Vivekachudamani
by Shankara | 1921 | 49,785 words | ISBN-13: 9788175051065
The Vivekachudamani is a collection of poetical couplets authored by Shankara around the eighth century. The philosophical school this compilation attempts to expose is called ‘Advaita Vedanta’, or non-dualism, one of the classical orthodox philosophies of Hinduism. The book teaches Viveka: discrimination between the real and the unreal. Shankara d...
Verse 204
जलं पङ्कवदत्यन्तं पङ्कापाये जलं स्फुटम् ।
यथा भाति तथात्मापि दोषाभावे स्फुटप्रभः ॥ २0४ ॥jalaṃ paṅkavadatyantaṃ paṅkāpāye jalaṃ sphuṭam |
yathā bhāti tathātmāpi doṣābhāve sphuṭaprabhaḥ || 204 ||204. Just as the water which is very muddy again appears as transparent water when the mud is removed, so the Ātman also manifests Its undimmed lustre when the taint has been removed.
Notes:
[Water is naturally pure, but it is polluted by foreign substances mixing with it. These impurities can be removed by filtration, distillation etc. So the apparent impurity of the soul can be removed by discrimination, which shows that it is Nescience that hides the real nature of the Self. ]