What Is This World
It is the mind that has given shape, color and taste to an orange. For a scientist an orange is a mass of electrons or atoms. For a student of Vaiseshika school of thought, it is a combination of Anu. For a clairvoyant it is a collection of Tanmatras. For a Jivanmukta or a sage it is Brahman. There is some defect in the lens of your eyes and so you see the external objects. If your inner eye of wisdom is opened, the same orange is perceived as Brahman only, this world is cognized as Brahman only. This world is mere illusion. It is mere appearance like snake in the rope. If the world is a reality, it must appear to you in deep sleep also.
This vast sense-universe
shines as Atma Sankalpa. If there is mind only there will be this universe.
There is no mind during deep sleep. So there is no world. The more you think of
the objects, the more this world will appear to you as real. The conception of
the reality of the universe will increase if you think of sense objects often
and often.
It is only the waking state
that brings before us this creation. The waking state is only the projection of
the mind and hence it is Maya or transient. If the universe is everlasting, it
must exist in our experience during deep sleep state. When the mind is free
from Sankalpa, there is no universe. The universe does not exist in deep sleep
state.
In deep sleep state you have
no experience of the world, because there is no mind. This clearly shows that
there will be world if there is mind only and that the mind alone creates this
world. That is the reason why Srutis declare that this world is Manomatra
Jagat, Manah Kalpita Jagat.
Time is a mode of the mind.
Time is a mental creation. Time is a trick or jugglery of the mind. Time is an
illusion. Brahman is beyond time. It is eternity. There is local time. If it is
12 in India, it is 1-30 p.m at Singapore, 6-30 p.m at London, 12-30 a.m at
Chicago, 1-30 a.m at New York. What is all this? There is no uniformity. Does
not this indicate that time is a creation of the mind. Go beyond time and rest
in the timeless, eternal, imperishable Brahman.
Tomorrow becomes today and
today becomes yesterday. Future becomes present and the present becomes past.
What is all this? This is a creation or trick of the mind only. In Ishvara
everything is present only, everything is here only. Brahman is beyond time.
There is neither day nor
night, neither yesterday nor tomorrow in the sun. The mind has created time and
space. When you are happy, time passes away quickly; when you are unhappy, time
is lingering on you. This is a relative world only. The theory of relativity by
Einstein throws much light on the nature of Maya and this world.
A magician throws up a rope in
the sky, climbs to the sky through it and disappears. After five minutes he
falls down on the ground dead, with shattered limbs. After another five minutes
the same magician stands before you. Now tell me whether the death of the
magician is real or false. You have perceived the phenomenon with your own
eyes. So is the tangibility of matter of the sense-contact.
If you are in Allahabad for a
month, you forget all about your native place, Madras, your friends and
relatives. You create a new world of your own at Allahabad. When you come back
to Madras, you forget all about Allahabad. It is only the mind that creates a
world. If you slay this mind which creates the illusion, there will be no world
for you.
Through the trick of the mind
one furlong appears to be a great distance and three miles appear as a very
short distance. You ought to have noted this in your daily life.
In Samadhi or superconscious
state wherein there is annihilation of the mind, there is no world. Just as the
snake in the rope vanishes when a lamp is brought, so also this world which is
mere appearance or superimposition does not exist when one attains
illumination, when the sun of knowledge dawns.
The world is nothing but
physical attraction (desire) and ego. Ego is the chief thing. It is the basis.
If the ego is destroyed by Vichara or enquiry of ‘who am I?’, the physical attraction-idea
will take to its heels by itself. Man, master of the destiny, has lost his
divine glory and has become a slave, a tool in the hands of desire and ego on
account of ignorance. Physical attraction and ego are the products of Avidya or
nescience. The dawn of spiritual knowledge of the Self will annihilate these
two enemies of Atman, the two dacoits who are plundering the helpless,
ignorance, little false Jiva, the illusory ‘I’.
World is Parinama Nitya
(changing eternal). Brahman is Kutastha Nitya (unchanging eternal).
World is Satyam (in a relative
sense). Brahman is Satyasya Satyam (truth of truth). World is Vyavaharic-Satta
(empirical reality). Brahman is Paramarthic-Satta (absolute reality).
Dream-creatures are Pratibhasic-Satta.
A Paricchinna (finite) thing
is always Anitya (non-eternal). Is this not your daily experience in life?
Brahman or Atman which is the
essence of mind, body and Indriyas is Aparicchinna (infinite), Nitya (eternal).
Realise Atman, therefore, by singing OM. All miseries will terminate. You can
become a Dattatreya or Sankara.
This world is not Atyanta
Mithya. This is Mithya. But in what sense? When compared with Brahman, it is
unreal. It is mere appearance. That is Mithya.
Even if you take the world as
Sat, you can keep up certainly, as a matter of course, your position of Kevala
Advaita of Sri Sankara. Just as heat and luminosity cannot bring duality to
fire, so also this world cannot bring duality to Brahman. But how can
appearance affect Reality?
This world is Anadi or
beginningless. Karma is also Anadi. The path of Karma is mysterious. Get
knowledge of the Self. The mystery of Karma will be revealed unto you.
Some say that this is a bad
world as there is much pain, sorrow and temptation. But if you do noble deeds, if
you practice Japa and meditation, you can attain eternal bliss. This bad world
will become a sweet and lovely paradise for you. Do not blame the world but
blame your mind. Correct and educate your mind. You will have a changed vision
of this world.
There is only one Truth—God
and there is nothing else. This world is His manifestation. All activities,
happenings and doings are His. All is He. This world is ephemeral and a passing
show, a phenomenon only for a time. There is no individual existence. The individuality
is simply imaginary and an ignorant condition of the mind.
There must be an unchanging,
real permanent substratum. That substratum is Brahman or your own Self. In
reality there is neither two nor three. There is only existence or Truth or Brahman.
The world is subject to the ever recurrent periods of activity and passivity
known as Kalpa and Pralaya or day and night. Practically there is no death for
anything. There is active life in a piece of stone or block of wood. The atoms,
molecules, electrons vibrate and rotate with a tremendous velocity. There is a
difference between a Nireeshvara Vadi and a Nastika. Nireeshvara Vadi is one
who denies the existence of Ishvara (Ishvara Satta). The followers of Kapila
Muni are Nireeshvara Vadins. Nastika is one who says that there is no soul
independent of the body and that the body alone is the soul. He further states
that the Soul is formed by the combination of betel and chunam (lime).
Charvakas belong to this cult. They state that the soul perishes after the
death or disintegration of body.
An agnostic is not an atheist.
He only says that God is unknowable.
According to the nebular
theory, every solar system was in the beginning a huge mass of gaseous matter
which filled all space and which was rotating in its own axis. As ages rolled
on, the gaseous matter attained the igneous stage. The central portion
contracted. The mass rotated very rapidly and threw off rings on the outer
side, which gradually cooled down and formed into planets. These planets were
in a molten or liquid condition for a protracted period. Gradually they cooled
down and became solid.
This world appears as Brahman
for a sage, as Lord for a Bhakta, as a mass of energy or electrons for a
scientist.
There are only electric
vibrations outside. There are only electrons in this world. Everything is
electricity, different frequency and different wave-lengths of vibrations. This
is the theory of the scientists.
The energy that is contained
in a handful of dust, when liberated, can blow up a mountain. This is the
theory of modern scientists. They are attempting to demonstrate this by
experiment.
The scientist bombards the
atoms, watches the movement of the electrons in his laboratory, spends his
whole life in understanding the nature and secret of matter and energy, invents
many things, studies the laws of nature, and yet he is not able to comprehend
the mystery of creation and of the Creator and the meaning of life. He is not
willing to study himself. He does not like to go deeper into the recesses of
his heart and find out the Superman or the Indweller, who is behind his
personality or false ego—the unseen Governor or the hidden sage, who sets the
atoms in motion, who gives life to these atoms, who is the universal storehouse
of energy. He will be groping in darkness unless and until he comes face to
face with this hidden Light of lights, which sheds light to his intellect and
senses and his atoms.
All the achievements of
science and results of research are used for inhuman purposes. Science has not
contributed anything to the real peace of man. It has rendered life more
complex and luxurious. Many luxuries have become the very necessaries of life.
Let us go back to nature and lead a peaceful and contented life with a few
wants, with abundant devotion and meditation. Turn your mind inwards; do Atmic research and
bring out the priceless treasures of the Soul.
What is that by knowing which
everything else will be known, what is that by attaining which there will be no
hankering for any other thing, what is that by realizing which one becomes
Immortal, fearless and desireless and rests in everlasting peace and happiness?
It is Brahman or Atman or the ultimate Truth which is the summum bonum of
life. It is Bhuma or the Highest or the Unconditioned. You can get real
happiness only by attaining this Bhuma or the Highest Self.
Excerpts from:
What is This World - Self-Knowledge by Swami
SivanandaArchives - Blog
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