in the basic Reality there lies hidden Ignorance

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ADVAITA BODHA DEEPIKA[LAMP OF NON-DUAL KNOWLEDGE][Originally

Sri Shankaracharya and other great Sages hadwritten several works like the commentary on the Vedanta Sutrasand thus furnished the methods for those engaged in Self enquiryto accomplish their purpose.From those, Sri Karapatra Swami later condensed thesalient

points

into

Sanskrit

verse

in

a work of twelve chapters,called Sri Advaita

Bodha Deepika.Still later, some great man seems to have translated thisinto Tamil prose. For some unknown reasons only some eightchapters

of

the

same

are

found published.]ON SUPERIMPOSITION37. Disciple: Before creation and in dissolution if there is noworld, what can exist then?Master: There is only the basic Existence, not fictitious, non-dual,undifferentiated, ab extra and ab intra (Sajatiya, vijatiya,and svagata bheda), Being-Knowledge-Bliss, the unchangingReality.D.: How is it known?M.: The Vedas say "Before creation there was only PureBeing." Yoga Vasishta also helps us to understand it.D.: How?38. M.: "In dissolution the whole universe is withdrawnleaving only the Single Reality which stays motionless, beyondspeech and thought, neither darkness nor light, yet perfect,namely, untellable, but not void," says Yoga Vasishta.39. D.: In such Non duality how can the universe arise?M.: Just as in the aforesaid rope snake, the ignorance ofthe real substratum lies hidden in the rope, so also in the basicReality there lies hidden Ignorance otherwise called Maya orAvidya. Later this gives rise to all these names and forms.40-41. This maya which is dependent on the unrelatedKnowledge-Bliss-Reality, has the two aspects of veiling andprojection (avarna and vikshepa); by the former it hides itsown substratum from view, and by the latter the unmanifestmaya is made manifest as mind. This then sports with itslatencies which amounts to projecting this universe with allthe names and forms.42. D.: Has anyone else said this before?M.: Yes, Vasishta to Rama.D.: How?43-50. M.: "The powers of Brahman are infinite. Amongthem that power becomes manifest through which it shinesforth."D.: What are those different powers?M.: Sentience in sentient beings; movement in air;solidity in earth; fluidity in water; heat in fire; void in theether; decaying tendency in the perishable; and many moreare well known. These qualities remained unmanifest andlater manifested themselves. They must have been latent inthe non-dual Brahman like the glorious colours of peacockfeathers in the yolk of its egg or the spread out banyan treein the tiny seed.