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VIVEKACŪDĀMAŅI
223
avidyā are unproduced i.e., they shine by themselves. Thus it is declared that avidyā is anādi, beginningless. bhūyaścânte viśvamāyānivsttiḥ (śvet): "Again, at the end the cosmic māyā disappears.” Thus, the destruction of avidyā too is learnt from śruti. Hence the beginninglessness of avidyā and its destruction are declared by śruti. There is no occasion for any doubt in respect of this.
Moreover, when a man says: "Till now this was not known by me; now it is known,' there can be no question as to since when it was unknown. Thus the beginninglessness of ajñāna and its destruction by jñāna are established by experience. Of what is beginningless and endless, there is no example apart from ātman. Therefore, there is no occasion for any comparison.
The common statement is that the pot does not exist before its production in the shreds which are the indispensable cause of the pot. This is called the antecedent non-existence of the pot (prāgabhāva). This antecedent non-existence is destroyed on the production of the pot. Thus the non-existence which was beginningless before the pot was produced disappears upon the production of the pot. So, too, on the springing up of jñāna, ajñāna though beginningless, is destroyed. When that ajñāna itself is destroyed, where will its effects remain ?
202 In the next śloka it is shown that when the upādhi is destroyed, jīvatva, the effect of the upādhi, too, vanishes.
यबुद्धयुपाधिसंबन्धात् परिकल्पितमात्मनि । जोवत्वं न ततोऽन्यत्तु स्वरूपेण विलक्षणम् ॥२०२॥ yadbuddhyupādhisambandhāt parikalpitamātmani · jīvatvam na tato'nyattu svarūpeņa vilakṣaṇam 11
Jivahood which is imagined in the ātman due to association with the upādhis is not real; for the ātman is really different from it in its essential nature. ātmani: here means in the Paramātman.
buddhyupādhisambandhāt: by association with the upādhi which is the effect of the connection of avidyā with the ātman. Buddhi itself is the upādhi. This identification of the ātman with that with which it is associated is brought about by ajñāna. This association is of the nature of mithyā.
