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Kathopanisad

Chapter 2 Valli 2 Mantra 11

Mantra

sūryo̍ yathā sarva-lo̱kasya̍ cakṣu-
rna̱ lipya̍te cakṣuṣair bā̱hyado̍ṣaiḥ |
eka̍s tathā sarva-bhū̱tāntar-ā̍tmā
na̱ lipya̍te loka-du̱ḥkena̍ bāhyaḥ ||

yathā = just as; sūryaḥ = the Sun; sarva-lokasya cakṣuḥ = the eye of the entire universe; na lipyate = is not tainted or defiled; cakṣuṣaiḥ bāhya-doṣaiḥ = by the external faults seen by the eye such as physical dirt or ritual impurity; tathā = similarly; ekaḥ = though one; sarva-bhūtāntar-ātmā = the Self within all beings; na lipyate = is not tainted; loka-duḥkena = by the suffering of the world; bāhyaḥ = as It (the Self) is beyond the world.

As the Sun, the Eye of the whole world, is not contaminated by the defects of the external eye, so being the Innermost Essence in all beings, Atman is not contaminated by the external sorrows of the world.

by Swami Chinmayananda:

Sarva lokasya Chakshuh (the Eye of Whole World) – Without the light energy provided by the Sun we would not have been able to make use of our eyes in discriminating the various forms and colors of the sense objects in the world. Nor would we have moon to provide us with moonlight at least during the bright fortnights, if the sun were not there to lend its light to the moon to reflect! Apart from all these, and probably built upon a thorough knowledge of the science of Fah, the ancient Rsis of the Upanishads have declared even in the Vedic period that the Sun is the presiding deity of the sense organ, the eye. Thus, it is most appropriate to term the Sun as the Eye of the Universe too.

“The light of the Sun illumines equally all the objects in all conditions of health and decay. Whether the sunlight illumines a scene of meritorious sacrifice or a dire scene of calculated villainy, the sunlight, as such, does not get either blessed or condemned by the qualities of the various scenes it illumines.

Similarly, the Atman is not tainted by the miseries of the world, arising from the kama and karma of the ego-centric individuals living the delusions of their own ignorance, All sorrows are created by our unrestrained desires and our attempts in the world of sense objects to fulfil our desires through passion motivated, self willed actions kama karma-udbhavam duhkham).

Whatever be the condition of the ghost in the post, the post is not in the least affected; whatever be the threatening aspects of the snake in the rope, the rope is not in any way affected; in whatever be condition be the surface of the mirage water, the desert is not at all affected! Similarly, whatever be the condition of the world and our experiences of it, in our present embodiment, the Truth, which is the substratum for the delusion created world myth, is not in the least, affected.

There are mainly two schools of thought among the Hindu philosophers as they try to explain the relative status of Truth and the World. Some claim that the Supreme Reality modified Itself to become this world; as the milk gets modified to become cfd. Vedantins condemn this point of view since it is faulty according to their line of argument. They condemn this theory on the score that if the Supreme Reality were to suffer Itself to undergo a modification, just as the milk is no more in the curd, the Supreme will have to end Itself to become the World, which is naturally absurd. Again, the Vedantins argue that if the world is a modification (parinam) of the Supreme Reality then according to the Parinamavadins the Supreme is available for change and that which undergoes change cannot be Eternal, but must necessarily fall within the boundaries of finiteness, Thus, if the Parinamavada is accepted, the Supreme Reality Itself becomes a finite perishable quantity!!

On the other hand, the Vedantins view the creation as a superimposition upon Truth, caused by the jugglery of the mind, termed as Maya. This argument of the ‘Vedantins is termed as the Vivartavada. Here, the Supreme undergoes no change at all but ever remains in its Eternal purity and Immortal grandeur; the rope undergoes no change, nor gains for itself even a drop of venom when a traveler in the dusk misunderstands it to be a snake.

The Mantra under discussion seems to support whole heartedly Shri Sankara’s standpoint. Anyway the “Theory of Modification” stands blasted in the presence of the more brilliant and satisfying “Theory of Superimposition” in explaining the Real and the unreal.

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