Dreams, Video Games, Movies and Maya

Richard Feynman said that this Universe is one humongous Computer. He said that in the context of computers being nothing but devices that move from state to state. If we abstract the computer to its essence we will observe that this is a device that usually has a beginning state, a set of end states and then it keeps hopping from one state to the other. Sometimes this hopping seems endless, sometimes it seems totally random, and eventually all computers will come to an end, at least according to Alan Turing, another great scientific mind.

The world that we experience, is a lot similar, things happen, there seems to be relations, sometimes none, its a constant change. we interpret some, we decipher some, but the Universe doesn't seem to care. we classify things, we say this is small, this is big, this is blue and that is red. We define a complex sequence of things and say such sequences are desirable. we plan. we work together. we love and we hate. one fine day it all comes to an end. Then it begins all over again.

What we just saw above can describe a dream, it could also be describing a modern virtual reality game, It can easily be a movie synopsis, and it could very be the reality that we experience. But its hard to tell isn't it? As long as we are engrossed in the experience it is hard to differentiate. Its hard to discriminate between what is real and what is not. When one is deeply involved in a Formula 1 race speeding away in one of the famous tracks sporting the avatar of the favorite racer, all deep inside a gaming console, its hard to tell if this is not real. The slightest disturbance from a on looker, is enough to make the gamer go wild. One can hear the other say, 'hey its just a game'. Which one is he referring to? is playing on the gaming console 'just a game'? is the 'real' formula 1 'just a game'? or is life in its entirety 'just a game'? makes you think, isn’t it?

We all have experienced being totally immersed in our favorite movies. Action, Drama, Thriller, Crime, Comedy, Tragedy, they come in all forms and shapes. and we all have our preferences. We identify with the protagonist, we hate the antagonists, we experience the movie exactly as real. Brilliant story tellers always leave out the details, so it makes you get more involved as your mind subconsciously completes the dots giving each of us a unique story experience. As long as the movie is on, we cannot tell it is not real. We emote, we experience, we enjoy, as if its real. Once the movie is over we slowly recoil and get back into our 'real' world.

Each of us dream. some of us during the day, but most of us during the nights. The dream is such a naturally fantastic experience. It takes us into a land of fantasy, without bounds, without limits. A beggar can dream of being a King, A King can dream of being a pauper. As long as the dream is on, it is one hundred percent real. If I go to bed with a aching stomach, the stomach doesn’t ache no more in my sleep. The reality that we experience is cut off, and we enter and entertain our self into a totally different realm. It is impossible to say that I am dreaming from within the dream. Sometimes we do get vague thoughts within the dream about it being a dream, but we continue the dream.

The dream is nature's version of a Virtual reality game, or a Movie. The dream is there to tell us that the reality that we seem to experience is a dream too. There is no other purpose for the dream. We dream every single say, its a constant reminder for us to question, think, probe and discover the nature of reality. Once this truth is learnt, one is free. Life becomes enriched and hence an enjoyable experience.

You are always with You

A life is a journey. places, time, people, events all move past. we participate in all of these. various stages pass by.

We like certain places. We like certain people. We associate with them all. When we are near we are happy, when we are far, it seems to hurt. All experiences are just observations. though there is a complex series of interactions in this world, if we break it down to the ultimate then all we see is we are simple passive observers.

When I question about the world, and the things in it, and the source of happiness, I discover I am at the center of it all. All things are in relation with me. and this happiness is a property or the very nature of me, which I get in touch with with the aid of various things. I wrongly associate happiness with these tools as the source.

When I move from one place to another, it is not quite clear if the place or the world is moving or I am moving. all that can be said is there is relative movement. a mere change of scene. a change in perception. all are just experiences. when I laugh, when I cry, if I don't associate with the emotion, I can see I am not those emotions. events in the world make me emote. these are mere thoughts rising. sometimes there is a violent stream of thoughts. sometimes there is serenity. sometimes thoughts rush by almost knocking me down. But whatever it may be, I am clear I am not those thoughts. I am simply observing them.

The body is also a thought. its actions again are simple perceptions.

When I see myself reading a book, as I break it down into finer details, the books and the words and my sight and all the thoughts melt away into nothingness. materially they all are atoms, in a complex sequence of interactions. It is the intelligence which assembles it all together and associates a body and object and so on and gives it a meaning.

In all of this there is a constant companion, as the world and life in it moves past in space and time, there is this one constant voice, which is absolutely the same, ever since I remember. It is always awake, always alive, always aware. It is this companion, or the self, that is at the center of everything, trying to give interpretations to a world that presents itself and constantly changing.

This I is the one which interprets the experiences and observations. It is the one which gives reality to an endless random flux of matter and energy.

As things, places, people and time pass by, the one which paints this picture and is the source of all that was, all that is, and all that will be,is always with me.

The moment I realize this truth, I am free, I am liberated. I enjoy the beauty and mystery of this amazing illusion, which is pure magic that is painted on an infinitely large canvas.

What Time is it?

Time is a timeless concept. The flow of time. The flow of events. Diving our experiences into the past , the present and the future.

Clocks tell us what time it is now. seconds, minutes, hours, days and so on create boundaries that seem distinct and absolute.

The periodicity of events such as day and night makes time all the more a real and absolute thing. One can say the whole experience of life is a sequence of events. and time is nothing but an interval between events. So we can say the interval between two sun rises constitute a day. Similarly we can specify the position of the sun across the sky at certain locations and define them as events, the intervals between them being hours. We can similarly define finer or courser intervals of time. How absolute is this measurement or definition of time?

This will lead us to abstract this further and define time as simply the interval between states of the Universe. The universe simply moves from state to state. The state being the totality of all things in the Universe such as the diameter, or luminosity or some such property of a star. Or it could be the position of all things in the universe with reference to an origin etc. And any change in the state constitutes movement of time. we could arrive at some particular event which has an apparently independent periodicity and use it to define a uniform movement of time.

All of this implies there are concrete absolute events that occur. let us say we define time as the interval between two sun rises. and if for whatever reason the sun's apparent movement stops for 5 seconds and then resumes, will the suspension be noted? If for instance the entire Universe 'stops' for a certain period of time, will that suspension be noted? No. because we define time as the interval between such events.

This leads us to the question, how do we know the state of the universe has changed? How do we know that the next event has occurred, so that the universal clock can make a tick. The state of the Universe is a set of attributes. and in order to say that this has changed, one has to observe it! Unless the state of the universe is constantly observed, there is no way to figure out if it has changed or not. It could be in suspended animation of 'ages' and yet we will never know.

This implies that if we cannot observe anything at all in this Universe, then it is impossible to talk about time. So, if it was the case that I loose all my power of perception, including the sense of touch, then there is no sense in talking about observing anything. and hence I cannot observe any change whatsoever in anything, and hence there can be no meaning for time. The perception, or observation of the Universe is a must for the very concept of time.

The observer is an important factor. If there were no observer, then there is no observation and hence no Universe. And time is something that happens entirely based on this observation and has no absolute existence. This relativistic view of time thus collapses our notion of years, millennium etc. entirely into our own cognition of the world, without any absolute existence. time is after a sequence of events.

The sequence is a result of our ability to remember. memory creates sequences out of random events. A following, B following C. If I do not remember, then there is no sequence. If we investigate what memory really is, it is just a thought occuring NOW. we recollect the past, but we do that always in the present. We talk about the future, but we do that always in the present. We talk of a hundred years. But we do it only in the NOW. Again, all that we are talking are about sequence of events. the longer this sequence is, longer the time is.The mind using this quantum of events creates its own sense of scale for time. So it is really meaningless to talk about what time it is now.

The fact is we are in the present. and the time is NOW.

Hurdle to Happiness

Happiness. everlasting, undiminished and unlimited. This is the pursuit of all of us. Each one of us have our own means to it. Sometimes acquiring a thing gives happiness, some times getting rid of something gives happiness. sometimes this thing could be the very same object.

Things seem to be all nice and quiet and suddenly something brews up, it disturbs the peace and removes the happiness. a remedy to such situation results in happiness. A pain creates unhappiness. removal results in happiness. A void creates unhappiness, filling it up with activities, people and events creates happiness.

A doubt creates unhappiness, clarity gives happiness. Thinking of the past brings about unhappiness to the present. A sudden event of liking brings about happiness and makes us forget the past.

A disagreement creates unhappiness, understanding or agreement results in happiness.

Certain things result in long lasting unhappiness. certain things appear to be perpetual and never ending.

When we see our desires fulfilled we become happy. an unfulfilled desire is a cause for unhappiness.

In all of these, if one were to investigate, we can find that the object, event, person, etc. do not have an absolute part to play in either bringing about happiness or in removing it. Ice cream is NOT an happiness producing object. we can find that out after having a few scoops. the mouth will reject it after a certain point. Money is NOT an happiness producing object. Anyone who has more than that is needed will instantly agree. The process of safe guarding, ensuring its growth, and the desire for more will remove the happiness producing property of any object.

Further investigation reveals that , the happiness is not an INHERENT property of any single object in the world. If fact the world is incapable of giving us happiness on its own.

The happiness is our true nature. the unhappiness is nothing but the clouded stream of thoughts in the NOW. removing such unhappy thoughts is happiness.

Happiness is not something that is acquired. Rather it is the removal of the unhappiness.

Due to conditioning of the mind over ages, we come to identify ourselves wrongly, and result in a very limited and punitive interpretation of ourselves. This causes us to desire certain things and dislike certain others. If only we know there is nothing other that our self that ever exists, then there is nothing to like and dislike. We do not envy anyone in our dream. Do we? Of course within the dream we might. But wouldn't it be a joke if we wake up and start worrying about events inside the dream. There was no actual event, no actual people, no actual YOU within the dream to experience either the desirable or the undesirable.

Knowing the truth that the world is an illusion, and identical to a dream, the mind learns to interpret the world correctly. A slow unwinding of the predefined rules for happiness will result in the mind staying in its original and real state. Which is a state of unclouded Aura. When the domination of Matter and Energy subsides, and the clarity of Aura begins to shine, and the fact that life is but one big movie emerges strong, the notion of happiness itself disappears.

The realization occurs that happiness is nothing but absence of the thought "I am unhappy".This instantly results in independence from things, people and events. Sounds like a mere play of logic: Negating the Negation of A thing to arrive at it! But this is a fact which we learn over a period of time.

This is Freedom and Liberation.

Magic, Miracles and Enlightenment

Enlightenment or Self-Realization is commonly associated with extraordinary phenomena.

"I felt completely light, unaware of the body and was floating in air"

"I was able to see the past , present and future all together"

"There was a unbearable brilliant light surrounding all around me"

"I could see God in all his glory"

"My body was shuddering, and I was breathless"

and so on.

Initially such experiences seems extraordinary, and simply impossible. And such impossible events are assumed to be necessary in order to believe we have transcended our limitations and have become realised.

An enquiry into ordinary and extraordinary phenomena puts this in order.

Any event that is not properly understood will baffle us. If I bring out a rabbit out of a hat, it baffles. If I can make someone float in air it baffles. If I could make a ship disappear then it baffles. These are impossible things to happen, based on the understanding of the laws of nature, and when it seems to be broken it appears magical. That is in fact what Magic is. A seemingly impossible thing happening. But since the magician is similar to us, and is able to repeatedly and consistently perform it, we can learn it to be a mere trick. An illusion. There is only an apparent breaking of the laws of nature.

Similarly something miraculous happens. Something which clearly breaks the laws of nature. such as a feather falling at the same speed as a stone, light bending around a star, particles moving around in a liquid by themselves for no reason, someday this could include people walking on water, curing the blind with a touch. These events clearly are abnormal, extraordinary, and impossible. But if we look at the very manner in which we define it, we say so only because it has never happened before, or never observed before. More accurately we have not understood the laws fully. The laws are there. But we know only a subset of them. and the unknown laws will reveal only through such miracles. and once known they fall into ordinary.

So, all phenomena appear baffling only as long as we don't know their mechanics.

Just like it gives a blind man a great amount of joy after getting sight through surgery, any such extra ordinary phenomena will eventually become ordinary. when something is possible then one cannot say a impossible thing is possible. mere play of words and simple contradiction. These experiences are only relative.

In fact any such experience , even the ability to say fly in the air by oneself without assistance, will become ordinary eventually, and cannot be equated with Enlightenment.

Enlightenment is knowledge. The truth behind ALL phenomena. All of the phenomena out there is only there for us to question, seek and then eventually to Know I AM THAT.

Happiness - Whence?

It is often said from the teachings of Vedanta, happiness is not something that is "out there". rather it is something inside the self. The world as we know it, does not contain happiness producing agents or objects. But it is the mind due to ignorance that thinks the world, its objects and events to be the source of happiness.

It is often said that the source of suffering is due to the ignorance. The ignorance of the fact that we are not a limited being in time and space. and the ignorance of the true self, as to who we really are. The knowledge that will liberate us from suffering and result in absolute happiness is very simple and straight forward. That secret knowledge is that, "You Are That".

In simpler terms, I am the all pervading Single reality, and all that I observe and experience is an illusion. It is often shown that the world that we experience is similar to the dream that we have while asleep. various events, objects and people etc., are encountered in our dream, we also have an existence and participate in it as a individual. and it is very realistic and we go through all the emotions as if it was a reality. But once we wake up from the dream, we realize the illusory nature of the events in our dream and do not attach any importance.

The difference however is that , our current reality is similar to dream but that we know it to be a dream. Since we know this to be a dream, from "within the dream", we can encounter the world with this knowledge and hence we can enjoy the experience irrespective of what happens.

This fact that the world is an illusion is to be learn t, reflected and internally converted into doubtless knowledge, for us to actually make use of it.

But in practice even after understanding this truth without an iota of doubt, this does not result in removal of suffering. this does not result in enjoying every minute, in-spite of this knowledge.

We continue to be happy at times, based on certain events and conditions, and we continue to be unhappy at times. There seems to be no escape from the negative emotions of regret, guilt, anxiety, worry, fear, missing things etc.

Illusion or not, these emotions seems to be real, and they don't seem to go away any time soon.

Even if the world is an illusion, I still want to see certain things happen in the dream , and certain things not to happen in the dream, much like in a movie, even though I know it is just a movie, I do like and want certain events to occur and certain others not to occur.

What 'happens' seem to impact my happiness, no matter if the experience is an illusion, a dream or a movie.

So.. whats happening? what are we missing here ?

Let us analyze.

First stop is to understand happiness.

Vedanta says, happiness in my fundamental nature. In fact I "am" happiness.

I do agree that "at times" I am happy. There are certain conditions that seem to provide this happiness. I do also understand after sufficient study that these conditions don't 'always' produce happiness. But the common agreement is that I do experience happiness at times.

Now, I need to analyze such conditions and past experiences to further know about happiness.

If we inquire, we can see that the conditions that bring about happiness are subjective. what brings happiness may not bring it to you. so it is clear that it is based on our likes and dislikes. or in other words our preferences play a role in us interpreting any event or object as source of happiness. Our preferences, along with the three modes of nature, which changes in time and also the dominance which varies from person to person, causes various interpretations of the world, for happiness or the lack of it.

This is the reason why we feel suddenly unhappy, immediately after being happy. For instance when we buy a house and do the house warming, it might be the culmination of a life time of effort, and source for great happiness. While we relish that moment, the very next moment a unhappy thought arises. We might be missing some dear one, who might have also enjoyed this event had they be alive. etc.

So, it becomes clear that the interpretation of the world is the key to happiness.

Let us look further.

It is very common to hear and say that I had a sound sleep, and I was feeling very happy as I woke up. A sound sleep is one where we did not have any dream. It was a total sleep, where the thoughts were simply absent. No thoughts, good or bad.

The moment we wake up, thoughts start to stream past. the plan for the day, the anxieties at work, etc flow in, breaking our happy experience.

So, it appears that any thought can break the happiness experience. the happiness itself is a state where there are no thoughts. When we say we felt happy due to an event or object, what has happened is in fact a total absence of the cognizance of the world. we have forgotten everything including this world and hence felt happy.

There can be a thousand reasons for our happiness. But the experiencing of happiness is nothing but having a moment of thoughtless bliss. All these reasons, are nothing but channels that take us to that state.

Winning a million bucks in a lottery

Winning the Nobel prize

Making your parent mad by using a prank

Soaking wet in the rain

Three large scoops of ice cream with nuts, and honey and syrup

The trouble with these are that they do not get us into that state all the time, and also, other thoughts rise immediately, disturbing and destroying our happiness. Immediately after winning the lottery, the mind starts to worry about safe keep, investment, sufficiency etc.. the same holds for all kinds of such reason that seem to bring us to the state of happiness.

Also, when we are in a state of delusion with all thoughts making our mind dull and unhappy, we tend to think or recall other instances when we were happy. We might think of a person who we miss badly at this time. This is because we think the presence of that person was the result of our earlier happiness experience. and we wrongly think that person will bring us happiness again. and hence we "miss" that person. It is important to note that we miss them only when we are NOT happy now. As long as we are absolutely happy we do not miss anything or anybody or any place. The same applies for the past as well as future. We are anxious about the future only when we are NOT happy now.

We have identified what happiness is. It is the blissful state of no thoughts, where we do not cognize the external world, but experience our Self alone. and there are various apparent reasons that help us get in touch with our selves, and we wrongly attribute or equate happiness with such events or objects.

So, let us clarify one more time. All our troubles, source of suffering are only in thinking about the "glorious" past, regretting the past, guilty of the past etc, and the anxiety and fear and worry associated with a "uncertain" future. and as long as we are happy NOW we will not worry about these.

Now, having a clear picture of dealing with the past and the future, we come to the NOW.

NOW is the instant. It means the current. It is not an average of the few hours, or the average of the day. NOW is continuous. As long as I am happy in the NOW, there is no issue whatsoever.

So the solution is simply to ensure I am happy NOW, always.

Being happy simply means being in the Self. An experience of the self, with the absence of the cognizance of the world is happiness and bliss.

It is at this point that the illusory nature of the world and the absolute and only reality of myself comes into the picture.

A constant projection of the thought that this is an illusion, or rather, whenever the thought of the world arises, if we can be continuously aware of this truth, and it becomes second nature, then we always stay in the knowledge of the Self. When we are established in the knowledge of the Self, and constantly know that we are the only reality, then the NOW is filled with bliss. With the NOW in bliss always, we stay in absolute happiness in all of space and time.

How Unreal is this Illusion?

The ultimate truth about the reality is that the world as we perceive is an Illusion and that I am the only reality.

While conceptually , and at times for convenience, this explanation might be appealing, there are questions that make us think deeply about this explanation.

We see the world full of people, all independently living, thinking, interacting, progressing etc. Similarly there are so many other living and non living things, all in action, all in their own trajectory of life. We can easily see that we all do have a say in the happenings of the world. There is apparent ability to change the course of things. One can control another person etc.

Also more interestingly we see several people trying to understand the truth and getting enlightened. If the idea of enlightenment is to simply realize the truth that I am the only reality, how is it possible for several people to get enlightened? Absurd indeed. It is said in the Vedantic tradition one needs to surrender to a living Guru and help getting enlightened, and also that the Guru must himself be an enlightened one! If I am the only reality then the Guru must be part of the illusion. And if I am the Guru then the student must be part of the illusion.

All these seemingly difficult issues can be addressed if we consider three approaches to the illusory nature of the world.

(1) Many people exist: . All that we perceive through our senses, including our minds forms part of the relative reality. Within the relative reality, everything is real. My Ego is a real entity having its independent existence. so does all other people. This gives room to the existence and functioning of God. Here we can see people doing various things, and some trying to learn the truth. Some of them get enlightened. And we can see some becoming teachers, some other continuing their lives post enlightenment. All as real , as far as the relative reality is concerned. Much like one accepts everything within a dream to be real, as long as one does not wake up. After enlightenment, one continues to experience the world, and the relative reality, with a knowledge of the absolute reality. Similar to being aware that one is dreaming from within the dream itself. The ultimate truth, the enlightenment does not make the unreal world disappear, much like the knowledge of the mirage does not remove the mirage. The mirage continues to be perceived, and the individual entities within the mirage such as the reflection of a mountain, trees, water etc, will continue to exist and project individuals as though they are real. But the knowledge that it is a mirage will eliminate all sufferings that arise due to the events of the mirage.

(2) Only I Exist: The world is nothing but the Lokha. Lokha is all that is perceived or experienced. It includes everything , such as people, living and non living , etc. All events and happenings are simply experienced only by me. As long as I do not experience them they do not happen, or exist. people trying to learn the truth, Teachers who have learnt the truth, My won Guru, are all part of the illusion and they do not exist in reality. I exist as the individual and once I get the ultimate knowledge I am enlightened, and all other 'enlightenments' are simply part of the illusion. Probably they exist just to let me know about such as thing as enlightenment.

(3) Nothing exists and Nothing happens: The world is an illusion. and I, as an individual is part of the illusion. So such an I does not exist. Since I as an individual does not even exist, then so does all others and things. This means then there is nobody out there to actually learn and get enlightened. Nor anyone who is to teach anyone else. the whole world is an illusion, not existing in reality, and no events whatsoever happened or happens. The enlightenment that I get itself is illusory. All that exists is the only absolute reality that is I.

Taking either of these three viewpoints clarifies the doubts regarding the anomalies about a extremely realistic looking illusion.

Who Am I? Whence Am I?

EXISTENCE
There is a clear "sense" of existence.
A "sense" of being is there.
There are sensations.
There is sensory perception.
The sensations and the perceptions define or reveal a "world".
Some of these become available somehow even after the physical sensations or absent.
We can define them as memory or thought.
The world is a set of such sensory perceptions.
A short sequence can be termed an event.
There is a continuous "stream" of such sensory perceptions.
Various objects appear in the world.
The sensory perceptions are "interpreted" as objects, with such and such attributes.
An "apple" is defined "out" of a plethora of sensations.
This is very similar to identifying a pattern of digits 314159 out of a stream of random numbers.
Digits are generated at random, and are streaming past.certain patterns are identified and named and recognized.
Relationships between objects are defined/identified.
Some objects are inert.some seem to interact and have a sense of existence, and seem to know it.
Some objects/events appear/identified as good/nice.
Perception of such objects/events seems to bring about a very desirable state.
Various such patterns are defined.
A more complex sequence of such patterns are termed as "explanations"/"theory".
A sequence is identified from this infinite bundle of sensory perception.
A sense of now, a sense of before and after are created.Time gets defined.
A sense of here and there is created or identified.Space gets defined.


IDENTITY
Identity/definition is sense of limited experience.
(when there is no limitation then the identity is lost)
As an infant, first awareness of a limited sense of existence/identity comes from the name.
I am my Name. A sound.
People point at me and keep on calling me by that name.
I am now this name.
This name is identified with a body.
A body is a sensory perception.
A particular pattern is defined as "my" body.
I come to be associated with it.
In a world where all humans and aware-objects are destroyed the moment I am born, it would be interesting to know if I will ever identify myself with a limited part of the experience.
Anyway that's just a thought. we can move on.
So, by a sequence of events, an "I" gets defined, and I come to be associated with it.
All events/objects in the sensory perception, form relationships with the I.
Or rather, relationships/associations get defined.
The world is now viewed as a relationship and interaction between this I and all other objects/events.
The I begins to play a very important role in all experiences.
What is "desirable" is now very dependant on the I and its relationship to the world.
Blood is sensory perception. A mere experience.
Blood coming out of a bruise on my fingertip "becomes" an undesirable experience.
This false identification becomes central.
Initially there was no identity.
Now there is this wrong/false identity.
Is there a right/true identity?
We are defined/identified by a specific pattern of sensory perception. and this pattern is called the body.
The boundary is the body.I end at the body and beyond it the world begins.
Any clothing, accessories such as glasses, shoes etc are clearly outside the boundary.
False teeth, an implanted lens, a pace maker, any such thing also clearly is not me.
A tooth which falls off or a hair that is cut off is not me.
It was part of me, now no longer part of me.
So this boundary is little flexible. things come in, things go out.
It appears that this identification, is merely a definition, and not absolute.
We can define the I in this manner as whatever we want it to be.
We can also get rid of this identity completely and say the world/totality of sensory perception is Me.
Question is , is there an identity beyond such mere definitions?
Is this sense of "I" an absolute one, or a simply acquired/assumed one?

Initially there was no identity, then the false identity, hence the question.

Let us try shrinking this boundary inwards of the body.
The teeth, and hair, whether it is part or not, is not the I.
So are the hands,legs and so on.
Next we have the heart, stomach, kidneys, liver etc.
The life force is essential for the body. but it is only a perception.
(Life-physiology itself is merely part of the perception)
So these organs are not part of the identity.
The brain? It is also part of the sensory perception and no need to give special status.
So the whole body is not my identity.

So am I not part of the sensory perception, including thoughts etc.?
What we are actually doing in the pretext of going "inside", we are going "beyond". Inside/outside anything is still part of the world. Is part of the sensory perception.
What we are actually doing is we want to go "beyond" the world, seeking this identity.
But what all exists, what all is experienced is the world. And as long as we identify as part of this world, it is merely a definition.

So..Did we "find" it? ..... No
"Can" we find it? ..... Cannot. If we do find it, it would be part of the sensory perception/experiences, and only a mere definition. We can say it is the I. But wouldn't mean anything.

So Who and Whence am I?

There is no I, there is no Who or Whence :)

Freedom

Freedom is something all of us want. We all have our definitions of what freedom is.

Let us consider Freedom as being the opposite of imprisonment. For whatever reason someone commits a crime. Sometimes this could have been also wrong judgement. So one lands up in prison.

All the freedom one possessed is now lost.

The initial days of the prison life is very confusing, there is no focus, there is delusion, there is experience of surrealism. The initial days of fear are overcome eventually. Prison life becomes routine.

One has to simply go in cycles, day after day, without any purpose. The only purpose if any is to get out of the prison.

It takes a while to realize that there is really no purpose of the prison. And that there is no object inside the prison that can give real happiness. The only happiness can be freedom. Any event or object that makes us forget that we are in the prison seems to give us happiness. But once the reality is remembered, those objects no longer make us happy.

Life continues. Over a period we forget that we were once a free bird. We become "institutionalized". And you either "get busy living or get busy dying".

One among us somehow continues to remember his free life. He continues to hold on to hope. After realizing that a normal good behaviour will not get him freedom, he plans secretly on an escape.

He makes an attempt, if hes lucky he gets out and is free. If he is unlucky, he gets back to a much more rigorous imprisonment. Making his freedom almost impossible.

One fine day, based on his extremely good conduct, a prisoner gets released. He is back into the free world. He is extremely happy. This happiness is permanent , since he is no longer a prisoner. He need not get to the prison any more!

No matter what the means, he is now free. liberated. Once he is free, he has a natural tendency to help the prisoners inside to escape. Some do follow his tips and get out. But most others who are now completely institutionalized, do not listen to him, they are either convinced that he will get into trouble, or he has lost his mind.

The person who has tasted freedom, doesn't care about what all happened to him while in prison, He doesn't care about how he was wrongly convicted, or all the unpleasant, undesirable events that happened inside. All that matters to him now is he is no longer a prisoner. he has a full life of freedom to live.

Life without the true knowledge of Who I am, is like prison. Life itself is not a prison. The world and its worldly objects are not imprisonment, but the life that is experienced without the self-knowledge is like imprisonment.

People take all kinds of efforts to get out of the sometimes meaningless, repetitive life. But all such actions results in them becoming more and more entangled. and it takes more and more effort to get a glimpse of the happiness that used to be available abundantly in childhood.

There is not a single person who looks back at "good old times". For most of us those "glorious days are over". There are few among us, who appears always happy, like a child is even in adulthood, even when all kinds of trouble is surrounding the person seems unperturbed. He is a hopeful person. He knows there is a way out.

He follows the time tested methods to obtain the self-knowledge systematically. One fine day he realises who he is! Once the truth is known, once the reality is experienced, the life becomes a joy. The very same life and its objects and events that one experienced before, becomes a source of enjoyment. the intermittent and diluted happiness that became rarer by the day, now suddenly became abundantly available.

Once a person gets the true knowledge, all the events of an ignorant past become instantly irrelevant. All the so called unhappy and undesirable events are a now non existent past. there is now a whole new life to lead with full of freedom.

There is no proof that I can Die

We see birth, We see death of innumerable people as time passes.

We hear people talking about the birth of a baby/ We learn about the passing away of someone. We personally take part in some, witness some.

Some other day there was a Tsunami, another day there was an earth quake. Thousands perished. So we hear. We see it on TV. body bags being dragged around.

This is how we come to know and understand the birth and death of human beings. By hearing about them, by witnessing them. So we also conclude since I was also born similarly, I will someday pass away in one of the innumerable ways. Death is inevitable. So it seems.

Now, do we have the personal experience of birth? are we aware of our birth? No one can ever say that yes I remembered my birth. So my birth itself is a story that I come to believe. Even a documented story is still not proof enough. Because I am seeing that story only in the "Now". There can be absolutely no concrete proof for it happening in reality. What if this is all one big reality show?!

So, there is really no first hand proof for my birth! And since I do not and cannot have a first hand proof, but yet I have the first hand direct proof of my existence, this implies that I have to be birth less. Birth less or Beginning less is an interesting concept. It implies deathless , or endlessness.

So there is no proof for the possibility of my death. This is not the same as saying I have innumerable births and hence I am eternal. What this really implies is, for the very me as this human in flesh and blood itself, there is no proof that I will die.

I see people born, and dying all the time. but that is no proof that I was born and I will eventually die!

Of-course this argument appears absurd. That is purely because we have either not bothered to question how we learn and know things, or we have come to accept certain things as not knowable.

While in axiomatic theories such as mathematics this concept of fundamental premise that we assume to be true without attributing any real meaning is necessary, it is not possible to live with such premises in the real world.


We can of-course use such aids to begin the investigation, but eventually either those assumptions must be proven , or made irrelevant.

While this argument that there is no proof of my death, is extreme it is not illogical.

Having established that I cannot die, I ask myself, “So what?”, “what changes?” This argument simply means “I cannot die”, but the fact that I experience others dying and being born, implies there will be nothing different about the world, just because I cannot die.


However, this exercise of abstracting what I observe and who I am, and finding the absolute difference in them I realize I am not part of what I observe, and all the things that I observe simply happen to appear to me.

A deeper question of each such phenomena leads to the questioning and discovery of who I really am.


Knowing who I really am, and knowing what the world really is, liberates me from the duality of this world.

The Seasons of the Mind

If we introspect on what the mind is, we come to the conclusion that it is different from the body. We are tempted to believe that the mind is some sort of a function of the brain. But the brain is also completely a physiological organism, at the most it can do certain things that are "programmed".

Similar to the concept of Inverse Kinematics familiar to 3D animators, there are programs in the brain for all the functions of the body. It might also appear to create thoughts. or show certain activity associated with thoughts, emotions etc.

One can say, there are neurons, that keep firing all the time, and there is chemical, physical and physiological actions going on in the brain. One may even eventually "identify" through some sort of a scanning mechanism a single particular thought, or a unique configuration of the brain or part of it, while one has a certain thought. We may even be eventually map all thoughts by physical observation. So what does it mean? is the brain responsible for our thoughts?

The unique distinction between a programmable computer such as a Turing machine, and the human is that there is somebody "having", or "observing" the thoughts. In the case of the computer, there is none.

The true "I" does not belong to this place of physical reality at all. what we see in this world is a representation of the real I. Just like we observe our self as a character inside our dreams.

The most difficult part of handling our lives surround around how our mind functions. What it does, feels and how it emotes. If we realize that the mind belongs to the lower order of reality, and we are able to observe it, since we know what the mind thinks, we can ease a bit, saying I am not this suffering mind at all. I am simply an observer of it, just like I am the observer of my body.

However this is easier said than done. Just like the body has characteristics, the Mind has its character. the mind, just like the body and like every other thing in the Universe, is made of three kinds of nature, Aura, Energy and Matter.

The composition of the mind based on these three components keeps changing all the time. It depends on the food we eat, the company we keep, the books we read, the news that we consume and so on. It also depends on the time of the day, the weather, the climate, the colors and what not. and all of this varies from individual to individual. as they say one man's meat is another man's poison.

Having known this, we can try to control the composition as much as we can. But this is similar to protecting the physical body from illness, or having a high fitness level. There will always be sickness, points of break down etc.

So, the real solution is simply the knowledge that the mind will always keep changing. sometimes it is very enlightened, sometimes it is agitated, sometimes is is dull, based on which nature is dominant at the moment.

Just realize this fact and simply observe when the mind is in what nature. When is Aura, enjoy and make the most of it. when in Energy get your things done, when in Matter(dullness) just laugh it out.

This knowledge, similar to the knowledge of the changing seasons, liberates and ends suffering.

How many are there actually?

In the Quest for Myself, after a significant investigation and probing, I can find that I do not exist in the world that I perceive. Sounds Strange indeed.

Now , Who am I first of all? By definition "I" am the one that is the true Me. the changeless, Observer. Everything that I can observe, is not me. Observation is nothing but an awareness of existence. I observe a painting, I observe a book. I perceive the book, I am aware of its existence. so I am not this book, or that painting.

Because, anything that I can observe, and I can perceive, is independent of the true Me, since if we remove it, or make it non-existing, I still exist.

This if I continue to do to my Body, Life, Mind, Intellect, Experience, ad infinity, I conclude that I cannot be anything that I can perceive.

OK. fair enough. .. Then lets go figure out where this non-perceivable Me is? What is non perceivable? what is un-Observable? it goes back to the question of What is perceivable, what is Observable?

In order to be aware of the existence of anything, we need to perceive it. Primarily we depend on our sense organs for sensory perception. Only objects that have certain properties can be sensed by these organs.

We can classify all such objects as sense objects. So we can say all sense objects fall under the observable category. Then there are things beyond sensory perception . Thoughts, Ideas, Emotions... I do feel their existence at times. They do create a certain experience.. and they do have intellectual content. "Red is a color". Though this may not create any emotional experience, there is information. This thought is distinctly different from " The Sky is Blue" thought. the information distinguishes these two thoughts. So we can say information is the property which makes thoughts observable. As we continue this route we can conclude that any object is Observable only if it has some property.

The property can be anything, sensory such as color, smell, taste, shape, sound, texture, etc, or non-sensory such as location, time, information etc.

So for any object to be Non-Observable, then we can say, it should not have "any" property whatsoever.

But every single thing on this world that we exist, has some property of some sorts. All sensory objects have clearly their respective properties. all non-sensory objects such as thoughts also have properties of information, time or space. this simply means that there are no Non-observable objects at all in this Universe.

This leads us to the alarming conclusion that "I" am not in this Universe.

But I do exist. Don't I? Yes I do. Else who is doing this thought exercise?!!
This will lead me to the conclusion that the Universe that I experience is a different order of reality.

What is interesting further is that, This same experiment can be applied to each and every human being! It will be found very easily that the true Self, in each and every individual is not present in this Universe at all.

Ok .. all sounds fantastic. each real "I" is in their own separate order of reality, while this Universe is some sort of a virtual reality playground.

Here is the most interesting part. the "I" is property less, meaning it cannot have anything that will make it Observable, or distinguishable. non-temporal and non-spatial, non-anything! How many such "I" can actually be there?! if there are two of them , say I1 and I2, there is the suffix "1" and "2" this contradicts the property less-ness!

Well I can say I and I ! can't I? NO!! the two Is are separated in this document distinctly in space!! No matter how much I try it is impossible to have two non-property-less objects.

So there is only One and that is Me !

SIx Steps To Enlightenment

(1) RECOGNIZE THE SUFFERING

The world is a mixture of things that seems to defy explanation. There are so many questions without a convincing answer. The world is full of duality of Success/failure, Love/hate, Fame/Infamy, Good/Evil etc. The experiences that one has is not always what is desired.

why so? Why cannot everything be in plenty? Why is the world Unfair at times? Why is there war, crime? Why is there a partiality?, How big is the Universe, what exists outside the Universe, are there aliens? How come my honest, great efforts do not produce the desired result? questions of this nature are endless. All of us have them.

The set of questions will vary as many as there are individuals. Whether it is knowledge, or material possessions, or achievements, we are all in some specific level. some are in the negative and want to just get to that Zero mark. Some are in the Zero and want to get into positive territory. Some are very well into the positive, but are having difficulty in handling the infinite possibilities.

No matter how much we achieve there is still a desire. And the trouble is we all feel a lack of happiness due to such experiences and more so with the lack of an explanation. Most of us settle into the attitude "Life's Like that" and use some kind of temporary sedative such as entertainment, travel, other such experiences, more so to take the mind off the problem, so we can live to face another day.

First step is to recognize the existence of such a problem and ponder over it. The fact that you are reading this implies you are searching for Joy which means you sense a lack of it and hence you are already in Step 1:) You can list all the questions and issues that are bothering and preventing you from being Joyful.

(2) ASSUME AN EXPLANATION

Assume that there is in fact such an explanation. Let us assume there is a complete and convincing explanation that answers all our questions absolutely correctly. Please be very clear that we are "assuming" the existence of such an explanation. So we need not worry about validating it at this point.

Now.. it is hard to abstractly assume the existence of something without knowing some details. For this only purpose of ‘helping us assume’, let us take the theory called K-Theory.

What is K-theory? All human beings are engaged in action all the time. some actions are good, some are bad, some are neutral. Actions that result in desirable situations for others are good, that which results in undesirable situations for others are bad. rest of the actions are neutral. All good and bad actions are accumulated. so says the K-Theory.

This accumulated K has a role to play in the result of all our actions. apart from the effort we put in, the accumulated K is factored in, when the result is produced. This somewhat explains why there is no direct relationship between effort and effect. so somebody who simply did not touch the book gets a high score. we have an explanation to this...well.. somewhat.

We ask what about new born babies which have serious health problems? how come I am not born to a King? answer according to K-Theory is, there are multitude of births, and the good/bad K gets accumulated across the births. and K from past births play a role in the present. OK.. this is logical and sounds OK.

Also our actions and the results will create preferences or like/dislike which also gets accumulated and which drives us into action. preferences create desire, desire results in action, since the successful fulfillment of a desire seems to give us a very desirable experience called happiness. since this experience is not permanent, we are constantly engaged in action. so goes the K-theory.

Now we may ask what makes people different? why do different people act differently in exact same situation? Do we have an explanation for that? Yes we do. That is explained by the A-E-M Theory. Again, this is only an assumption.

So what’s the deal with AEM Theory? Everything in the world is made up of three ingredients, Aura, Energy and Matter. Each has its own characteristic. People including their body and mind are made up of varying combinations of A-E-M. Also this combination keeps changing all the time. It depends on food we eat, the time of day etc. And this results in varying behavior among various people. This is what we mean when we say "that is his nature". Application of this theory does seem to give us a very good explanation for all day to day events in life.

But we need to still remember this is only an assumption. so no question of what is the proof that K-theory/AEM is true.

(3) I AM NOT THE BODY AND HENCE I CANNOT SUFFER

Now that we have got an explanation, let us see how it can help me regain my happiness. I understand the K-theory, it seems to be a working explanation. But it does not make me any happy.

If I am beggar, I still suffer thinking why should I commit such bad actions and suffer like this today?. The answer to that lies in the part of the assumed K-theory which says every single person undergoes countless, if not endless number of births.

This implies that the person who gets born, grows, lives, becomes old and dies, is reborn again. Reborn again with a different brand new body and mind. because every time someone is born, it is always a very young baby with a fresh mind without any recollection of the past.

So what does this mean? the person is not the body nor the mind. and all our sufferings of duality, are related only to the body and mind. Success is associated either with the body as in a physical feat such as an Olympic medal, or the mind, as in getting a Nobel prize. A person with lots of friends and one without any suffers mentally. so there is the mind suffering not the person. applying this on all sufferings, and all situations that provided undesirable experiences will clarify that the person is not suffering. Also, a person will be born a king in another birth even though he is a beggar in this.

Now let us not forget that all of this nicety is still hanging on the assumption that the K-theory is indeed true.

(4) WHO AM I?

Having established (based on the assumption) that I am not the body/mind. the natural question now is to find out Who am I? So far we have been just creating a sequence of statements based on an assumption.

This is a practical step, which is similar to a science experiment. This has to be performed. Most of us assume we are the body. some do think they are their cars, they are their beautiful home, they are their Country etc. Let us begin at the body, since it is a reasonable starting point.

Am I the body? my body changes from childhood to old age, I can get some of the parts replaced, and so on. yet since I have a distinct feeling of myself in spite of these changes, and since I 'observe' such events happening to the body, I must be independent of the body. Hence we can conclude I am not the body

Am I life? Blood is circulating and I am aware of it, so I am not the flow of blood, heart is beating I can observe it, I am not the heart beat, I cam observe my breath and hence I cannot be my breath. and so on.. so I must be independent of all these. Hence we can conclude that I am not the life.
Am I the mind? Thoughts of indecision, and likes and dislikes etc keep rising all the time. Do I like this?, Do I hate this?, should I do this?, should I do that?, thoughts based on impulse etc.. All these thoughts constitute the mind. But since I am able to observe them I must be independent of them. Hence we can conclude that I am not the mind

Am I the intelligence? Thoughts that make decisions, conclusions, inferences and plans in a sequence etc. constitute our intelligence. Since I am able to observe such thoughts rising , I should be independent of them as well. Hence we can conclude that I am not the intelligence

Am I the Happiness experience? Certain situations, actions and events results in us experiencing happiness. But I am aware of me having such an experience at certain times and not having such experience at certain other times. Hence I am independent of this experience. Hence we can conclude that I am not the happiness experience.

We can continue this on and on, and we will conclude that Since I am independent of the observable/perceivable I am able to observe. and hence I cannot be anything that is observable/perceivable.
Only a thing that has no attributes such as shape, form, size, volume, weight, position, speed, temperature, color etc.. etc.. can be unperceivable/unobservable. But everything in this world, has some attribute or the other. So.. anything that is in this world cannot be me!

This is a real conclusion, based on the inquiry into who am I. and since it does not depend upon the assumptions we made earlier, this is an independent Fact. This leads to the immediate question, if I am not in this world... then where am I?

(5) WORLD IS AN ILLUSION

Anything that exists in this world cannot be me.. or in other words, I am nowhere to be found in this world But yet I am absolutely sure that I exist. If not who is indeed doing this exercise? So, How is this possible?

It is possible only if Me and the World belong to two different orders of reality, two different planes of existence. Very similar to the Dreamer and the dream. And similar to the dreamer, I am more real that the world, since I observe/aware of the world while the world is not aware of me!

This implies that the world that I experience, including the space and time and people and events and thoughts and what not, is a lower order of reality, which exists purely under the support of me.

I am the reality which gives existence to the world. The entire world is indeed an illusion! This is a dramatic Fact. Again this is totally independent of any assumptions.

(6) RECOGNIZE THE MISSING SUFFERING

This takes us back to the assumptions now. Since the whole world that we experience is nothing but an illusion, very distinct from the reality, which is me, any explanation about the functioning of the illusion is irrelevant.
At most academic. Hence if the K-theory is perfect then we can use it, if it is lacking someplace we can try to fix it and make it perfect. Also, we can choose to not worry about the K-theory, or an explanation to the illusion. We can take the stand that since the purpose of the illusion is entertainment, it is essential that everything is not completely explained.

This knowledge that we have obtained beyond a shred of doubt, that the world is an illusion, and that I am the only reality, instantly removes all the suffering caused by the innumerable experiences that appear to be undesirable and the innumerable questions that did not have answers.

Now is a good time to check the questions and issues that we listed in Step1.

Since there is no more suffering, what do you think you are left with? Pure Joy ! Let us Enjoy this wonderful experience.

This is Enlightenment!

Life of the Enlightened

There is always a curiosity about how life is for the enlightened? Once the highest truth is known, about the world and the self, how does one go about living? Will there be smile on the face all the time? Specifically what happens to the emotional aspect of a person after he becomes enlightened?

Emotions are thoughts. Anger is an anger thought. worry is a worry thought, surprise is a surprise thought. Thoughts arise in the mind based on information from the world. or from other thoughts already in memory. or a combination.

What is presented to me as information from the world is based on the past actions. Past or present actions are driven by preferences.

The physical body undergoes changes. though we try to control it in a good way, there is a limit. It takes a while to realise and accept the truth and start living with the body one has. If I am fat, it can be the result of so many things. The so called Gene, eating , exercising habits, etc.. no matter how fit and trim, or bad the body is the fact that it ages is inevitable. The improvements that one sees in the body by doing regular exercise, eating properly, etc.. are at the surface level. The physical body starts to age from the day one. also exercises can only strengthen so much. If a truck falls on me, even if I am Schwarzenegger I am done. The point is the apparent control we seem to have over the physical body is minuscule. The true reason for what happens to the physical body is that it is part of the experience. and all experiences are result of past actions. I can desire and work towards a lean and mean body, but whether it will be so or not cannot be forced.

The same with the mind. what the mind thinks? what thoughts arise int he mind? One may assume that these can be controlled. Thoughts result from sensory inputs and accumulated thoughts. I can neither prevent or force myself to a thought. Events presents itself. it is perceived by the senses, Thoughts occur in the mind. It is clear that I cannot control the events. they are due to my past. similarly I cannot control the thoughts. neither can I control my actions. Similar to taking care of the body I can attempt to take care of the mind, force only good thoughts, avoid bad thoughts, and so on. and it will result in an apparent mental fitness.

If a particular event occurs, the event creates a set of thoughts. some so intense it breaks me down. I cry. weep like a baby. (of course it appears based on the 'strength' of the mind), There is neither a need nor a possibility to change any of this. If the thoughts of some of the finest moments in my past haunt me and paralyzes my thoughts of present day, let it be so. just like the body is in constant action, mind is in constant action, it creates countless thoughts about current experiences, memories and also fantasizes and worries about the yet to unfold future. That is the job of the mind. so I should let it happily do its job.

The preferences decide what will be the action, action decide what events occur. The mind chooses to act based on its likes and searches for actions that leads to fulfilment of its desires. This it does assuming it gives happiness. when things don't go the way the mind wants to, then it feels unhappy. It opens the gates to a flood of thoughts. and so on..

The emotions, when it is about an object/person very close, or to which I am attached have the greatest strength. the thoughts are all the more violent and turbulent based on how close these are to me. It is like watching a roller-coaster verses Riding one. Its like playing a video game with a joystick which can give force-feed backs, which when I go bump a car in a racing game gives me a shock verses If I use a regular joystick. The fact that it is a game does not change.

Just like a physical fitness creates an apparent improvement in the "general" lifestyle , so will a mental fitness create an apparent improvement in the "general" lifestyle. But...No amount of physical fitness can save the body if a truck falls on it, similarly no amount of mental conditioning will save its breakdown on certain events.

So the important thing is, once the delusion that I am the body/mind is gone, and that this Ego is clearly a part of the world where 'I' do not belong, and all of the world is a creation of my own power of illusion, including this apparently overwhelmingly powerful mind, then it is clear to me there is nothing I "need" do to correct/change/improve. I am not the experiencer / experienced / experience. But I simply do so since that is the only way I can experience.

So, as long as the Truth is known, accepted completely beyond doubt and as long as the Truth is held steady, or remembered, there is nothing to worry.

Knowing which there is nothing else to be known

Knowing is possible only by the Ego. Knowing is getting knowledge. knowledge is a set of thoughts. A thought about a physical thing, A thought about a thought. etc.. The true self does not 'know', it simply 'Is'. When I identify with the Ego I see the thoughts, when there is absence of thoughts I identify with my true self.

There is this statement, "knowing which there is nothing else to be known". Similar to saying God knows everything. God is Omniscient.Can there really be such a thing?

Yes!. That thing is nothing but the ultimate truth which is 'The only reality is You' Well.. How does that make me know everything that can be known?Can it mean that I know all of biomedical engineering? can it mean I know all of Native American history? can it mean all the thoughts in the mind of my spouse? can it mean knowing about all the people in the world? How is it possible? so the original statement appears to be simply not true.
But we hear it over and over again.

Let us go step by step..

I am the only reality..

OK

The world is an illusion.

OK.

But there is an awful lot of things going on in this so called illusory world that I know not a single strand of. The answer lies hidden here. this thought that there is an awful lot of thing going on is unsubstantiated. what is the proof that there is an awful lot of things going on??

The fact is there is nothing going on, that you are not aware of. In other words if you do not know about a thing then that thing does not exist.

So does that mean I know the minds of each and every person??

Yes!

When a co-worker comes and tells you that she is excited about her new project , you know her mind.

Yes, but that's just one thought out of thousands of her thoughts.

that is the fallacy. There is no proof. You may think so by the appearances, but there are no other thoughts. It is an illusion that there have been several thoughts. the only thoughts are the ones that you are aware of.

So now you know, that similarly you know the minds of everyone! there is thought only as long as they make it known to you.


No I Know Shakespeare wrote several plays, I only read two of them.

What is the proof? there may only be news/stories that there are several that he wrote. the only ones he really wrote are the only ones you have read. the only acts inside of the plays are the only acts that you have read.Now physicists talk about complex mathematical models to describe Quantum mechanical nature of this universe. I know not a single bit of it. How can I claim that I know all that is known??!

There is no proof that there is such a thing as a detailed quantum mechanical description of the universe. It is an illusion appearing to exist. they may be true 'only' after you have read them, until then they do not exist. You give them the existence by knowing it. otherwise they do not exist. they may appear to exist.

I know there are more than 6 billion people in the planet. I do not know them all.

The only people that are existing are the people you know. You will give existence to 6 billion or more only after knowing them. Until then they are not there.
So, you know each and every person on the planet.

What does that mean? everything else does not exist but 'for' you. You give sentience , existence to everything.


So once you know the ultimate truth that you are the only reality, then there will be nothing else to be known.

what if the world is not an illusion?

Relative and absolute reality.

The distinct feeling of difference in the nature of reality of the world and Me is described as similar to the relationship between a dream and me. we say the world is an illusion. In a dream, I eat ice cream. I wake up. Who ate the ice cream? certainly not me. It appears that my dream-self ate it. But there is no way my dream-self could have known it, since it simply does not exist. I am the only person who knows it. But... I did not eat the ice cream! and hence nobody ate it. Similarly we say nobody experienced/experiences the world.

What if the world is not a dream. what is the basis to say world is a dream? Is just the temporariness/impermanent-ness alone qualify it to be a dream world? dream world is unreal not because it is impermanent. but because it is different order of reality. howsoever infinitesimal the life time is, how so ever infinitesimal the size is(subatomic particles, energy-matter transformation) there is an experience which we cannot deny. the body and everything in the world appears to be impermanent. does it mean it is unreal? it only means it is temporary. its life span is short. what if every cell/atom/particle gets replaced? it is still the same body/mind. the individuality is not lost. so we cannot say it is an illusion just on the basis of its temporariness. we cannot equate it just because of the impermanence of the body, or of anything in the world.

So is this world real?

Now the enjoy er comes into the picture. If I assume that this is 'the' real world, and I begin an enquiry on who am I..after negating everything to be 'me', hoping to find myself after going deeper and deeper, in search of the ultimate reality to be some mysterious magical thing, I realize that the fact of the matter is 'I' am nowhere to be found!!!

In this world I do not exist!! I simply cannot find me. As long as this world is real, I will not be able to find me anywhere. this is a great truth that just dawned on me. this gives great clarity. I do not exist in this world. but.... I know I exist!!


This world then is simply a different order of reality. and since I know I exist for sure, this world must be a lower order of reality and 'hence' an illusion similar to the dream. and even if for the sake of argument there are several such worlds existing, they all will be lower orders of reality since I will not be found in any of them, but I will still be existing.