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VIVEKACŪDAMAŅI
373
and other texts, the entire universe is seen to be of the nature of the ātman which is the substratum of it all and is not seen as such after that like the rope-snake. (The idea is that the sense of the serpent will continue only so long as the delusion lasts. When that vanishes, the serpent will vanish from view and the rope alone which is the reality will be seen).
389 स्वयं ब्रह्मा स्वयं विष्णुः स्वयमिन्द्रः स्वयं शिवः ।
स्वयं विश्वमिदं सर्व स्वस्मादन्यन्न किञ्चन ॥३८९॥ svayam brahmã svayam vişnuḥ svayamindraḥ svayam śivaḥ 11 svayam viśvamidam sarvam svasmādañyanna kiñcana 11
The ātman itself is Brahmā; the ātman itself is Vişnu; the ātman itself is Indra; the ātman itself is Śiva. The ātman itself is this universe. There is nothing else apart from the ātman.
By the śrutis: taddhaitad paśyan rşir vāmadevah pratipede, aham manur abhavam süryasca: (Brh.): “Verily seeing it, rși Vāmadeva said: "I was Manu, and also the Sun”, and, sa yaścāyam puruse yaścāsāvāditye sa ekaḥ: "He who is this Puruşa and He who is this Sun; He is one only (in both)”, the caitanya which is one only is spoken of, due to difference of upādhis, as Brahmā, Vişnu, śiva and Indra. As the same rope is imagined to be the serpent, the stick, the waterline, and as the cleft on the ground, so too this entire universe is by itself Brahman only; it is nothing other than itself. All predicative qualifications are attributed to the noun which are common to them. In the statements: I myself see; you yourself see; he himself saw, in 'myself', 'yourself' the self accompanies all these predicates; all predicates are imagined in the object designated by *self'; they have no existence apart from it. This is the idea.
390 & 391 A Mundakopanişad śruti says: brahmaivedam amrtam purastāt brahma paścāt brahma dakṣiṇatascottareņa: "This immortal Brahman is in front, Brahman is behind, Brahman is in the south and in the north." A Chăndogya śruti says: ahamevādhastāt ātmaivādhastāt: "I alone am below; the ātman alone is below". This meaning is taught for the stabilisation of the contemplation and for securing the unlimited mode, akhandākāravrtti, of the mind.
