the universe is itself a product of the mind

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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 OFSUPERIMPOSITION18-20. Disciple: What is the `effect' of Maya?Master: It consists in presenting the illusion of the jiva, Isvaraand jagat on the non-dual substratum of Brahman, by virtue ofits veiling and projecting powers.D.: How?M.: As soon as the power lying dormant shows forth asmind, the latencies of the mind sprout forth and grow up liketrees which together form the universe. The mind sports withits latencies; they rise up as thoughts and materialise as thisuniverse, which is thus only a dream vision. The jivas and Isvarabeing its contents are as illusory as this day dream.D.: Please explain their illusory character.M.: The world is an object and seen as the result of thesport of mind. The jivas and Isvara are contained in it. Partscan be only as real as the whole. Suppose the universe ispainted in colours on a wall. The jivas and Isvara will befigures in the painting. The figures can be only as real as thepainting itself.21-24. Here the universe is itself a product of the mindand Isvara and the jivas form parts of the same product.Therefore they must be only mental projections and nothingmore. This is clear from the Sruti which says that Maya gaverise to the illusions of Isvara and the jivas, and from the Vasishtasmriti where Vasishta says that as if by magic the latencies danceabout in the mind as, he-I-you-this-that-my son-property etc.