Ques: Is Jeeva an imagination/illusion? With whose imagination Jeeva is illusory? Mind and intellect are inert, so can they even imagine ? Ans: What we call 'Jeeva' - certainly it is an illusion. What we call mind and intellect, is also an illusion. And the one who wrote this question, Richa, is also an illusion. Name 'Richa' is also an imagination. Your mother or father or someone elderly at home gave this name to you. This girl that is born her name will be Richa from today onwards. This name could have been Madhuri, could have been Poonam or Poornima, or could have been Uttara, could have been anything. But Richa... this fictitious name of Richa was given to your body and you consider this name Richa as truth that you believe 'Yes,I am Richa'. So the name of the body is just a make-believe and the form of the body is also an imagination. This basket (body) made up of 5 elements, this bundle of 5 elements, their combination with one another - Is this not a marvel?! Is this not a surprising thing that earth, water, air, fire... With their combination ovum is formed and one sperm goes and change its form. One cell to two, two to four, four to million & trillions of cells and finally one full body is formed. So this is an illusion that came in the form of 5 elements. This table, this chair, this mic, this camera, this wall and this audience, are they real? Or is this also an illusion? This was called (Sanskrit verse) 'brahma satyam jagat mithya, jivo brahmaiva naparah'. Lord Adi Shankracharaya presents this irrefutable truth for all of us. The one whom you call 'I', is an illusion. The one whom you call 'you', is an illusion. What you call 'my house', is an illusion. This body with eyes, nose, ears and mouth which you consider as 'I', what is this made of ? It is made from food and water. If you see food & water just like that, you will not sense 'I' in that. But when the same food & water goes in your body then this same food & water is referred to as 'I'. You start considering it as 'I' this is also an illusion. Your question is that this Jiva, whose imagination is this? I will say this is your imagination only. God is there this is also what you know. Jiva is there, this also you know. The one that you are knowing is an illusion. But this illusion's underlying the truth or substratum is 'Chetan' (ever conscious Brahman). And the mind in which this illusion is occurring, the fundamental substratum of that mind too is chetan. In Vichar Sagar, there is a beautiful saying (Sanskrit Verse) 'Jahan hoi chetan adhaara, tahan na drashta hovai nyara' Where there is 'Chaitanya' - essence/substratum of name & form- then the one that is seeing it will also be chaitanya. Chaintanya are not two, three, four... Chaitanya is only one. Saying one is also wrong, we should call it advitya (non dual). So in that very Chaitanya - illusion of Jiva & Ishwara is happening. Illusion is an illusion. Illusion is not real, it is not the truth. And what is truth is never an illusion. (Sanskrit verse)'nasato vidyate bhavo nabhavo vidyate satah' This is such a beautiful shloka from Bhagwad Gita. My request is that this shloka you should... one very long talk that I had already delivered on it, you should certainly listen to that. Listen to chapter 6 very carefully. What you believe to be truth, is that the truth ? And what the truth is can never be untrue. What is untruth can never be true. So you are an embodiment of truth. This is your reality. You can never be unreal. What is unreal that too cannot be known without the base of truth. So the one who knows the unreal is real and the witness of the unreal is also real. So the unreal too appears to be in my true self (absolute existence Brahman), it does not have an independent existence of its own. Just like the snake seen in a rope, does not have any existence. Since rope is there hence the illusion of snake is there This illusory vision of a snake cannot remain, it is impossible, if there is no rope. Similarly without the Chaitanya Brahman, illusion of samsara (material world) is also not possible. So this illusory existence of material world, body and mind, which is perceived, that too without... that base, that substratum- nitya (eternal), shudh (pure), budh (wise), mukta (liberated) anadi (beginningless), anant (infinite/endless)- is happening due to Parabrahman (the Supreme Absolute). But your vision stays on the world of name & form but from underlying truth, it is deviated. For example, we can say right now your vision is on your body, your mind, your senses, it stays on all these... but is deviated from your true Self. One who forgets himself will get distracted. One who remembers his true Self, he will always remain firmly established in his true self. Ramana Maharishi had one simple preaching, so pithy. He used to say just one thing.. The one who is seeking, who is he? Who are you? Recognize your own reality. Know your true identity. Your identity... Understand this that one who is asking the question - who is Brahman? who is Jiva? One who is asking these questions, this questioner's.... Go deep and investigate this very questioner and know who is asking. Who am I ? The core question. Who am I ? The core search. Who am I ? The day you get the answer of this, you get all the answers. You don't have to go out and seek answers. Just need to dive into our own existence and with the sword of 'viveka' (wisdom of discrimination between the transient and the permanent) you need to just cut out all the cobwebs of ignorance & darkness. And then see what is already existing. Truth is not to be created, truth is not to be attained, truth is not to be achieved, truth is just to be realized. Once you realize, you can never ever forget that and if you haven't realized you can use your all imaginations to know what truth is and yet you will never know what truth is. Because 'you' are the truth. So you cannot objectify your own Self. You cannot objectify the truth. You cannot objectify God and there are thousands of people with closed eyes waiting for God to appear and they want to have glimpse of God. And they pray and then they sometimes just hallucinate. Hallucinate as per their 'samskaras' (impressions) training and there religious affinities and then they have these visions and Ah!! they find it so enriching and they feel 'Oh! I have seen God'. Just remember one thing - That which can be seen with your eyes is not God. It is just a name & form and all names & forms are illusion. So what you saw is an illusion. I know it is going to be a very shattering statement, what I am making. You may see whatsoever and whosoever, I don't have to name it because you know it. whom you believe in and you think that God has this name and form. And the day with your closed eyes you see that form with more lights on it, more dazzling and you think 'Oh today I have seen God'. 'Now I am a God realized person.' Vedanta just shatters this kind of experiences by saying the one who sees is God. The one which is seen is an illusion. So whatever is seen or whatever is visible is not God. And the one who is 'seeing' is God. So you need to understand this that God, God, God- the kind of definitions which you have in your mind when I say God- it just simply means the existence which is ever conscious, is an embodiment of bliss and is omniscient. As simple as that. We love & respect all the great individuals through whom we saw the expression of knowledge, wisdom and we saw the expression of bliss... Whether it is Shri Krishna or Shri Rama or Mahadev or Durga, they are all beautiful expressions. Its like waves of that ocean. These waves are beautiful & attractive. Love the waves but always know this- every wave is just water. So waves get formed and then the waves dissolve back into that ocean. The water remains non-changing and yet it is changing into these various forms big, small bubbles, waves, foam, sometimes very roaring ocean. And mind you when we go to a beach, we say I have seen the ocean or sea but actually what you saw was waves, what you saw was water and in that water there were these different formations & the huge amount of water which was seen. But did you ever realize that its nothing but just water. But we see the waves and forget the water similarly we see the name & form but we miss the reality, the truth. Ah! and the day you can see beyond the name & form that is the day when you will encounter the truth.
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