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VIVEKACŪDAMAŅI
389
The Purāņas say that at the time of the general deluge, the four oceans combine. All land will be submerged. The world becomes a vast sheet of water. Then everywhere there is water only; no speck of land is seen as there are no demarcations. A point of grammar: arnava must be in the plural. But, as the oceans divided by land into four now become one, the singular is used. Even in this deluge, there is still the sky different from the ocean, which means then the ocean is not all. However, for conveying the infinite fullness to the hearer, the oneness of the ocean is given as in the example. It is like saying: "The sun speeds forth like an arrow". Obviously the speed of the sun is infinitely greater than that of an arrow. But the arrow is the speediest which the mind of man can ordinarily comprehend. Hence the comparison of the sun with it. So too here, notwithstanding the existence of the sky, the union of the four oceans into one is mentioned as an example of the paripurna-eka-vastu, plenary single object to enable comprehension by the śişya. It is to bring out the significance of atyantapurņa, of what is superlative full. By the śrutis jyāyānākāśāt jyāyānantariksāt jyāyānebhyo lokebhyaḥ: “Greater than the sky, greater than the middle region, greater than these worlds”; and pādo'sya sarvā bhūtāni tripādasyāmrtam divi (Puruşa Sūkta): "All the creatures are one quarter of Him, three quarters of Him are immortal in the sky”, where can be any difference in the incomparably excellent Paramātman which is a unitary substance, unchanging, unembodied and qualityless?
403
Earlier too, though there was no difference, there was ajñāna which was the cause of the delusion of difference. As that has been completely uprooted, there is not even the delusion of difference. That is conveyed in this sloka.
तेजसीव तमो यत्र विलीनं भ्रान्तिकारणम् ।
अद्वितीये परे तत्त्वे निविशेषे भिदा कुतः ॥४०३॥ tejasiva tamo yatra vilīnam bhrāntikāraṇam, advitiye pare tattve nirvišeşe bhidā kutaḥ 11
How can there be difference when the ajñāna which is the cause of delusion is dissolved, like darkness in light, in the Supreme Truth which is without a second and qualityless?
tamaḥ: means both ajñāna and darkness. Where in the Paramātman, the darkness of ajñāna which is the cause of delusion is
