Atma Bodha Verse 08

Hari AUM


upAdAne akhilAdhAre jaganti paramEshvarE |
sargasthitilayAnyAnti budbudAnIva vAriNi ||

Translation :
The material cause and the support of all the worlds is the Supreme God. [The World] arises, rests and dissolves [ in to the Supreme God ] just as bubbles in water.

Explanation :
    The subject matter of this verse is causation i.e. from where does matter come from? In the last couple of verses, jagam(world) was discussed from the individual point of view i.e. as perceived by the individual. Now, it is discussed from the cosmic point of view.

 Immediate attention should be drawn to a word which we have not seen so far in this text - paramEshvara. Ishvara is a very key concept in Advaita along with avidya, jnAna, Atman and brahman, that we have seen so far. Advaita admits of a Supreme Being ( called God in English ) who is responsible for determining our birth as per our prarAbdha karma.
    In this verse, causation is explained with reference to Ishvara. At the outset, it needs to be mentioned that most Indian philosophies do not accept creation ex-nihilo i.e. creation from nothing ( which is the official position of the Roman Catholic Church ). Ishvara is the material and efficient cause of this Universe i.e. Ishvara is the Creator and the "substance" of the Creation. This is explained as the world arising out of God, abiding on God and arriving in to God. This should be understood as follows : God is the source, sustenance and destiny of the Universe.

 The word "sarga" deserves special mention. It means "arising or drawing". The correct word in sanskrit for creation is "srishti". Hence, the world is not "created" but is "projected" by God, sustained by God and eventually returns to God just as bubbles arise out of water, are supported by water beneath and eventually "blow" out and return to water. The bubble is nothing but a projection of of the water below and cannot sustain itself without the support of the water below.

|| bhava Shankara deshikame SharaNam ||