When we see a mirage, it is our knowledge of geography that tells us that it is not water. Knowledge has the power to rectify a false perception. In the same way, where previously the world appeared real, now with knowledge it is clearly seen as a projection of the Self. The world is still the same, but now it is seen differently.
Brahman is the infinite Cause of all the finite manifestation. Having evolved from the root (Bhru), Brahman is That One which became effulgent, or bursts forth in abundance.
Brahman, the Prime Existence is the formless and the eternal and all that is perceived alone is not all that represents as the Prime Existence, unperceived also being the Prime Existence. Sun does not cease to exist because a blind person does not perceive. The Prime Existence is an eternal reality, all; manifestation being a temporary phenomenon.
When Yajnavalkya explained Ushasta Chakrayana that Brahman is within as his self, who breathes in with your breathing in, who breathes out with your breathing out, who breathes about with your breathing out, who breathes up with your breathing up, it was not understood him saying the explanation was as one might say, ‘this is a cow’, ‘this is a horse’. Yajnavalkya clarified, ‘You cannot see the seer of seeing, hear the hearer of hearing, think the thinker of thinking, understand the understander of understanding They who know the breath of the Primal Breath, the eye of the Eye, the ear of the Ear, the mind of the Mind, only they have realized the ancient primordial Brahman’.
This world is the manifested aspect of the Lord. He was alone in the beginning when there was no creation. After creation also He remains unattached and free like the ether in the pot. The earthen pot is full inside and outside with ether but the ether is not at all affected by the existence or non-existence of the pot.
Even so the Lord is all-pervading and full, inside and outside of all beings, and remains ever non-attached. He guides the actions of all beings but He is not the actor. He is the mere witness of the activities of the organs. He gives power and strength to the organs. So He may be said to be the actor but at the same time He is Akarta (non-doer) and Asanga (non-attached).
At the highest
state of existence, A Jnani roars,
“Only when you suppose creation to be a reality, the questions who created it and how it was created and so on arise. People who are not endowed with a sharp and discriminative intelligence, who cannot understand the true import of the Vedantic Truths and who cannot live in the spirit of those teachings, struggle themselves with these knotty problems. But the moment they realize the underlying Reality, all doubts vanish like darkness before bright light.
Because the world was never created at all, the points who created the world, how and why it was created etc., still remain unanswered to our entire satisfaction. How can a thing which has no existence be described? Why should anyone discuss such points like How many teeth does a crow have? How many eggs does an elephant lay? How deep is the water of the desert? How many horns has a hare got? How many children did a barren woman give birth to? These are useless and irrelevant questions.
In reality the Jiva or the individual soul creates this world of names and forms on account of his own ignorance and delusion. When he attains knowledge of the Self by the Grace of his spiritual preceptor, he dissolves the external world into himself and sees his own Self everywhere. He sees oneness everywhere. He becomes struck with wonder when he thinks of the world of duality. The world of diversity appears to him like a mere dream and he exclaims in surprise, Where has this world full of the charms of Maya disappeared now which was glaring before my very eyes till this very moment!”
Love.
