THERE ARE NO FACTS BUT ONLY PERCEPTIONS

THERE ARE NO FACTS BUT ONLY PERCEPTIONS
This is one of the most profound sutra given by Sri Bhagavan. If we could even intellectually grasp this, we would find ourselves awakened into whole new way of experiencing; the way we experience ourselves as an entity and the way we experience the world around.
How do we experience ourselves ( as an entity ) and the world around us – only through interpreting the sensory inputs; seeing, listening, touching, smelling, and tasting. Say we saw something, a tree for example but the physical eyes are not saying it a tree, the knowledge we have of it comes and says it’s a tree, we listen something but the listening mechanism does not for any reason translate the sound as English or Bengali language again the knowledge that has been put into us has to come into operation to identify a particular sound, it may be English language or barking of a dog. Similarly the sense of touch does not interpret anything as hard or soft, the sense of taste does not recognize a particular taste as sweet, the smelling mechanism works the same way. So we constantly has to translate and fit all our sensory activities within the framework of our knowledge, but we have never question the basis of this knowledge, what says that something is hard? As termed in Bramha sutra this is superimposition; physical eyes does not says that it is looking at the sky and the sky is blue. So what is the fact, everything is perception and perception is nothing but memory; we have been told that the sky is blue and every time we look at the sky we repeat that the sky is blue. Mind is nothing but the flow of memory , we construct the superstructure of these memories that we call perceptions. Say you look at a beautiful woman, first of all eyes does not say that what are you looking at is a woman so memory has to come into operation, then the knowledge of beauty, what we have been made to belief as beautiful has to come into operation. Then we say that somebody is beautiful. There is no such thing as beautiful or ugly, these are just concepts based on definition given to us. So all our appreciations are not really our own choice but influenced.
Now what if this constant use of memory comes to a stop, certainly we cannot stop it, the very entity that we call '' I '' comes to an end. As Sri Bhagavan always says the duality of experience r and experienced is due to mind and mind is memory. If memory comes to an end, the experienced along with the experiencer will come to an end and what will be there is something which cannot be explained.
To quote Ramana Maharishi “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.” In Mandukya Karika Gaudapada says the very same thing “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.” We can conclude that “nothing is born and nothing is perceived. There is neither falsity nor reality. This is some indescribable unborn entity which is spread.” - Yogavashistha