Drg-Drshya-Viveka - 15

"The other power (veiling power of maya) veils the distinction between the Seer and the seen within, and the Reality and the creation outside. It is the cause of samsara." - Verse 15

Excerpt From Commentary

The projecting power of maya can project the jiva and the world only when supported by the veiling power. The veiling power does not hide the jiva in its entirety. One knows that one is; only one does not know who one is, so one takes the body to be oneself. On thinking a little, one admits the possibility of a Self other than the body, both real and co-existing. Further enquiry shows that the Self is the Witness Consciousness and that the body is inert. The Self is real and the body an illusion. 

When completely under the influence of the veiling power, man says that the world alone is real as experienced by him. At some stage, it dawns upon him that the world should logically have a cause. If the world exists, God too must exist. He feels both the world and the God are real. When by the guru's grace, he reflects deeper, he understand that the names and forms are a mere superimposition on the Reality.

The illuminator of this world is the Self. The substratum of the world is the Reality. Both are of the nature of Existence-Consciousness-Bliss. The illuminator and the substratum of the world must therefore be the same. The Self is the Reality. This realization destroys the ignorance which veils the TRuth and liberates the individual from samsara.

The changing nature of the inert world in itself is not a problem to us. Our identification with it causes bondage. We call the body as "I" and things related to it as "my". These notions give rise to likes and dislikes which in turn agitate the mind and make us unhappy. 

What should one do to get rid of this notion? Means such as pooja, japa or pranayam help to make the mind pure, subtle and concentrated. When such a mind conducts an enquiry, it realizes the Truth. Continuous enquiry is required because of the weakness of the mind in understanding and abiding in Knowledge.