{"id":2530,"date":"2018-10-16T16:49:51","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T11:19:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.arunachala-live.com\/wordpress\/?p=2530"},"modified":"2018-10-16T16:49:51","modified_gmt":"2018-10-16T11:19:51","slug":"the-self-and-non-self-reality-and-the-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.arunachala-live.com\/wordpress\/?p=2530","title":{"rendered":"The Self and Non-Self. Reality and the World"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"iphon-318\"<\/a><\/h2>\n

Existence or consciousness is the only reality. Consciousness plus waking we call waking. Consciousness plus sleep we call sleep. Consciousness plus\u00a0dream we call dream. Consciousness is the screen on which\u00a0all the pictures come and go. The screen is real, the pictures\u00a0are mere shadows on it.<\/p>\n

The Self and the appearances therein, as the snake in the rope, can be well illustrated like this. There is a screen. On that\u00a0screen first appears the figure of a king. He sits on a throne.\u00a0Then before him on that same screen a play begins with various\u00a0figures and objects, and the king on the screen watches the play\u00a0on the same screen. The seer and the seen are mere shadows on\u00a0the screen which is the only reality, supporting all the pictures.\u00a0In the world also, the seer and the seen together constitute the\u00a0mind, and the mind is supported by or based on the Self.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0ajata\u00a0school\u00a0of Advaita\u00a0says, \u2018Nothing exists except the one reality. There is no birth or death, no projection or drawing\u00a0in, no\u00a0sadhaka\u00a0(aspirant), no\u00a0mumukshu\u00a0(one who desires to\u00a0be liberated), no\u00a0mukta\u00a0(one who is liberated), no bondage, no\u00a0liberation. The One Unity alone exists forever.\u2019 To those who\u00a0find it difficult to grasp this truth and ask, \u2018How can we ignore\u00a0this solid world we see all around us?\u2019 the dream experience\u00a0is pointed out and they are told, \u2018All that you see depends on\u00a0the seer. Apart from the seer there is no seen.\u2019 This is called\u00a0drishti-srishti vada,\u00a0or the argument that one first creates out of\u00a0his mind and then sees what his mind itself has created.<\/p>\n

To those who cannot grasp even this and who further argue, \u2018The dream experience is so short, while the world\u00a0always exists. The dream experience was limited to me. But\u00a0the world is felt and seen not only by me but by so many and\u00a0we cannot call such a world nonexistent,\u2019 the argument called\u00a0srishti-drishti vada\u00a0is addressed and they are told, \u2018God first\u00a0created such and such a thing out of such and such an element\u00a0and then something else and so forth.\u2019 That alone will satisfy\u00a0them. Their minds are not otherwise satisfied and they ask\u00a0themselves, \u2018How can all geography, all maps, all sciences,\u00a0stars, planets and the rules governing or relating to them, and\u00a0all knowledge be totally untrue?\u2019 To such it is best to say,\u00a0\u2018Yes. God created all this and so you see it.\u2019 All these are\u00a0only to suit the capacity of the hearers. The absolute can only\u00a0be one.<\/p>\n

There is first the white light, so to call it, of the Self,\u00a0which transcends both light and darkness. In it no object can be seen.\u00a0There is neither seer nor seen. Then there is also total darkness\u00a0(avidya)\u00a0in which no obj ects are seen. But from the Self proceeds\u00a0a reflected light, the light of pure mind\u00a0(manas),\u00a0and it is this\u00a0light which gives room for the existence of all the film of the\u00a0world, which is seen neither in total light nor in total darkness,\u00a0but only in the subdued or reflected light.<\/p>\n

From the point of view of\u00a0Jnana\u00a0(Knowledge) or the Reality, the pain seen in the world is certainly a dream, as is the world,\u00a0of which any particular pain like hunger is an infinitesimal part.\u00a0In the dream also you yourself feel hunger. You see others\u00a0suffering from hunger. You feed yourself, and moved by pity\u00a0feed the others whom you find suffering from hunger. So\u00a0long as the dream lasted, all those pains were as real as you\u00a0now think the pain in the world to be. It was only when you\u00a0woke up that you discovered that the pain in the dream was\u00a0unreal. You might have eaten to the full and gone to sleep. You\u00a0dream that you work hard and long in the hot sun all day, are\u00a0tired and hungry and want to eat a lot. Then you wake up and\u00a0find your stomach is full and you have not stirred out of your\u00a0bed. But this does not mean that while you are in the dream\u00a0you can act as if the pain you feel is not real. The hunger in\u00a0the dream has to be assuaged by the food in the dream. The\u00a0fellow beings you found so hungry in the dream had to be\u00a0provided with food in that dream. You can never mix up the\u00a0two states, the dream and the waking state. Till you reach the\u00a0state of\u00a0jnana\u00a0and thus wake out of\u00a0maya\u00a0you must do social\u00a0service by relieving suffering whenever you see it. But even\u00a0then you must do it without\u00a0ahankara, i.e.,\u00a0without the sense\u00a0of \u2018I am the doer\u2019, but with the feeling \u2018I am the Lord\u2019s tool\u2019.\u00a0Similarly one must not be conceited by thinking, \u2018I am helping\u00a0a man below me. He needs help. I am in a position to help. I\u00a0am superior and he inferior.\u2019 But you must help the man as a\u00a0means of worshipping God in that man. All such service is for\u00a0the Self and not for anybody else. You are not helping anybody\u00a0else, but only yourself.<\/p>\n

The book\u00a0Kaivalya Navaneeta\u00a0has asked and answered six questions on\u00a0maya.\u00a0They are instructive:<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What is\u00a0maya?\u00a0The answer is: It is\u00a0anirvachaniya\u00a0or\u00a0indescribable.<\/p>\n

2. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0To whom does it come? The answer is: To the mind or\u00a0ego who feels that he is a separate entity, who thinks \u2018I do this\u2019\u00a0or \u2018This is mine\u2019.<\/p>\n

3. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Where does it come from and how did it originate? The\u00a0answer: Nobody can say.<\/p>\n

4. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How did it arise? The answer is: Through\u00a0non-vichara,\u00a0through failure to enquire \u2018Who am I?\u2019<\/p>\n

5. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If the Self and\u00a0maya\u00a0both exist, does this not invalidate\u00a0the theory of\u00a0Advaita?\u00a0The answer is: It need not, since\u00a0maya\u00a0is\u00a0dependent on the Self as the picture is on the screen. The picture\u00a0is not real in the sense that the screen is real.<\/p>\n

6. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If the Self and\u00a0maya\u00a0are one, could it not be argued that\u00a0the Self is of the nature of\u00a0maya\u00a0and that it is also illusory?\u00a0The answer is: No, the Self can be capable of producing\u00a0illusion without being illusory. A conjuror may create for\u00a0our entertainment the illusion of people, animals and things,\u00a0and we see all of them as clearly as we see him, but after the\u00a0performance he alone remains and all the visions he created\u00a0have disappeared. He is not a part of the vision but solid\u00a0and real.<\/p>\n

The books use the following illustration to help explain creation: The Self is like the canvas for a painting. First a paste\u00a0is smeared over it to close the small holes that are in the canvas.\u00a0This paste can be compared to the\u00a0Antaryamin\u00a0(Indweller) in\u00a0all creation. Then the artist makes an outline on the canvas.\u00a0This can be compared to the\u00a0sukshma sarira\u00a0(subtle body) of\u00a0all creatures; for instance, the light and sound\u00a0(bindu\u00a0and\u00a0nada)\u00a0out of which all things arise. Within this outline the artist paints\u00a0his picture with colours, etc., and this can be compared to the\u00a0gross forms that constitute the world.<\/p>\n

Vedanta says that the cosmos springs into view simultaneously with the seer. There is no creation by stages or steps. It is similar\u00a0to the creation in dream where the experiencer and the objects\u00a0of experience come into existence at the same time. To those\u00a0who are not satisfied with this explanation, theories of gradual\u00a0creation are offered in books.<\/p>\n

It is not at all correct to say that\u00a0advaitins\u00a0of the Sankara school deny the existence of the world, or that they call it unreal.\u00a0On the other hand, it is more real to them than to others. Their\u00a0world will always exist whereas the world of the other schools\u00a0will have origin, growth and decay, and as such cannot be real.\u00a0They only say that the world as \u2018world\u2019 is not real, but that the\u00a0world as Brahman\u00a0is\u00a0real. All is Brahman, nothing exists but\u00a0Brahman, and the world as Brahman is real.<\/p>\n

The Self is the one Reality that always exists, and it is by the light of the Self that all other things are seen. We forget it\u00a0and concentrate on the appearance. The light in the hall burns\u00a0both when persons are present and when they are absent, both\u00a0when persons are enacting something, as in a theatre, and when\u00a0nothing is being enacted. It is the light which enables us to see\u00a0the hall, the persons and the acting. We are so engrossed with\u00a0the objects or appearances revealed by the light, that we pay\u00a0no attention to the light. In the waking or dream state in which\u00a0things appear, and in the sleep state in which we see nothing,\u00a0there is always the light of Consciousness or Self, like the hall\u00a0lamp which is always burning. The thing to do is to concentrate\u00a0on the seer and not on the seen, not on the objects, but on the\u00a0Light which reveals them.<\/p>\n

Questions about the reality of the world, and about the existence of pain or evil in the world, will all cease when you\u00a0enquire \u2018Who am I?\u2019 and find out the seer. Without a seer the\u00a0world and the evils thereof alleged do not exist.<\/p>\n

The world is of the form of the five categories of sense objects, and nothing else. These five kinds of objects are sensed\u00a0by the five senses. As all are perceived by the mind through\u00a0these five senses, the world is nothing but the mind. Is there a\u00a0world apart from the mind?<\/p>\n

Though the world and consciousness emerge and disappear together, the world shines or is perceived only through\u00a0consciousness. That source wherein both these arise and\u00a0disappear, and which itself neither appears nor disappears, is\u00a0the perfect Reality.<\/p>\n

If the mind, the source of all knowledge and activity subsides, the vision of the world will cease. Just as knowledge of the\u00a0real rope does not dawn till the fancied notion of the serpent\u00a0disappears, vision (experience) of the Reality cannot be gained\u00a0unless the superimposed vision of the universe is abandoned.<\/p>\n

That which really exists is only the Self.\u00a0The world,\u00a0jiva\u00a0(individual self) and\u00a0Iswara\u00a0(God) are mental creations, like\u00a0the appearance of silver in mother of pearl. All these appear\u00a0at the same time and disappear similarly. The Self alone is the\u00a0world, the ego and\u00a0Iswara.<\/p>\n

To the\u00a0jnani\u00a0it is immaterial whether the world appears or not. Whether it appears or not, his attention is always on the\u00a0Self.\u00a0Take the letters and the paper on which they are printed.\u00a0You are wholly engrossed with the letters and have no attention\u00a0left for the paper. But the\u00a0jnani\u00a0thinks only of the paper as the\u00a0real substratum, whether the letters appear or not.<\/p>\n

You make all kinds of sweets from various ingredients and in various shapes, and they all taste sweet because there is\u00a0sugar in all of them, and sweetness is the nature of sugar. In\u00a0the same way, all experiences and the absence of them contain\u00a0the illumination, which is the nature of the Self.\u00a0Without the\u00a0Self they cannot be experienced, just as without sugar not one\u00a0of the articles you make can taste sweet.<\/p>\n

The Immanent Being is called\u00a0Iswara.\u00a0Immanence can only be with\u00a0maya.\u00a0It\u00a0(Iswara)\u00a0is the Knowledge of Being along\u00a0with\u00a0maya.\u00a0From the subtle conceit\u00a0Hiranyagarbha\u00a0rises; from\u00a0Hiranyagarbha\u00a0the gross, concrete\u00a0Virat\u00a0rises.\u00a0Chit-Atma\u00a0is\u00a0pure Being only.<\/p>\n

As regards the existence of pain in the world, the wise one explains from his experience, that if one withdraws within the\u00a0Self there is an end of all pain. The pain is felt so long as the\u00a0object is different from oneself.\u00a0But when the Self is found to\u00a0be an undivided whole, who and what is there to feel?<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Upanishadic\u00a0text \u2018I am Brahman\u2019 only means Brahman exists as \u2018I\u2019.<\/p>\n

– Gems from Bhagavan<\/em><\/p>\n

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