Is the World Really Unreal?

What Is World?

There is nothing called a common world. Your world and my world are different.

I say Ceiba Pentandra—does anything come to your mind? It may not unless you are a botanist. It is a type of tree found in the Amazon rainforest, also called the Sabre tree. It grows up to 60 or 70 meters in height and has thorns on its trunk. The natives of the Amazon believe that evil spirits live in these trees and avoid going near or cutting them.

The words Ceiba Pentandra may not bring any image to your mind because you have never seen the tree or even an image of it. For you, this tree never existed until now. But now that I have mentioned it, you might search for it, see images, and read about it. Then it will enter your world.

So, what is your world? It is a collection of images, sounds, smells, tastes, and sensations you have experienced since birth. Your collection is different from mine. How, then, can you call it an absolute reality? If something is real, it should exist identically for everyone.

There may be a world common to a few people. For instance, the Taj Mahal exists in the worlds of most Indians. But it may not exist in the worlds of desert dwellers in Congo who have never heard of or seen it. Thus, it cannot be an absolute reality.

Your world is made up of impressions left by sensory stimulations on your mind. If you have seen, heard, tasted, smelt, or touched something, it exists for you in your world. Nothing more.

When it is said that the world is asat (unreal), it means the world is merely a collection of impressions on your mind. Even these sensory stimulations, which leave impressions, are not genuine. They are like the blueness of the sky.

From a distance, the sky appears blue, but when you fly up to it, the blue is no longer there. The blue sky was an illusion, a lie. Every impression in your mind is like this—unreal.

Your world, therefore, is a collection of impressions, which are themselves lies or fiction. This is why the world is called asat in comparison to sat (truth).

This is not a conclusion, answer, or explanation I am giving you. It is a seed. If you nurture it with intelligence and discretion, it can grow into a tree.

Erasing Impressions

Attaining liberation means erasing these impressions forever—not just covering them up. Erasing requires jnana (knowledge) and divine grace. It is not easy. It involves hard work and, above all, divine blessings.

Someone might ask: if a person goes into absolute amnesia, does that make them a jeevanmukta? The answer is no. Memory and impressions are not the same. Memory is volatile, like data temporarily stored on a computer. Impressions are hardwired, deeply engraved elsewhere.

When power goes off on a PC, the screen goes blank. But when power is restored, most of the data returns. Similarly, amnesia might erase memory, but the impressions remain intact.

Erasing vs. Hiding

Imagine you have made a pencil sketch on paper. If someone enters the room and you don’t want them to see it, you flip the paper upside down. The sketch is hidden, but it is still there. After the person leaves, you can turn it over, and the sketch reappears. This is hiding, not erasing.

True erasing requires an eraser and effort. The eraser is jnana, supported by divine grace. Burning grass in a field might turn it to ash temporarily, but after the rains, the grass will regrow. Burning, therefore, is not a permanent solution. Similarly, the method of erasing impressions is crucial. If not done properly, the impressions will return.

To truly erase impressions, you need the right approach, the right knowledge, and divine grace. Only then can liberation be attained.

Knowledge Bank

Benefits of Satyanarayana Puja

Bhagavan blesses those who perform Satyanarayana Puja. Their life becomes happy and peaceful. All their problems get solved. They become lucky. Performing Satyanarayana Puja confers the results of doing thousands of yajnas.

What is the meaning of Swarat?

The power that controls the Virat (manifested universe) from inside is Swarat. Swarat means knowledge.