अयमित्थं महाभोगो जगदाख्योऽवभासते । सत्यो भवत्वसत्यो वा यत्र तत्र त्वशून्यता ॥ ८ ॥
ayamitthaṁ mahābhōgō jagadākhyō’vabhāsatē | satyō bhavatvasatyō vā yatra tatra tvaśūnyatā || 8 ||
Translation
This vast spread called the world appears thus. Let it be real or unreal: wherever it appears, there is no voidness.
Word by word
- ayam
- this
- itthaṁ
- thus
- mahā
- vast
- bhōgō
- (bhogaḥ) spread, expanse of enjoyments
- jagad
- (jagat) the world
- ākhyō
- (ākhyaḥ) called
- avabhāsatē
- appears
- satyō
- (satyaḥ) real
- bhavatu
- let it be
- asatyō
- (asatyaḥ) unreal
- vā
- or
- yatra
- wherever
- tatra
- there
- tu
- indeed
- aśūnyatā
- non-voidness
Meaning
Vasiṣṭha sets aside a dispute that need not be settled here. The world (a mahābhoga, a great expanse, rich in things to be enjoyed) may be called real, as it is for practical life, or unreal, as it is in the highest truth; he does not insist on either. The commentary: whichever it is, the ground (adhiṣṭhāna) in which it appears is not void, for nothing can be superimposed on a void, and a void cannot be a ground. Even an illusion needs something to appear on, as the snake seen in the dusk needs the rope. So the mere fact that a world appears is proof that what it appears in is not empty.