SHLOKA NO.8
विश्वम् पश्यति कार्य-कारणतया स्वस्वामि-सम्बन्धतः
शिष्याचार्यतया तथैव पितृपुत्राद्यात्मना भेदतः।
स्वप्ने जाग्रति वा य एष पुरुषो माया-परिभ्रामितः
तस्मै श्री-गुरु-मूर्तये नम इदं श्री-दक्षिणामूर्तये॥
vishvam pashyati kArya-kAraNatayA svasvAmi-sambandhataH
shishhyAcAryatayA tathaiva pitRRiputrAdyAtmanA bhedataH .
svapne jAgrati vA ya eshha purushho mAyA-paribhrAmitaH
tasmai shrI-guru-mUrtaye nama idaM shrI-dakshhiNAmUrtaye ..
To The Self who, deluded by mAyA, sees, in dreaming and waking, the universe in its distinctions, such as cause and effect, property and proprietor disciple and teacher, and father and son, to Him of the form of the Guru, (of the whole Universe) the blessed dakshinA-mUrti, is this prostration.
All our relationships in the mundane world are only manifestations of the same Ultimate, just as in dream the same mind produces multifarious characters and relationships which are all unreal though they appear as totally real within the dream. Even in the waking state what appears as the multiplicity is actually a manifestation of the Unity at the base. The natural question that this may raise is the following: If the relationship of guru and disciple does not have an absolute reality then how do you expect it to give an absolute knowledge of Truth. But recall how using the unreal reflections in a mirror we wipe off the dirt in our face. So also the philosophical teaching done in the phenomenal state does produce the knowledge of Reality in the Absolute sense.
The worldly relationships are therefore neither true nor false; they constitute what is called an indescribable (anirvacanIya) phenomenon. That is exactly what mAyA is. Since it appears it is not totally unreal. Since it vanishes at the onset of Enlightenment, it is not totally real. That is why it is neither sat nor asat
There is a beautiful analogy from the mathematical world for this. There are several levels of infinity in Mathematics. The lowest level of infinity is that of the set of numbers 1,2,3, … . A higher (larger) level of infinity is that of all points on any line segment. It is a difficult proposition to decide whether this higher level is really the next higher level or whether there is another level of infinity in between. That there is no such intermediate level was conjectured for long. In the nineteen- thirties Godel proved that this conjecture cannot be disproved. In the nineteen-sixties Cohen proved that it cannot also be proved. Thus this conjecture has got the famous stature of an 'undecidable' proposition in Mathematics.This undecidability is the status of mAyA in vedanta.
When the Enlightenment sets in all this world of multiplicity is shown to be only our mental construct. That is why the M.N.U.
अहं-एव-अहं मां जुहोमि स्वाहा।
ahaM-eva-ahaM mAM juhomi svAhA .
requires us to 'sacrifice in the fire offering the Ego of the Self ', so that the Self alone remains.