Introduction to Vedanta -Drig Drisya Viveka - Swami Sarvapriyanandaji's lecture in Vedanta society of southern California part 9

Swami Sarvapriyanandaji's lectures are available on youtube. These are just the my personal interpretations and transcriptions of his explanation of the text of Drig Drisya Viveka. Actual Copyright of the lecture belongs to Vedanta Society of Southern California.

Drig Drisya Viveka is a Vedantic test written by Vidyaranya Swami in 14th century AD. Its an introductory text on Vedanta.

The pure consciousness is ever awake, ever witness in the three states of waking, dreaming and deep sleep. In deep sleep it is the witness of the absence, the void. Pure consciousness is nearest to the subtle body, the mind and hence it gets reflected and illumines the mind-intellect as the reflected consciousness, thus imparting the I sense or the individuality/ego. The jiva, which is the other name of the pramata is a limited self. That limitedness is super imposed on the unlimited, pure consciousness through adhyasa or superimposition. The limited individual sense covers or obscures the real nature - the unlimited infinite pure consciousness which we are and thus we forget our true nature, the real self and think ourselves to be what we are - the individual, limited beings or the jiva. 

From mind the borrowed consciousness spreads to the body, literally to the tip of the fingernails and we feel conscious. Just as we superimpose snake upon rope in the darkness, this mind body is superimposed on pure spirit and covers the latter. Pure consciousness will still remain even if the individual jiva goes, it will be the witness of that absence, as it is in the deep sleep.

Why is this superimposition? Why do we forget our real nature? Vedanta answers this in one word - because of Maya, the veiling power, which is most powerful. We cannot ask why Maya exists, because Time, Space, Causation all are in the domain of Maya. Therefore the question of "Why", the cause, cannot be asked about Maya which is the source of all causation. It is absurd thus to ask why there is Maya as long as we are in the domain of Maya. When we go beyond the realms of Maya, as in nirvikalpa samadhi, Maya no longer exists. It is said about Maya - "Sa Samsar Karana", she is the reason for the samsara or the world. The superimposition of false ego on the pure consciousness or the Self is the cause of the world. Once knowledge dawns it ceases for that jiva but continues for others till eternity. Maya cannot be known from within Maya.

Vedanta talks about Siddhanta and Prakarana - the conclusion and the pedagogy. Conclusion is Brahman alone is true, world is false. The prakarana or the method/process is the discussion about all the rest like the veiling power. The difference between Samkhya philosophy and Vedanta can be cited using the following example. Imagine that we are watching a good movie in the tv, that is our life, our world. Samkhya would say that switch off the tv, separate purusha the pure consciousness from prakriti, the nature. It tells us to attain  kaivalya, i.e. go beyond nature. Vedanta on the other hand says, enjoy the movie but know it to be what it is, a movie only. The screen is the main substance, pictures are mere projections on the screen. Samkhya says, we are wearing a garment of our individual self or ego sense, just throw it off. Vedanta says, keep wearing the garment, but know it to be a garment that can be thrown off at any moment.