Atma Bodha Verse 08
Hari AUM
upAdAne akhilAdhAre jaganti paramEshvarE |
sargasthitilayAnyAnti budbudAnIva vAriNi ||
Translation :
The material cause and the support of all the worlds is the Supreme God. [The
World] arises, rests and dissolves [ in to the Supreme God ] just as bubbles in
water.
Explanation :
The subject matter of this verse is causation i.e. from where
does matter come from? In the last couple of verses, jagam(world) was discussed
from the individual point of view i.e. as perceived by the individual. Now, it
is discussed from the cosmic point of view.
Immediate attention should be drawn to a word which we have not seen so
far in this text - paramEshvara. Ishvara is a very key concept in Advaita along
with avidya, jnAna, Atman and brahman, that we have seen so far. Advaita admits
of a Supreme Being ( called God in English ) who is responsible for determining
our birth as per our prarAbdha karma.
In this verse, causation is explained with reference to
Ishvara. At the outset, it needs to be mentioned that most Indian philosophies
do not accept creation ex-nihilo i.e. creation from nothing ( which is the
official position of the Roman Catholic Church ). Ishvara is the material and
efficient cause of this Universe i.e. Ishvara is the Creator and the
"substance" of the Creation. This is explained as the world arising
out of God, abiding on God and arriving in to God. This should be understood as
follows : God is the source, sustenance and destiny of the Universe.
The word "sarga" deserves special mention. It means "arising or drawing". The correct word in sanskrit for creation is "srishti". Hence, the world is not "created" but is "projected" by God, sustained by God and eventually returns to God just as bubbles arise out of water, are supported by water beneath and eventually "blow" out and return to water. The bubble is nothing but a projection of of the water below and cannot sustain itself without the support of the water below.
|| bhava Shankara deshikame SharaNam ||