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VIVEKACŪĻĀMAŅI
nityaśucisukhātmatvakhyātir avidya: "The mistaken perception of the atman which is eternal, pure and blissfull in what is transient, impure and subject to grief, is avidya." Due to being inclined to the gross body, birth and death arise; due to attachment to anandamayakośa etc., arise desire, aversion and attachment. Thus the first kleśa, namely the resultant avidya is the cause of all kinds of misery.
165
yenaiva: by which alone i.e., by the wrong perception of the atman in the anatman; by the bondage resulting therefrom man thinks this unreal body as the atman and gets attached to it.
viṣayaiḥ: the sense-objects appear pleasant though really they are forms of bondage. By their relish, they make for nourishment, growth and protection. An appropriate example is given. The silkworm spins a web out of the threads manufactured by its saliva. It thinks that it is protected by those threads. Caught up in them, it is not able to move out of them and ultimately dies. So too the `jiva thinking that its body is the ātman. Nourished by the sense-objects, caught by them, it is subject to various kinds of griefs like birth, death, etc. Vide the śloka:
kośakrimis tantubhiratmadeham äveṣṭya cavestya
ca guptimicchan |
svayam vinirgantumaśakta eva san tatastadantarmriyate
ca lagnaḥ
avanam: means rakṣaṇam: safeguarding what exists. poṣaṇam is making it grow.
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Superimposition (adhyāsa) cannot arise if one understands the difference between the basis (adhiṣṭhāna) and what is super-imposed (the aropya). That adhyasa is the essential cause for bondage is explained with an example by referring to ajñāna which is the prime cause operating through avidyā and making for bondage. अर्तास्मस्तद्बुद्धिः प्रभवति विमूढस्य तमसा विवेकाभावाद्वै स्फुरति भुजगे रज्जुधिषणा । antsariaat faqafa ausgefum:
aat otsaenz: a fg wafa aru: qy aà 11 980 11 atasmin tadbuddhiḥ prabhavati vimuḍhasya tamasā vivekābhāvādvai sphurati bhujage rajjudhiṣaṇā tato'narthavrāto nipatati samādāturadhikaḥ
tato yo'sadgrāhaḥ sa hi bhavati bandhaḥ śrņu sakhe 11
