IS THIS WORLD AN ILLUSION

IS THIS WORLD AN ILLUSION
We are familiar with the famous saying of Shankara Acharya; Bramha satya jagat mithya i.e Bramhan alone is real and that this world is an illusion or unreal. But on what basis we can say that this universe is unreal and how can we deny our experience of this universe as something real and substancial. Gaudapada in His karika of Mandukya Upanishad has also emphasized on the illusoriness of this universe as we experience it .Ramana Mharishi says "There is in reality no change, no creation." They have never said that this world is transitory or empirical but as non – existent, not that it exists but short lived but it does not exists at all, has never comes into existence – Ajata, unborn. The classical example they used is the superimposition of snake on the rope. Actually there is no snake but just a rope . We perceive that rope as a snake, on knowing that it is just a rope, we realize that snake never existed but was projection of our mind. Same way this world is just a projection of our mind.
Let us de – mystify and study this concept ( though it is not a concept ) from non spiritual point of view. Let us first consider how we experience this world, this universe and how we experience ourselves as an entity, unless there is a centre there cannot be any circumference, so we have to know how this centre, “ I ” comes into existence, then we will go into the question of the illusoriness of the universe that we experience from this centre.
Say you are looking at the tree, so there is an observer, thing observed ( tree ) and the process of observation. Shri Bhagavan says that this trifurcation is caused by the mind. You can be conscious of the tree only when you recognize it as a tree. Recognition is thought and thought is memeory. Not that the tree is nonexistent but is there any way you can be conscious of its existence other than the use of knowledge you have of it ( that it is a tree ). When that memory is not in operation the physical eyes cannot separate itself from what it is looking at.
“ Na shuklam na krishnam na raktam na pitam
Na kubjam na peenam na hrasvaam na dheergham
Aroopam tatha jyotir akara katvat
Tadeko vashistha shiva kevaloham “ ( Dashasloki )
Aroopam tatha jyotir akara katvat Tadeko vashistha shiva kevaloham the light is falling on the object and the object is being perceived, the object is reflected on the retina. But this biological process is an unitary movement, it does not creates duality of observer and observed, so when does this space comes in, it comes in only when memory, knowledge or thought that it is a tree comes out, so thought is space not that it creates space, no thought no space. Thought is memory what says that it is tree, physical eyes does not says that it is a tree, so we are projecting our ideas on what we are looking at. That’s why even Kant said that there is no way of experiencing reality of anything directly. So where is the observer and the thing observed, it is only in our consciousness ( totality of thought or memory )
Chittam spanditam, grahya - grahakavat
Chittam nirvisayam nityam asangam, tena kriti tam. ( Mnadukya Upanishad ) This duality of subject and object is created by the vibration of thought.
Same way other sensory organs are also functioning, sense of touch, sense of smell, sense of listening, sense of taste – sense of touch never says any thing as hard or soft, the sensation and the one who is sensing is one, when we recognize a particular sensation as hard ( through memory ), the duality; perceiver and the perceived comes into existence. Similarly the listening mechanism cannot separate it self from the noise or sound, the separation occurs only when we the memory or the knowledge comes and captures the sound as rustling of leaves.
This flow of memory, thought or knowledge that translate sensory inputs ( tree, hard or soft, rustling of leaves ); coordinates between various sensory inputs ( coordinated by thoughts ), creates the self the “ I “, thus self consciousness is born. Self consciousness is nothing but superficial built up of memories.
Once this flow of thoughts comes to a stop, the very centre, the “ I “ from where we experience everything comes to an end. Once the centre dissolves the circumference also vanishes. In dissolution of mind, mind which, with its categories of time, space, and causation has created this universe also disappears." Look, "you" and "I" have never existed. It is sheer nonsense to consider oneself as having a family or caste." - Avaduta Gita
“ When there is duality, as it were, then one smells something, one sees something, one hears something, one speaks something, one tastes something, one knows something…But when mind dissolves, duality ceases, then what should one smell and through what, what should one hear and through what , what should one see and through what, what should one know and through what, what should one thinks and through what” ( Brhadaranyaka Upanishad ) The space between- the knower , the known and the process of knowing, one who is smelling , the object of smell and the process of smelling, listener, listened and the process of listening, observer, the observed and the observation vanishes and the world disappears, what is this universe after all, it is translation of sensory inputs through the help of thought and then coordinating these knowledge or thoughts ( thought, knowledge and memory is same thing ), if that process of coordination stops, surely the world disappears."There is no creation in the state of Realization. When one sees the world, one does not see one's self. When one sees the Self the world is not seen. So see the Self and realize that there has been no creation. " - Ramana Maharishi
Gaudapada declared "There is no dissolution, no birth, none in bondage and none aspiring for wisdom, no seeker of liberation and none liberated. This is the Absolute Truth....From the standpoint of the Self the world does not exist; nor does it exist as independent, neither differentiated nor non-differentiated. This is what the wise know...This duality in whatever form, both the moving and the unmoving, is mind-perceived. For when the mind ceases to be mind, the duality is not perceived at all. "
"All things are empty,They have no beginning and no end,They are faultless and not faultless,They are not perfect and not imperfect,In this emptiness, there is no form,No perception, no names, No concepts, no knowledge,There is no decay, nor death,There are no Four Noble Truths,No suffering, no origin of suffering,No cessation of suffering,And no path to the cessation of suffering,There is no knowledge of Nirvana,No obtaining it and no not obtaining it." - Zen. shri Bhagavan also says the same thing " your self is only a concept", it does not exists then whatever we experience from this centre is bound to be an illusion.