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Thread: the world is an illusion, but its real enough

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    the world is an illusion, but its real enough

    The world is an illusion but it is real enough. The human senses are finite and thus subject to faults, so the world percieved by a human mind is an illusion. However the energy that is the substratum of phenomena is real. The brain identifies may qualities of Brahman and so names them many things. But this is an illusion because there is nothing but that energy, for example a chair isn't a chair, chairs don't exist, what exists is a quality of Brahman that we identify as a chair...
    Ive noticed in many posts that people confuse advaita, for some kind of solipsism. The world is an illusion, but its real enough.

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    Re: the world is an illusion, but its real enough

    hari o
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    namasté sadhu



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    यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
    yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
    because you are identical with śiva

    _

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    Re: the world is an illusion, but its real enough

    hariḥ o
    ~~~~~~
    namasté

    Quote Originally Posted by the sadhu View Post
    The world is an illusion but it is real enough.
    I my opinion , to say the world is an illusion but real, is like saying the picture on a movie screen is an illusion but the actors are real enough.

    People can rationalize that the actors at some point were filmed and then projected onto the screen; they are and are not real. So it depends on who is doing the looking. Are they real on the screen , no. Turn off the projector and the actors subside. Yet they could be in the same audience watching the movie and be ~real~.

    Yet too not all advaita schools think that the world is an illusion. This is not a firm fundamental principle completely yielded to by all schools.

    iti śivaṁ
    यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
    yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
    because you are identical with śiva

    _

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    Re: the world is an illusion, but its real enough

    When it is said that world is an illision, the POV is highly macro. It is very difficult for ordinary people to appreciate the context and the philosophy behind this.

    So from micro point of view it is real. This is the reality through which we live and interact. 99.9999% people cannot perceive the truth behind the world otherwise the interaction with the world would have been more harmonious.

    That said the reality aslo is that it is an illusion - for the knowers. The forms, shapes, smells, etc are weapons of maya to cover our mind to see through the percieved reality.
    Love and best wishes:hug:

  5. #5

    Re: the world is an illusion, but its real enough

    sorry hi, I don't use a name any more, but when I'm pressed to identify myself I say my name is Sadhu. This person doesn't have a life outside Brahman. I as in the illusory I is an American ascetic who most people think is mad. Live outside a lot.
    Sorry I'm on a smart phone. That's why the message is so compact. At any rate there many qualities of Brahman, what is homogeneous is the awareness that pervades all reality.

    I read a post were someone said " so you think. Your mom is an illusion?"
    And this brain spits out the paradoxical thought "well its real, but its not real."
    Consciousness experiences the world, but through the illusion of the senses but the experience however illusory still occurred.

    Adi shankara refers to the realness of the snake in the woods by proving its reality as a rope.

    Many people aren't ready to grasp that the world is fake but Brahman isn't. We experience Brahman, and that's what's real.

  6. #6

    Re: the world is an illusion, but its real enough

    The world is an illusion because it is in a constant state of flux.

    The world that is when I start to write the i in the word illusion is no more (lost͵ bygone) by the time I reached the n.

    And as a part of the world͵ I am profoundly changed too.

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    Re: the world is an illusion, but its real enough

    hariḥ oṁ
    ~~~~~~
    namasté

    Quote Originally Posted by the sadhu View Post
    Many people aren't ready to grasp that the world is fake but Brahman isn't. We experience Brahman, and that's what's real.
    Again, this may be for some schools of thought. It holds no weight within the purview of kaśmir śaivism . Now why would that be ?

    Within this school of thinking all this is none other then śiva ( some may prefer the term anīśvarāya , which is one without a superior, therefore Supreme and unsurpassable). If all this is anīśvarāya and one says the world is fake , then one infers that anīśvarāya is also fake, by association. This cannot be, and therefore the notion of illusion and fake lies within the eyes that are viewing the world.

    The blemish of the eye is removed by the ointment of knowledge...

    iti śivaṁ
    यतस्त्वं शिवसमोऽसि
    yatastvaṁ śivasamo'si
    because you are identical with śiva

    _

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    Re: the world is an illusion, but its real enough

    Greetings,

    What word does Shankara use that is translated as "illusion"?

    In English, "illusion" comes ultimately from Latin "ludere", "to play", and "in", "on, upon, with, against"; implying that an "illusion" is a play, an act, a game.
    "Everybody wants to see God but nobody wants to do any sadhana." -- Swami Sivananda
    "You can advance only through karma yoga; by karma yoga you may benefit others also....Only hard work can make a person powerful and energetic." -- Haidakhan Babaji
    "Do everything you do as Śivathondu." -- Yogaswami

  9. #9

    Re: the world is an illusion, but its real enough

    Namaste', Yajvan you have a point, but the reference to the world implies a world of objects and therefore multiplicity... indeed reality in any form cannot be illusory, but any concept of any genuine multiplicity or any notion of real seperation, is illusory and must naturally be caused by human ignorance of the true nature of reality.

  10. #10

    Re: the world is an illusion, but its real enough

    Namaste,

    As a westerner and a Newcomer to Sanatana Dharma Philosophy, I'm guilty as charged as mistaking Advaita Vedanta as Presented by Eastern Dharma Was similiar to western solipsism, In fact, I was quite foolish for thinking they are anything alike in context, and this is the problem in the west. I learned More and can See how both Vedenta philosophies can be true.

    I dont think Advaita Vedanta is any way solipstic as "Neo" Westerners Make it out to be, just grabbing teachings from different religious traditions and mixing it into their own spiritual pot to one up their own personal philosophys..


    Just like in Hinduism people argue over Saguna vs Nirguna Brahman, The World Being Real or Illusory, Etc, the Western World rationalizes between The extreme ends of Aristotlean Realism and Platonic Idealism with hardly a middle ground.

    Speaking Purely from My POV the problem is with the levels of realizations, when people say "All is God" "Everything is God" "You are god" Or "There is Only Brahman". etc without explaining how they came to this realization and why they believe it, It is perceived to be a gross over simplification on the nature of reality. In order to properly make such statements IMO is to speak in a language the recipients mind will be receptive too, start small, explain the inter-mechanical relationships, the functions of reality and how they work along side each other to generate the perceived entity. Are you going to teach calculus to someone who is just starting the elementary basics of mathematics?

    To me It is all "real" no matter how a person defines "real". I can however accept it being "illusory" from the most microcosmic standpoint of the base existence, But it is still all real to me.

    I'm not a big fan of the solipstic way of thinking at all, and that is mainly because the west presented their theory in a format my mind could not accept based on personal spiritual experience and understanding, Hindu Vedanta I can far more relate to and accept as being true all across the spectrum.

    Real or unreal "Stuff" exists, how can anyone deny?

    Thank you for the post.
    Last edited by Spirit Seeker; 06 December 2013 at 10:15 PM.
    For those who believe, no explanation is necessary. For those who do not, none will suffice. ~Joseph Dunninger

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