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VIVEKACŪDAMAŅI
169
fold is this gate to hell-subversive of the atman-desire, anger and miserliness. Hence, one should abandon these three."
143 The statement that ajñāna is the source of every evil through its concealing and projecting power is further explained.
महामोह-ग्राहग्रसनगलितात्मावगमनः
धियो नानावस्थाः स्वयमभिनयन् तद्गुणतया। अपारे संसारे विषयविषपूरे जलनिधौ
निमज्ज्योन्मज्ज्यायं भ्रमति कुमतिः कुत्सितगतिः ॥ १४३ ॥ mahámoha-grāhagrasana-galitātmāvagamanaḥ
dhiyo nānāvasthās svayamabhinayan tadguṇatayā 1 apāre samsāre vişayavişapüre jalanidhau
nimajjyonmajjyāyam bhramati kumatiḥ kutsitagatih it
The man of perverted intellect is in the grip of the big crocodile of delusion which prevents him from realising the real nature of the ātman. He super-imposes on the ātman the states of his buddhi. Floundering in the big ocean of samsāra, rising and falling, unable to attain Brahman-realisation, he drifts along endlessly.
mahāmoha ........ manaḥ: one who is in the grip of the great monster (crocodile) of the lack of understanding of the true nature of the ātman, i.e., one who does not know the real nature of the atman.
mahāmohaḥ: dịąhataraḥ avivekaḥ: strong delusion. galitam: naştam: lost.
ātmāvagamanah: correct knowledge of the ātman: knowing its real nature based on experience of it.
nānāvasthāḥ: transformations of various kinds. tadguṇatayā: tadadhinatayā: being based on it, arising from it.
dhiyo ....... gunatayā: by reason of the atman's caitanya being reflected in the buddhi and taking the transformations of the buddhi to be those of the atman. Because the reflection depends on the nature of the upādhi which is here the buddhi. It is well known that when water in a reservoir is agitated, the reflection in it of any object seems to undergo agitation; vide the śruti:
samānassan ubhau lokau anusañcarati sadhih svapno bhūtvā dhyāyatīva lolāyatīva (Brh).
