The world is not real 2

The following are verses from Guru Vachaka Kovai, the most authoritative text of Ramana Maharshi’s teachings. The text was written by his disciple Muruganar and thoroughly checked and amended by Ramana. Whilst most of the verses point to the unreality of the world, the last 3 verses in this selection point out that the world is also seen to be real when seen through the eyes of Jnana (divine knowledge). I have also included some comments from Sadhu Om and Michael James.

63 Some assert, “This world before our eyes, though not permanent, is real enough”. We deny it saying, “Permanence is one of the marks of Reality”.

64 Some people argue, “Though divided, this world we see cannot be devoid of Reality”. We refute them saying, “Wholeness is also a mark of Reality”.

Sadhu Om: Eternal, Unchanging and Self-Shining: these, Sri Bhagavan Ramana used to declare, are the three essential factors of Reality.

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74 Only when the world’s allurement is lost will true Liberation be possible [and its allurement cannot be lost unless it is found to be unreal]. Hence, to try to foist reality upon this world is to be just like an infatuated lover who tries to foist chastity upon a prostitute.

Sadhu Om: A lover foists chastity upon a prostitute only because of his infatuation with her, and similarly some schools of thought argue and try to insist upon the world’s reality, only because of their immense desire for the enjoyment of this world. Therefore Liberation, which is the fruit of desirelessness, is absolutely impossible for them.

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21 For the sake of those [ignorant ones] who take the world, which appears before them, as real and enjoyable [it became necessary for the scriptures to say that] it is God’s creation. But for those who have obtained unobstructed Knowledge of Self, the world is seen merely as a bondage-causing mental imagination.

22 This world of empty names and forms, which are the imagination of the five senses and an appearance in the pure Supreme Self, should be understood to be the mysterious play of Maya, the mind, which rises as if real from Self, Sat-Chit.

23 The Realised who do not know anything as being other than Self, which is absolute Consciousness, will not say that the world, which has no existence in the view of the Supreme Brahman, is real.

24 O man, like a parrot waiting expectantly for the silk-cotton fruit to ripen, you persist in your sufferings, believing this world appearance to be real and enjoyable; if the world is real simply because it appears to your senses, then a mirage would be water.

Michael James: The fruit of a silk-cotton tree always remains green, not turning colour even after ripening; the parrot meanwhile waits expectantly, hoping to eat it when it changes colour, but is finally disappointed when it bursts, scattering its hairy seeds.

25 Forgetting Self, which gives you [the seer] light to see, and being confused, do not run after this appearance [the world which you see]. The appearance will disappear, and is hence not real, but Self, the source of you [the seer], can never disappear, so know that That alone is real.

26 Is the word ‘Real’ befitting to this world, which is seen only by the illusory and changeful mind, but not by Self, the source of mind?

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28 O aspirants who hide yourselves away fearing this world, nothing such as a world exists! Fearing this false world which appears to exist, is like fearing the false snake which appears in a rope.

29 This world is only seen without doubts in the waking and dream states where thoughts have risen and are at play. Can it be seen in sleep where not even a single thought rises? Thoughts alone [therefore] are the substratum of this world.

30 If it is thus said that this world is a mere play of thoughts, why, even when the mind is quiet, does the world-scene, like a dream, suddenly appear in front of us? That is due to the stored momentum of past imaginations!

31 Just as the spider emits the thread [of its web] out from its own mouth and again withdraws it back, so the mind projects the world out from itself and again absorbs it back within.

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36 O worldly-minded man who is unable to understand the wise reasoning and the teachings of Sages about the Supreme Knowledge, if properly scrutinized, this big universe of delusion is seen to be nothing but the illusive play of the vasanas [mental tendencies] within you.

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40 How does this false and villainous vast world, that cheats and ravages the minds of all people [except the wise], come into existence? Because of no reason other than our own mistake in falling away from, instead of clinging to, Self-attention.

41 This life, an illusion based upon [our] likes and dislikes, is an empty dream, which appears, as if real, during the sleep [of ignorance], but which is found to be false when one wakes up [into Self-Knowledge].

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51 Those who have given up worldly [i.e. sense] knowledge and attachment to it, and who have destroyed the evil force of mind [i.e. Maya], thus gaining Supreme Self-Consciousness, alone can know the correct meaning of the statement, “The world is Real”.

52 If one’s outlook is changed into Jnana [Divine Wisdom], seen through That, the entire universe, consisting of the five elements such as ether and so on, will be found to be real, being the Supreme Knowledge Itself. Thus you should see.

53 If one’s outlook is changed into Jnana, seen through That, this same world, seen previously as a hell of misery, will be found to be a heaven of Bliss.