Translation & Commentaries on MK3.48: uttamam satyam

48. na kaścij-jayate jīvaḥ saṁbhavo‘sya na vidyate, etat-tad-uttamaṁ satyaṁ yatra kiñcin-na jāyate. ~G

न कश्चित् – not at all; जायते – is born; जीवः – jīva; न संभवः – no source, cause; अस्य – for this; विद्यते – exists, appears; एतत् – this; तत् – that; उत्तमम् – supreme, highest; सत्यम् – Truth; यत्र – where; न किञ्चित् जायते – nothing is ever born. ~G-trC

48. No jiva ever comes into existence. There exists no cause that can produce it. The supreme truth is that nothing ever is born. ~G-trN

This stanza summarises the very core of Gauḍapāda’s philosophy of non-creation. Ajātavāda is the platform of Gauḍapāda and of Sage Vasiṣṭha (in yogavāsiṣṭha). They are the two Masters explaining to us the old school of Vedānta as contrasted with Śrī Śaṅkara who has initiated the new school of Vedānta wherein he accepts a ‘relative reality’ to the pluralistic world of objects. Gauḍapāda and Vasiṣṭha are natives of Reality. // Delved in Consciousness revelling in Consciousness, living in Consciousness as Consciousness, the great Master of every heart, reigning the realm of all, in his vision there is no world of objects separate from himself. Here, in this concluding stanza of this chapter, we have the entire philosophy of Gauḍapāda summarised in a ‘multi-spiritual tablet’. In this is the central theme of the glossator’s philosophy that nothing is ever born. ~C

If at all you experience a world, Gauḍapāda says that that experience is not because the world is born out of Brahman, not because a world is existing but only because it is appearing for us. So the entire world is an experience exactly like dream, which is an appearance. The dream is not really created by the mind nor does it really exist, but appears because of nidrā-śakti. Similarly the world has not really originated from Brahman, and it does not really exist. The world is an appearance because of māyā-śakti. In the case of dream, the appearance is due to nidrā-śakti, and at the cosmic level, the word māyā is used. This is the message of Gauḍapāda. ~P

Legend:

C: Chinmayananda

G: Gaudapada

Gm: Gambhirananda

N: Nikhilananda

P: Paramarthananda

S: Shankara

S/G: Sandeepany / Gurubhaktananda

Sw: Swartz

tr: translated by