उपदेशसाहस्री (आदि शङ्कराचार्य - गद्य व पद्य भाग)

30 A THOUSAND TEACHINGS
41. “If it be so, Sir, why do the Srutis speak of
diverse ends to be attained, their means, and so forth, as
also the evolution and the dissolution of the universe ? ”
अत्रोच्यते—अविद्यावत उपात्तशरीरादिभेदस्य इष्टानिष्टयोगि-
नमात्मानं मन्यमानस्य साधनैरेवेष्टानिष्टप्राप्तिपरिहारोपायविवेकम्-
जानतः इष्टप्राप्तिं चानिष्टपरिहारं चेच्छतः शनैस्तद्विषयमज्ञानं
निवर्तयितुं शास्त्रं न साध्यसाधनादिभेदं विधत्ते । अनिष्टरूपः
संसारो हि स इति तद्भेददृष्टिमेवाविद्यां संसारमुन्मूलयति उत्पत्ति-
प्रलयाद्येकत्वोपपत्तिप्रदर्शनेन ॥ ४२ ॥
42. “The answer to your question is this : Having
acquired (i.e. having identified himself with) the various
things such as the body etc. and considering the
Self to be connected with what is desirable and what is
undesirable and so on, though eager to attain the desir-
able and avoid the undesirable by appropriate means—
for without certain means nothing can be accomplished—
an ignorant man cannot discriminate between the means
to the realisation of what is (really ¹) desirable for him
and the means to the avoidance of what is undesirable.
It is the gradual removal ² of this ignorance that is the aim
of the scriptures ; but not the enunciation of (the reality
of) the difference of the end, means and so on. For it
is this very difference that constitutes this undesirable
transmigratory existence. The scriptures, therefore,
root out the ignorance constituting this (false) conception
of difference which is the cause of phenomenal existence
¹ Self-knowledge. ² Through the injunction of meritorious
actions for the purification of the mind.