यथाऽयं स्वविकल्पोत्थः स्वविकल्पपरिक्षयात् । क्षीयते दग्धसंसारो निःसार इति निश्चयः ॥ ३३ ॥
yathā’yaṁ svavikalpōtthaḥ svavikalpaparikṣayāt | kṣīyatē dagdhasaṁsārō niḥsāra iti niścayaḥ || 33 ||
Translation
that this burnt-out world, arisen from one's own imagining, perishes when that imagining wholly perishes, and is without substance. That is certain.
Word by word
- yathā
- that
- ayaṁ
- this
- sva
- one's own
- vikalpa
- imagining
- utthaḥ
- arisen from
- parikṣayāt
- when wholly perishes
- kṣīyatē
- perishes
- dagdha
- burnt-out
- saṁsārō
- (saṃsāraḥ) world
- niḥsāra
- (niḥsāraḥ) without substance
- iti
- thus
- niścayaḥ
- certain
Meaning
Śuka states the conclusion in one verse. The world (saṃsāra) arises from one's own imagining (sva-vikalpa); when that imagining is wholly destroyed (parikṣaya), the world perishes with it; and so it has no substance (niḥsāra). The commentary explains vikalpa as the inner instrument (antaḥkaraṇa), which, in the Self as it is veiled by ignorance, imagines the manifold world, and is full of the seeds of desire, action and latent impression. In deep sleep it lies dormant; then it puts forth the world again, from the subtle elements to the cosmic and the individual body. When knowledge destroys ignorance at the root, the inner instrument is ended for good and the world with it. "Burnt" (dagdha) is a word of contempt, the commentary says: a world false in all three times is already as good as burnt. The reader may test the verse on a small scale. Much of what troubles us exists only in our own imagining of it; when the imagining stops, the trouble goes with it.