NATURE OF THE WORLD
The world is the Self's aberration away from itself, toward what it is not. This is what sage philosopher Swami Krishnananda asserts again and again. How can one become what one is not? It is logically an indefensible position; yet this is what happens. That is why they call it Maya—a kind of delusive operation, an illusion that is cast before us, an appearance of something that cannot happen at all. Yet, it still occurs in some inexplicable manner. The whole thing is a mystery. We refer to this mystery as Maya. This is what he says about the way of consciousness of the Purusha from its self. The essential nature becomes, Swami Krishnananda expounds, the more the Purusha (Cosmic Self, or pure consciousness) ramifies its rays towards objects or the forms of Prakriti (cosmic matter, insentient) externally, the less it remains as the Purusha and the more it appears to be the Prakriti, having imbibed the characteristics of Prakriti. Purusha becomes the Prakriti, as it were. The subject becomes an object, and consciousness becomes matter. Duality consisting of subject and object is a creation of the mind and the external senses, contends Swami Sivananda. As long as there is faith in causality, he declares, the world is eternally present. When this faith is destroyed, the world is nowhere. That which is nothing in the beginning and in the end, Swami Sivananda asserts, does not necessarily exist in the present. Objects are all like ordinary illusions, though regarded as real. The whole experience, consisting of perceiver and perceived, is merely an imagination of the mind. That which exists only in imagination does not exist in absolute reality. In deep sleep we have no experience of the world because there is no mind. This clearly shows that there will be a world only if there is a mind and that the mind alone creates this world. This is the reason why Srutis declare that this world is Manomatram-jagat and Manahkalpitam-jagat. In Samadhi, or a super-conscious state wherein there is annihilation of the mind, there is no world, says Swami Sivananda. Just as the snake in the rope vanishes when a lamp is brought, so also this world, which is mere appearance or superimposition, disappears when one attains illumination, when the sun of knowledge dawns.
This world is an illusionary play of colours
and sounds, succinctly stresses Swami Sivananda. He upholds the advaitic vedantic view that this sense-universe is a
play of nerves with a false show kept up by the jugglery of Maya (illusion),
mind, and nerves. The world is not distinct from the ultimate reality Brahmān,
or Cosmic Self, but is instead an illusion shown in consciousness, indicating
that the true essence of the world is non-dual, where all is ultimately a
manifestation of the singular, unified consciousness of Brahmān; thus, the
world seems diverse yet is fundamentally identical. Swami Sivananda bluntly
states that one is deluded or deceived by the senses. That which is changing
and perishable cannot be real. There is neither mind nor matter, neither world
nor creation in reality. Brahman alone shines in His pristine glory. This is
the absolute Truth. Swami Sivananda explains that the whole of experience,
consisting of perceiver and perceived, is merely an imagination of the mind.
That which exists only in imagination does not exist in absolute reality.
Duality consisting of subject and object is a creation of the mind and the
external senses. As long as there is faith in causality, the world is eternally
present. If we destroy this faith, the world disappears. That which is nothing
at the beginning and end does not necessarily exist in the present. Objects
appear to be real, but they are actually ordinary illusions. In deep sleep, you
have no experience with the world because there is no mind. This demonstration
clearly shows that there will be a world only if there is a mind and that the
mind alone creates this world. This is why, according to Swami Sivananda, the
Srutis declare this world to be Manomatram-jagat and Manahkalpitam-jagat. He
says the world is an illusion for one imbibing the virtues of discrimination
but real for a passionate one immersed in the Samsara chakra cycle. However,
since every aspect of the universe is a projection of Brahman, one should
strive to see the world that way only by becoming dispassionate about worldly
attachments. As the quality of a bracelet is not different from its substance
of gold, Yoga-Vasistha (3.61.4) nor that of a wave from the water; so the
expansion of the world, is not distinct from the spirit of God. Yoga-Vasistha (3.61.5) advocates that it is
the Cosmic Self that is manifest in the form of the world, and not the world
that appears as God; and so does gold display itself in the form of a bracelet,
and not the bracelet that takes the nature of gold.
The Scriptures are profound in their
assertions that reality, or existence, is One Only, Brahmān, or Cosmic Self.
The subject and objects are one only. The entire cosmos is a projection or
manifestation of Brahmān, the Absolute Existence, or the Cosmic Self.
Paramaguru Gaudapadacharya, Adi Shankaracharya, Sage Ramana Maharshi, Swami Vivekananda, and Swami Sivananda, among others, are the leading lights of
non-duality. They advocate that Brahmān is Real and the rest are illusions. The
doctrine of Ajativada (no change), propounded by Gaudapadacharya (Parama Guru
according to Adi Shankaracharya) in his Karika (commentary), states that this
world does not exist in the past, present, or future. Brahmān (Cosmic Self, or
Absolute Existence) is not subject to being and becoming, nor to birth, change,
and decay. This world is a mere collection of Samskaras created by the mind,
affirms Swami Sivananda in his commentaries on Gaudapada Karika. He claims that
if you can consciously annihilate the mind through meditation, or Sādhana and
Samādhi, the world disappears. It is exclusively Brahmān.
The Srimad Bhagavad Gita teaches Reality is indivisible. Brahmān is indivisible, yet He appears to be divided among living beings. Know the Supreme Entity to be the Sustainer, Annihilator, and Creator of all beings.
In Yoga-Vasistha (3.61.1), Sri Rama asks Sage Vasistha an important question: Where does this mistake in our knowledge of the objective world come from? Since there is no cause for this mistake, God cannot lead us to the knowledge of falsehood. Sage Vasistha (Yoga-Vasistha, 3.61.2), through his discourses with Sri Rama, says that we have the knowledge of all things to be contained alike in our consciousness; it is plain that this eternal and increate self, or soul, is the cause and container of them all at all times. He claims in Yoga-Vasistha (3.61.3) that the Cosmic Self is the only one with an insight or intuitive knowledge of all things, which are expressed by words and their meanings, and that no significant term has a different form. The nominalist doctrine states that words convey ideas that have no mental reality and are only names. The Yoga-Vasistha (3.61.6) advances the assertion that as the whole is displayed in all its various parts, so the entire intellect shows itself in all the various operations of the mind composing the world. It is ignorance of the infinite and eternal Spirit of God, Yoga-Vasistha (3.61.7), that exhibits itself as myself, thyself, and the world itself in the mind. Yoga-Vasistha (3.61.22) asserts, Know the unreal world, which appears as real, and the reality of God, which appears as unreality, to be of the manner of the air in motion and at rest. The visible world, like the current air, appears true to them, who have no knowledge of the invisible God, who is as calm as the still air underlying the ethereal air and its fluctuations.
In Yoga-Vasistha (3.61.1), Sri Rama asks Sage Vasistha an important question: Where does this mistake in our knowledge of the objective world come from? Since there is no cause for this mistake, God cannot lead us to the knowledge of falsehood. Sage Vasishtha (Yoga-Vasistha, 3.61.2), through his discourses with Sri Rama, says that we have the knowledge of all things to be contained alike in our consciousness; it is plain that this eternal and increate self, or soul, is the cause and container of them all at all times. He claims in Yoga-Vasistha (3.61.3) that the Cosmic Self is the only one with an insight or intuitive knowledge of all things, which are expressed by words and their meanings, and that no significant term has a different form. The nominalist doctrine states that words convey ideas that have no mental reality and are only names. The Yoga-Vasistha (3.61.6) advances the assertion that as the whole is displayed in all its various parts, so the entire intellect shows itself in all the various operations of the mind composing the world. It is ignorance of the infinite and eternal Spirit of God, Yoga-Vasistha (3.61.7), that exhibits itself as myself, thyself, and the world itself in the mind. Yoga-Vasistha (3.61.22) asserts, Know the unreal world, which appears as real, and the reality of God, which appears as unreality, to be of the manner of the air in motion and at rest. The visible world, like the current air, appears true to them, who have no knowledge of the invisible God, who is as calm as the still air underlying the ethereal air and its fluctuations.
-Asutosh Satpathy
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