This universe was once a sprout inside a seed without any differentiation—until Maya
using concepts of space, time, and causation, imagines it to be a multiplicity of color and form
like a magician projecting its witchcraft, like a yogi directing its will.
Commentaries
Advaita Vedānta is not satisfied with any of the above mentioned views. The variegated and intelligently ordered universe cannot be the result of chance. Even to say that it is the result of chance is to accept causation. The world cannot be self-caused, because the world itself is inert, and one and the same thing cannot be both the agent and the patient of a process. Neither the elements nor the atoms, nor Prakrti can account for the universe; for they are all non-intelligent. God cannot be merely the efficient cause, for, if He were to shape the universe out of some stuff which is external to Him, He would become conditioned thereby. Nor can the universe be considered a transformation of God; for a God that changes cannot be immutable. So, Advaita concludes that the universe is an illusory appearance (vivarta) of the absolute spirit. The world is a play of maya (maya-vilāsa). That is why Sankara, in the present verse, compares God to the magician and the yogin. In the illusions created by these, nothing really happens. It is this truth that Guru Dakşiņāmūrti teaches. ~Mahadevan
The stanza opens with an example of the embryo in the seed and reinforces it with the example of the juggler and the yogī. This is a deliberate act to avoid misunderstanding. In the case of the seed, when the tree emerges, the seed is destroyed. A student might understand that the supreme Existence has exhausted Itself now, because It has become the world of plurality. To remove this idea of modification (pariṇāma), the example of the magician and the illustration of the yogī’s creation are suggested in the same stanza along with the example of the tree remaining unmanifest in the seed. ~Chinmayananda
The Advaitic position represents a variation of satkāryavāda, positioned between the two theories. The Advaitin agrees with the satkārya vādin that the effect emerges from the cause and pre-exists within it. However, the asatkārya vādin is also correct in observing that change and changelessness cannot be reconciled. Therefore, the Advaitin maintains that the effect does emerge from the cause, but not through transformation or change. Instead, the cause remains as the cause and appears as the effect. Brahman, the ultimate cause, the first cause, remains as Brahman without changing while appearing as this changing universe. ~Sarvapriyananda
Translations
Chinmayananda 2
bījasyāntarivāṅkuro jagadidaṁ prāṅ-nirvikalpaṁ punaḥ māyā-kalpita-deśakāla-kalanā vaicitrya-citrīkṛtam, māyāvīva vijṛmbhayatyapi mahāyogīva yaḥ svecchayā tasmai śrī-guru-mūrtaye nama idaṁ śrī-dakṣiṇāmūrtaye. (2) बीजस्य – of the seed; अन्तः – within; इव – like; अङ्कुरः – the future tree (the embryos); जगत् – universe; इदं – this; प्राक् – before; निर्विकल्पं – unmanifest; पुनः – again, later on; मायाकल्पित – created by māyā (delusory); देशकालकलना – due to the play of time and space; वैचित्र्यचित्रीकृतम् – projected himself out to be the world of endless; मायावी – juggler/magician; इव – like; विजृम्भयति – unrolls; अपि – also; महायोगी – a great yogī; इव – like; यः – He who; स्वेच्छया – by His own free will; तस्मै – to Him; श्रीगुरुमूर्तये – the divine Teacher; नमः – prostration; इदं – this; श्रीदक्षिणामूर्तये – to Śrī Dakṣiṇāmūrti 2. He who, like a juggler or a great yogī, unrolls this universe just out of His own free will – the universe, which, before creation, remained unmanifest like the future tree in a seed and later on, He has projected Himself out to be the world of endless variety, due to the delusory play of time and space, both the products of māyā – to Him, the divine Teacher, Śrī Dakṣiṇāmūrti, is this prostration.
Mahadevan 2
To Him who, like a magician or even like a great Yogin, displays, by His own will, this universe which at the beginning is undifferentiated like the sprout in the seed, but which is made again differentiated under the varied conditions of space and time posit-ed by maya: to Him, of the form of the Preceptor the blessed Dakshinamurti may this obeisance be!
Sarvapriyananda 2
“To him who like a magician or like a mighty yogi displays by his own will this universe—undifferentiated in the beginning, like the plant within the seed, but made afterwards picturesque in all its variety through combination with space and time created by māyā; to him who is incarnate in the teacher, to him in the effulgent form of Shiva facing the south: to him be this salutation.
Sastri 2
To Him who, like unto a magician, or even like unto a mighty Yogin, displays by His own will this universe, undifferentiated in the beginning like the plant within the seed, but made afterwards picturesque in all its variety in combination with space and time created by Mâyâ, to Him who is incarnate in the Teacher, to Him in the Effulgent Form Facing the South, to Him (Siva) be this bow!
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