Is Everything an Illusion
Divine Life
Society Publication: Swamiji
Answers Questions on Illusion, Karma and Rebirth by Swami Krishnananda
Visitor: The scripture speaks
of our dream state and our awakening state; but, at the same time, it says that
everything is illusion.
SWAMIJI: It is not illusion.
As long as you believe that it is there, you can see it. It is illusion only
for the person who cannot see it, and will not see it. When you are seeing it
with your eyes and you are believing that it is there, then why do you call it
illusion? Who told you that it is illusion?
Visitor: No one.
SWAMIJI: Does your feeling say
that it is illusion?
Visitor: No I don’t think
that it is…
SWAMIJI: Then what is the good
of saying it is illusion? Somebody is saying something, and you are quoting it.
Your heart should say that it is illusion; then, you are free from it. You
will not cling to an illusion. Who clings to an illusion? It is an illusion
only when you transcend it. When you are experiencing it, why do you call it an
illusion? It has a relative reality. It may not be absolutely real, but it is
relatively real. It has a workable reality – a tentative reality. What binds
you is your feeling that something is real. What the scripture says has no
meaning; it has no relevance to you. The scripture cannot bind you, and
it cannot liberate you. Your feelings will bind you and liberate you. Do
you believe that the world is real? Then you are bound, even if the scripture
says another thing. But if you say the world does not exist for some reason –
“I have got some conviction that for some reason it does not exist” – then it
cannot bind you. But your heart should be convinced that it does not exist, and
you must also have a reason why it does not exist. What is the reason you say
it does not exist? What are the proofs? Bring the proofs. If the proofs are
there, the world will vanish. But if you have no proof to say that the world is
not existing, it will be clinging. Merely saying something is not the answer.
You must have an argument and a proof and a conviction in the heart that, “For
these reasons I can really feel that it is not Ultimate Reality. Therefore, I
cannot cling to it.” But if your heart says it is very nice, then why do you
call it illusion? It is illusion to a person who is convinced that it does not
exist. But if you are not convinced, then why do you call it illusion?
Visitor: Because I did not understand when I was saying to Swami Brahmananda...
SWAMIJI: Let Swami Brahmananda say anything. What are you saying?
Visitor: I said, “How can I
say that it doesn’t exist, if for me it exists? Right now it exists. I exist
and I can touch my body.”
SWAMIJI: To the extent it
exists, is a binding factor. You cannot be free from it. But you must find out
the way. Ask Swami Brahmanandaji, “Why do you call it illusion?” You ask him
tomorrow.
....
....
Visitor: No, I asked him for
examples. He said as an example the bangle and the gold – that everything is
gold…
SWAMIJI: Are you
convinced that it is gold and not the bangle? The whole world is only gold and
not the bangle?
Visitor: I can understand that
it is gold…
SWAMIJI: You understand?
Visitor: The intellect can
understand that I am…
SWAMIJI: Why do you say it is
all gold and not bangle? What is the argument behind it?
Visitor: Well, he explained to
us that ‘bangle’ is a name that we give to the objects and the
subject.
SWAMIJI: We have to deeply
meditate on this great truth that all these objects of the world are only
variations, formations of a single substance, and, therefore, these variations
and forms and diversities are not true. Gold has never become the bangles; it
is still gold only, looking a little round. Similarly, the one substance looks
like the world because of the shape it has taken through space and time. And
you are also included in the various shapes that it has taken. Therefore,
neither you exist nor the various forms exist. It is one substance that exists.
You should not unnecessarily go on clinging to the form of Mr. So-and-so and
the form of something else. It is like clinging to a chain and a ring or a
particular ornament, forgetting that it is gold. It requires deep meditation.
Whatever you see with your eyes, including your own self, actually is a form of
the one Universal Substance. Therefore, when you think, actually the Universal
Substance is thinking. You are not thinking; you are not doing anything,
nor are you moving from place to place. Nothing is happening, really speaking.
It is in the dream world of the Cosmic Consciousness and, therefore, it is one
thought that is operating. The Universal Thought is thinking the whole cosmos –
which means to say, you are not thinking. The idea that you are thinking must
go away from your mind, because you are included in that universal thought;
therefore, you are not thinking it. Rather, it is thinking you. Instead of you
thinking it, it is thinking you – the other way round. So, all your thoughts should
be melted down into one single universal thought, and you should think nothing
else but that. Then you will find that what Brahmananda Swamiji said is
correct. The world will vanish; it won’t be there afterwards. But, deep
meditation along these lines should be carried on day and night.
Visitor: Thank you.
Excerpts from:
Swamiji
Answers Questions on Illusion, Karma and Rebirth by Swami
Krishnanandahttp://www.dlshq.org/cgi-bin/store/commerce.cgi?
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