[Advaita-l] nānātva is bhrama - Bhāgavatam

[V Subrahmanian]

Sri Krishna, addressing Uddhava, says that samara is illusory, like a dream:

श्रीमद्भागवतपुराणम्/स्कन्धः ११/अध्यायः ११

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शोकमोहौ सुखं दुःखं देहापत्तिश्च मायया।
स्वप्नो यथात्मनः ख्यातिः संसृतिर्न तु वास्तवी २।

Text 2: Just as a dream is merely a creation of one’s intelligence but has
no actual substance, similarly, material lamentation, illusion, happiness,
distress and the acceptance of the material body under the influence of
māyā are all creations of My illusory energy. In other words, material
existence has no essential reality.


एवं जिज्ञासयापोह्य *नानात्वभ्रममात्मनि।*
उपारमेत विरजं मनो मय्यर्प्य सर्वगे २१।

Coming to this conclusion of all knowledge, *one should give up the false
conception of material variety that one imposes upon the soul and thus
cease one’s material existence*. The mind should be fixed on Me, since I am
all-pervading.

In other words, jīvatvam, being a bound entity, is a false notion where one
considers oneself as a finite individual, imagines there are many others
like him and also the variegated world. All this is 'nānātva bhrama'.

In the Bhagavatam itself, there is a discourse between Krishna and his
father Vasudeva where the latter, upon enquiry, gives up the 'nānātva
bhrama':

श्रीमद्भागवतपुराणम्/स्कन्धः १०/उत्तरार्धः/अध्यायः ८५

https://sa.wikisource.org/s/j55

श्रीशुक उवाच
एवं भगवता राजन्वसुदेव उदाहृतः
श्रुत्वा विनष्टनानाधीस्तूष्णीं प्रीतमना अभूत् २६
Thus, O King Parikshit, having been instructed/taught by the son Krishna,
the father Vasudeva, hearing this, abandoned the notion of diversity and
became peaceful.

In the Srimad Bhagavatam, 1st Canto, Chapter 9, Bhishma, in his last
moments, does a stuti of Sri Krishna and finally says:

तमिममहमजं शरीरभाजां
हृदि हृदि धिष्ठितमात्मकल्पितानाम् ।
प्रतिद‍ृशमिव  नैकधार्कमेकं
समधिगतोऽस्मि विधूतभेदमोह: ॥ ४२ ॥

I have realized that Supreme who is present in each and every manas of the
beings which Brahman has created. It is akin to one sun appearing as many
in the various reflecting bodies. So too One Atman alone exists and the
perception of apparent multiplicity is due to delusion, from which I am now
free.

The delusion, 'bheda moha', is stated in the Vishnu Purana too:

सर्वभूतान्यभेदेन ददृशे स तदात्मनः ।
यथा ब्रह्मपरो मुक्तिमवाप परमां द्विजः ॥ २,१६.२० ॥
तथा त्वमपि धर्मज्ञ तुल्यात्मरिपुबान्धवः ।
भव सर्गगतं जानन्नात्मानमवनीपते ॥ २,१६.२१ ॥
सितनीलादिभेदेन यथैकं दृश्यते नभः ।
भ्रान्तदृष्टिभिरात्मापि तथैकः सन्पृथक्पृथक् ॥ २,१६.२२ ॥
एकः समस्तं यदिहास्ति किञ्चित्तदच्युतो नास्ति परं ततोन्यत् ।
सोऽहं स च त्वं च सर्वमेतदात्मस्वरूपं त्यज भेदमोहम् ॥ २,१६.२३ ॥

'Just as that Brahmana attained liberation owing to his perceiving
everything as non-different from the Self, thereby tuned to Brahman, you
too, O King, knower of Dharma, looking upon yourself, enemies and relatives
as the same, knowing the One Atman to be present in all. The wrong
perception of many Atmans is due to delusion, as exemplified in the
space/sky appearing as many owing to the erroneous perception of colors
such as white, black, etc. even though space is one only without any
colors. Whatever exists is only that Supreme Achyuta and nothing else other
than That exists. All perception of duality as 'I am that, you are that, he
is' etc. are all due to  ignorance which you give up.

We may recall the Bhashya of Shankaracharya to the Bh.Gita 2.12 where he
says:  The plural used in the verse to refer to the various entities in the
battle is due to the plurality in the bodies and not due to the plurality
of Atman.  We find validation of Shankara's remark in the Bhagavatam and
the Vishnu Puranam cited above.

न त्वेवाहं जातु नासं न त्वं नेमे जनाधिपाः ।
न चैव न भविष्यामः सर्वे वयमतः परम् ॥ १२ ॥ 2.12.

न तु एव जातु कदाचित् अहं नासम् , किं तु आसमेव । अतीतेषु देहोत्पत्तिविनाशेषु
घटादिषु वियदिव नित्य एव अहमासमित्यभिप्रायः । तथा न त्वं न आसीः, किं तु
आसीरेव । तथा न इमे जनाधिपाः न आसन् , किं तु आसन्नेव । तथा न च एव न
भविष्यामः, किं तु भविष्याम एव, सर्वे वयम् अतः अस्मात् देहविनाशात् परम्
उत्तरकाले अपि । त्रिष्वपि कालेषु नित्या आत्मस्वरूपेण इत्यर्थः ।
*देहभेदानुवृत्त्या
बहुवचनम् , नात्मभेदाभिप्रायेण ॥ १२ ॥*

Thus the message of bheda/nānātva being a bhrama is reiterated by Veda
Vyasa. The Upanishads too hold this as a key message:

मनसैवानुद्रष्टव्यं *नेह **नानास्ति** किञ्चन* । मृत्योः स मृत्युमाप्नोति य
इह नानेव पश्यति ॥ १९ ॥  Brihadaranyaka 4.4.11 and Kathopanishad 2.2.11.
The censure of the vision of multiplicity is also found here: such a one
will continue in samsāra.





Om tat sat