Prarabdham. I do not have any purushartha or any special gain. Whatever comes is welcome.
Total surrender to prarabdha. Prarabdhaya samarpitam + He offers the body to prarabdha. This is
a condition of jivanmuktah. Detachment. When people are around he transacts and love. When
they are not he is with himself.
Now acharya concludes
Verse 38
tatvam adhyatmikam drshtva tattvam drshtva tu bahyatah
tattvibhutas tadaramah tattvad apracyuto bhavet
Here the jivanmukti is clearly mentioned and concluded. What is the state of jivanmukta? He is
ever established in atma. We may think that he is therefore in nirvikalpa samadhi. His eyes are
closed and he is looking within. Acharya says it is not so. He is always established in atma
whether he is sitting quiet or in vyavahara. Atma is in or out? It is everywhere. So he remembers
outside also. Sat rupena outside Brahman is recognised and as satcit rupena recognised inside.
When I see the universe, name and form belong to universe and satta is Brahman. In and through
name and form changes, sat Brahman is changeless So even if somebody dies, he is unaffected.
When body becomes ashes, name and form alone has changed. Sat happens to be same. He
remembers this in vyavahara. When he is with himself, cid also always there. Any veitti comes, in
and through all of them what is common is cid. One is adhyatmika tattvam and another is
bahyatattvam. Not two. But from external and internal angle. Tattvam as jagat adhishthanam and
tattvam as sarira adhsihthanam. When seeing outside first and seeing inside the second. So he
never loses sight of tattvam.
Seeing atma tattvam, tattvam at body level, when there is no vyavahara and seeing Brahma
tattvam, tattvam at world level, when he is in vyavahara or in other words sat and cit. As a result
of this. This is called nididhyasanam. Training the mind in this manner is called nididhyasanam.
What will happen? He will become identical to tattvam. These words should not cause confusion.
He was already tattvam or Brahman. Because of his absorption in body he missed Brahman.,
Now he has owned up that fact that I am cid rupah inside and satrupah outside and I am not body
or world. I am the Sat in the world and cid in the body. Thereafter his ananda comes from that
tattvm. He revels in that tattvam. He is atma ramah na tu vishayaramah or indriyaramah. Does it
40

mean he does not laugh when he listens to a joke. No. When there is external joy he will enjoy.
But he will not call that ananda as the ananda from the vishaya but understand it as my own
ananda.
Whenever I enjoy it is en-joy. Any joy is enjoy. When he gets nishtha then he is firmly established
that he never falls away or strays away from this tattvam. Falling away means forgetting the fact
that I am atma. Brahma nishtha is jnana-nishtha. It is spontaneous for him. Especially when there
are problems. Every seeker should become nishthah. It is the result of dhyanam. Cittasuddhi-
sravana and dhyanam.
 41

Summary of second chapter

It is to be seen in the background of first chapter i.e., agama prakaranam where atma svarupam
was revealed. Whiel revealing in the 7th mantra upanishad said prapancopasama and advaitam.
Atma free from dvaita prapanca. It cannot be real. If so prapancopasama cannot be used nor
advaitam. At the same time world is experienced. So the first word implies mithyatvam of jagat.
It was not directly stated by Sruti. We have to read between the lines. So in the second chapter it
is explicitly unfolded by acharya. Implications can be understood only by uttama adhikari or
sharp intelligent. So for manda madhyamas he explains. He uses the word vithatah for it.
Unreality of world is topic of second chapter. Vaithatyam of what? Not advaitam. But of jagat. He
does not purely depend on sruti. Yuktya dvaita vaithatya niscayah. This is background.
Establishing mithyatvam of jagrat prapanca with the example of svapna prapanca.
Jagrat prapanca is mithya anityatvat svapna prpancavat. Reason adau ante ca+ For this he
diverted to prove svapna prapanca is mihtya with sruti, yukti and anubahva. It is only a support.
1,2,3 Yuktim anubhava and sruti given. Sruti - Abhavasca rathadinam Antasthanattu points out
yukti and establishes unreality of dream. Ucitadesa kala abahvat. Pratibuddhaca + The dream
world is negated. So anubhava points out the same.
4,5 This unreality is extended to waking state. Because waking experience also is negated . Yatha
tatra tatha svapne. (yatha svapne tatha tatra.). The difference is that they are external.
Samvrtatvena bhidyate.
6 Another hetu was given as Adavante ca yannasti + for mithyatvam of waking objects. Reality is
that which always exits.
Purvapaksahs raised by others who do not want to accept jagrat prapanca is mithya.
In the next section 7 to 10 and 14, 15Gaudapadacarya refutes few definitions of reality presented
by others.
Usefulness is criteria for reality - refuted in sparayojanata tesham (7)
What is commonly experienced should be reality - refuted in apurvam sthani (8)
What is experienced outside should be real - refuted in bahisceto grihitam sat (9,10)
That which has objective existence should be real - refute din cittakala hi (14)
That which is clearly experienced should be real - refuted in sphuta eva hi bahih (15)
Dream fulfils all these conditions from dreamer’s standpoint and so dream must be real. Is it so?
So these are not correct definitions. We commit the mistake of taking waker as basis for arriving
at the reality of waker. Measurement scale has problem. The proper definition is that which is
always is real.
Topic of adhishthanam for mithya world
In the next section the topic discussed is - if both waking and dream are unreal, what is reality?
Who knows these two states? In 11 it is asked - ubhayorapi + ka etan budhyate and ko va tesham
42

vikalpakah.
The answer is given in 12, 13 and 16
Self who is not waker etc but apramata atma (the inherent consciousness in all of them), projects
everything by itself through maya. Kalpayatyatmana atmanam devah svamayaya + Sa eva
budhyate bhedan (12)
First it creates jiva and then everything within and without. Vikarotyaparan bhavan+ (13). Jivam
kalpayate purvam (16).
HOW it creates
17 When existent apramata atma is not recognised due to ignorance, the nonexistent vyavaharika
and pratibhasika atma i.e., waker and dreamer becomes real and create problem. Like aniscitayam
yatha rajjuh vikalpita. Existent rope not recognised, nonexistent snake appears real.
18 When knowledge takes place error goes away. Niscitayam yatha rajjvam vikalpo +
What all mistakes can take place? Mistake is one but result is countless mistakes.
In this penultimate section (19-28) Gaudapada gives various views of self seen by others,
panditas and pamaras. Sincerely studies and carefully comes to wrong conclusions.
Pranadhibhiranataisca bahvaih + (19) Prana iti + (20…) Though they are erroneous and learnt
from his teacher, self protects them in those very forms because behind every mistake there is
truth. That very sraddha takes hold of them. All mistakes are accommodaed only at the level of
sadhanam. Methods of puja are acceptable. Gaudapada is catholic here. The final sloka is
important Yam bhavam darsayet+ (29). When it comes to knowledge there can be only one
knowledge.
If knoweldge is one, then what is the right knowledge. Samyag darsanam is topic
30-32 Wise man sees nothing other than self though things appear to be different from self. All
pramanam, prameyam and pramata is mithya. Apramata is satyam. Evam yo veda tatvena.
Example of svapna maye etc. given in 31. In reality there is no creation etc. So since dvaitam is
mithya, all activities in dvaita is mithya whether secular or religious or spiriutal. Na nirodho na
nirotpattih (32) Important karika. In 33 even advayata word also is said to be kalpita. Advayena
ca kalpitah. Which word is satyam. No word. Namakaranam is beginning of samsara. Father
gives word only for vyavahara. World can neither exist separately nor identical. So Mithya.
If moksha is mithya should I work for moksha? Are you apramata or apramata? If apramata you
will not ask. So since you are asking, you must work for it.
Sadhanam for knowledge
In the last section (35-38) Sadhanam pointed out. Vitaraga bhayakrodhaih + advaite Yojayet
smritim and yadrcchiko bhavet Then atmaramah and apracyutah he is.