Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Story 46 - Story of Bala Krishna's plays - 09
Brahma continued:
Therefore the world is not ultimately real. It is like dream; a mere illusion; always filled with sorrow. And you are eternal reality of the nature of Existence Consciousness Bliss. The world cannot really appear in you than Maya (illusion). But because of superimposition of the world in you, this world also seems to appear as real.
Explanation
The Lord in Gita proclaims about the world thus:
Anityam asukham lokam
The world is temporary and sorrowful.
We find Brahma mentioning the exact qualities for the world. The world is not ultimately real. It is not ultimately real because it is always changing and impermanent. That which is changing is subject to the six modifications of birth, existence, growth, disease, decay and death. That which is born will surely die. That which is born and dies is temporary; not beyond time. That alone is ultimately real which stays beyond time. Thus the world doesn’t fall under the category of ultimately real because it is temporary and doesn’t exist beyond time (for all the three times of past, present and future). Since the world is temporary and seems to exist when we perceive it, it is compared with dream. Dream world is temporary and is present only till the time of dream. Dream world is only an illusion in the dreamer – similarly the waking world that we perceive is an illusion in the ultimate reality of Lord (who alone exists). The world since it is temporary can give us only sorrow. That which is permanent alone can give us eternal bliss – that which in itself will vanish after sometime cannot give us eternal bliss. Instead such an entity will only give us sorrow as it is changing and we will not find it after sometime.
The pot in front of us gives us happiness only as long as the pot exists. The moment the pot vanishes, our attachment towards the pot and the pot’s vanishing will give us only sorrow. Hence all worldly objects though will give us happiness in the beginning, but will finally lead us to sorrow alone. Thus the world is proclaimed to be sorrowful. Once we understand the sorrowful nature and the temporary nature of the world, we will try to see the blissful and permanent substratum of the world. Any illusion or temporary entity has a permanent and non-changing substratum even as a variable (in mathematics) has a constant for its substratum. The illusion seems to appear in the substratum though not really existing. This is like water seen in desert. Water is temporary and illusory whereas desert is the reality and the substratum in which water is seen. Water seems to be present in the substratum of desert – water exists only as long as we don’t know the substratum of desert; the moment we know the substratum of desert, water vanishes and we realize that desert alone existed. Similarly the world is only seen in the reality of Lord as long as we don’t realize the reality of Lord. The moment we realize the reality of Lord, the world vanishes. Until then the world will seem to be real. The world seems to be real only because of the substratum of Lord even as water seems to be real because of the substratum of desert.
The Lord thus proclaims that having attained such a sorrowful and temporary world, we should take refuge in the ultimate reality of Lord so that we may realize our very nature of blissful Lord.
Brahma continued:
The truth or existence of all entities in the world is nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord. You are of the nature of bliss. The bliss that is experienced from other entities is your bliss alone. He who realizes you in this way, he has known the truth of the Upanishads and therefore crosses over the ocean of delusion.
Explanation
People are deluded in the ocean of samsaara. Delusion is nothing but suffering due to one’s own wrong knowledge that “I am the body”, “I am the mind” etc. caused out of ignorance of one’s nature of the ultimate reality of Lord. Whatever really exists in this world derives its existence from the ultimate reality of Lord of the nature of Existence and Consciousness.
An entity exists if there is a light falling on it. When it is dark, though there are many objects present still they don’t really exist. In the entire world there is only one entity that can experience its own existence as “I exist” as well as illumine other existences. This entity is Consciousness. It is Consciousness that makes us confirm our own existence irrespective of whether it is day or night, dark or lighted etc. Scriptures proclaim that the Consciousness that is present in all living beings is nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord (prajnaanam brahma – Consciousness is Brahman). Since everything that exists in the world is illumined by the light of Consciousness, therefore everything that exists depends on Consciousness or the Lord for its existence. Thus in reality whatever really exists is only the ultimate reality of Lord but with differences in names and forms.
Even as various gold ornaments are in existence gold alone, similarly the entire world is nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord alone. The very nature of Lord is blissful as the Lord is devoid of any limitations. That which is unlimited and infinite is perfect in all aspects. That which is perfect in all aspects is blissful as it doesn’t have any imperfection causing sorrow. Thus the ultimate reality of Lord is blissful. Since everything that exists is nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord, therefore everything is blissful. It is only considering things as different from one another (thereby considering the names and forms as real) which causes us to get sorrow from the entity. Since names and forms are limited, therefore the happiness derived from them is as well limited which in turn will lead us to sorrow when there is no happiness derived from them. But the moment we realize that names and forms are mere illusions in the reality of Lord, then we are perceiving objects as the Lord alone – thus all objects become blissful.
When we maintain such an approach of vision towards the world, we will see everything as the blissful Lord alone. Thus we don’t have any likes or dislikes. It is likes and dislikes that causes a person to either get happy or sad depending on the situation. But for a person who sees everything as the blissful Lord, there is only bliss. Such a person has in fact known the truth of the Upanishads that there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists. Such a person alone crosses over the ocean of delusion as he has known his very nature of non-dual Lord thereby being ever blissful.
We will continue with Brahma’s praises in the next day.
Therefore the world is not ultimately real. It is like dream; a mere illusion; always filled with sorrow. And you are eternal reality of the nature of Existence Consciousness Bliss. The world cannot really appear in you than Maya (illusion). But because of superimposition of the world in you, this world also seems to appear as real.
Explanation
The Lord in Gita proclaims about the world thus:
Anityam asukham lokam
The world is temporary and sorrowful.
We find Brahma mentioning the exact qualities for the world. The world is not ultimately real. It is not ultimately real because it is always changing and impermanent. That which is changing is subject to the six modifications of birth, existence, growth, disease, decay and death. That which is born will surely die. That which is born and dies is temporary; not beyond time. That alone is ultimately real which stays beyond time. Thus the world doesn’t fall under the category of ultimately real because it is temporary and doesn’t exist beyond time (for all the three times of past, present and future). Since the world is temporary and seems to exist when we perceive it, it is compared with dream. Dream world is temporary and is present only till the time of dream. Dream world is only an illusion in the dreamer – similarly the waking world that we perceive is an illusion in the ultimate reality of Lord (who alone exists). The world since it is temporary can give us only sorrow. That which is permanent alone can give us eternal bliss – that which in itself will vanish after sometime cannot give us eternal bliss. Instead such an entity will only give us sorrow as it is changing and we will not find it after sometime.
The pot in front of us gives us happiness only as long as the pot exists. The moment the pot vanishes, our attachment towards the pot and the pot’s vanishing will give us only sorrow. Hence all worldly objects though will give us happiness in the beginning, but will finally lead us to sorrow alone. Thus the world is proclaimed to be sorrowful. Once we understand the sorrowful nature and the temporary nature of the world, we will try to see the blissful and permanent substratum of the world. Any illusion or temporary entity has a permanent and non-changing substratum even as a variable (in mathematics) has a constant for its substratum. The illusion seems to appear in the substratum though not really existing. This is like water seen in desert. Water is temporary and illusory whereas desert is the reality and the substratum in which water is seen. Water seems to be present in the substratum of desert – water exists only as long as we don’t know the substratum of desert; the moment we know the substratum of desert, water vanishes and we realize that desert alone existed. Similarly the world is only seen in the reality of Lord as long as we don’t realize the reality of Lord. The moment we realize the reality of Lord, the world vanishes. Until then the world will seem to be real. The world seems to be real only because of the substratum of Lord even as water seems to be real because of the substratum of desert.
The Lord thus proclaims that having attained such a sorrowful and temporary world, we should take refuge in the ultimate reality of Lord so that we may realize our very nature of blissful Lord.
Brahma continued:
The truth or existence of all entities in the world is nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord. You are of the nature of bliss. The bliss that is experienced from other entities is your bliss alone. He who realizes you in this way, he has known the truth of the Upanishads and therefore crosses over the ocean of delusion.
Explanation
People are deluded in the ocean of samsaara. Delusion is nothing but suffering due to one’s own wrong knowledge that “I am the body”, “I am the mind” etc. caused out of ignorance of one’s nature of the ultimate reality of Lord. Whatever really exists in this world derives its existence from the ultimate reality of Lord of the nature of Existence and Consciousness.
An entity exists if there is a light falling on it. When it is dark, though there are many objects present still they don’t really exist. In the entire world there is only one entity that can experience its own existence as “I exist” as well as illumine other existences. This entity is Consciousness. It is Consciousness that makes us confirm our own existence irrespective of whether it is day or night, dark or lighted etc. Scriptures proclaim that the Consciousness that is present in all living beings is nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord (prajnaanam brahma – Consciousness is Brahman). Since everything that exists in the world is illumined by the light of Consciousness, therefore everything that exists depends on Consciousness or the Lord for its existence. Thus in reality whatever really exists is only the ultimate reality of Lord but with differences in names and forms.
Even as various gold ornaments are in existence gold alone, similarly the entire world is nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord alone. The very nature of Lord is blissful as the Lord is devoid of any limitations. That which is unlimited and infinite is perfect in all aspects. That which is perfect in all aspects is blissful as it doesn’t have any imperfection causing sorrow. Thus the ultimate reality of Lord is blissful. Since everything that exists is nothing but the ultimate reality of Lord, therefore everything is blissful. It is only considering things as different from one another (thereby considering the names and forms as real) which causes us to get sorrow from the entity. Since names and forms are limited, therefore the happiness derived from them is as well limited which in turn will lead us to sorrow when there is no happiness derived from them. But the moment we realize that names and forms are mere illusions in the reality of Lord, then we are perceiving objects as the Lord alone – thus all objects become blissful.
When we maintain such an approach of vision towards the world, we will see everything as the blissful Lord alone. Thus we don’t have any likes or dislikes. It is likes and dislikes that causes a person to either get happy or sad depending on the situation. But for a person who sees everything as the blissful Lord, there is only bliss. Such a person has in fact known the truth of the Upanishads that there is nothing here but the Lord alone exists. Such a person alone crosses over the ocean of delusion as he has known his very nature of non-dual Lord thereby being ever blissful.
We will continue with Brahma’s praises in the next day.
# posted by vedanta : 8:16 PM
