the substratum of Maya, Pure Being or Brahman, admitting of no duality, is real

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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.]THE REMOVAL OFSUPERIMPOSITIONDisciple: Now what is real and what is unreal?Master: That which is the substratum of Maya, Pure Being orBrahman, admitting of no duality, is real. The illusoryphenomenon, consisting of names and forms, and called theuniverse, is unreal.D.: What can Maya be said to be?M.: Neither of the two. It is different from the realsubstratum and also from the unreal phenomenon.D.: Please explain this.12-17. M.: Say there is fire; it is the substratum. The sparksfly off from it. They are the modifications of fire. The sparksare not seen in the fire itself, but come out of it. An observationof this phenomenon makes us infer a power inherent in firewhich produces the sparks.Clay is the substratum; a hollow sphere with a neck and openmouth is made out of it, and is called a pot. This fact makes us infera power which is neither clay nor pot but different from both.Water is the substratum; bubbles are its effects; a powerdifferent from both is inferred.A snake egg is the substratum and a young snake is theproduct; a power different from the egg and the young snakeis inferred.A seed is the substratum and the sprout, its product; apower different from the seed and the sprout is inferred.The unchanging jiva of deep sleep is the substratum anddream is the effect; a power different from the jiva and thedream is inferred after waking up from sleep.In the same way the power laying latent in Brahmanproduces the illusion of the jagat. The substratum of this poweris Brahman and the jagat is its effect. This power cannot beeither of them, but must be different from both. It cannot bedefined. However it exists. But it remains inscrutable. Thereforewe say the `nature' of Maya is indescribable.