DELUSIVE WORLD

There is only One Consciousness, i.e., Universal Consciousness. The world looks delusive as long as we feel ourselves as separate entities circumscribed by our body-mind-intellect complex. The ocean is one existence of the waves and tides rising from it but looks different to our perception, limited by our psycho-physical complex. In reality, tides or waves are the form, and the ocean is the substance. Similarly, Existence is One only, and on the surface of the Existence, there seem to be variations of different existences of mountains, forests, rivers, deserts, atmospheres, animate, inanimate, and so on manifest in forms. It's all because we are all limited by limited adjuncts of space and time that put a limit on our sensual perceptions. We do not transcend our psycho-physical structure, and the abstract entity known as 'ego' originates solely from that structure. Knowing fully well that this psycho-physical structure is transient, we still go by the ways the 'ego' carves out for us. It veils our Vidya, or knowledge, that is intrinsic to our Jivatma, or true Self, through its Avidya, or ignorance, by incapacitating our power of discrimination between, Real and unreal, eternal and evanescent. Sage philosopher Swami Krishnananda, in his commentary on Chandogya Upanishad, says there is no such thing as 'other world' for that person who has realised Atman, or Self. Neither this world nor the other exists. There is only One reality that aligns with his own existence, which is the inseparable essence of the Supreme Being. We can see our own fingers even though they are somewhat distant from our eyes, say two feet away. This distance does not prevent us from seeing them. Distance is ruled out here on account of the identity of the object with our own self. We can see our forefathers in the other heavens instantly, as soon as our will direct us in that direction. He states that anything we can conceive, regardless of what it is, will manifest instantly if the will is properly exercised; specifically, the will must align with the principles of Atmic law, or the law of the Universal Self. This is the only condition: that it must be a universal wish, because the wish itself is universal.

1. Outline 

In nature, everything changes, nothing is constant, and change is the unchanging law of nature. It is governed by the laws of reincarnation manifest in birth, growth, decay, and death in a cyclical process. All creatures are subject to metempsychosis. Yoga-Vasistha (1.28.1-43), in its doctrinaire averment, states so. It starts with the assertion of the mutability of the world. It says that whatever we see in the waking state of all moveable or immovable things in this world, they are all as transient as they are in a dream. To substantiate its claim, it says that the hollow desert that appears as the dried bed of a sea today will be found tomorrow to be a running flood by the accumulation of rainwater in it. What is today a mountain reaching the sky and with extensive forests on it is in course of time leveled to the ground and is afterwards dug into the pit. The body that is clothed today with garments of silk and decorated with garlands and fragrance is to be cast away naked into a ditch tomorrow. What is seen to be a city to-day, and busy with the bustle of various occupations, passes in the course of a few days into the condition of an uninhabited wilderness. The man who is very powerful today and presides over principalities is reduced in a few days to a heap of ashes. Yoga-Vasistha (1.28.7-9) assiduously maintains that the very forest that is so formidable today turns out to be a city in the course of time, or a tableland on the mountain. Everything that is visible to the sensual organs, including our childhood, boyhood, and old age, is subject to mutation of the world. Our boyhood and youth, bodies, and possessions are all but transient things, and they change from one state to another, like the ever-fluctuating waves of the ocean. So also our lives in this world are as unsteady as the flame of a lamp placed at the window, and the splendour of all the objects in the three worlds is as flickering as the flashing of the lightning. As a granary stored with heaps of grains is exhausted by its continued waste, Yoga-Vasistha (1.28.12-13) states, so is the stock of life spent away by its repeated respirations. The mind of man is as fluctuating as a flag waving in the air and filled with the dust of sin, to indicate its wavering between the paths of heaven and hell. The mind is a thought-manufacturing machine that manufactures thoughts at lightning speed. It has a propensity to move outward in the sensual domain to sway in a state of transience.

2. Scriptures

 The scriptures proclaim that there is only One existence and that Existence is Absolute without any limited adjuncts of space, time, and causation. That Existence is the infinity of infinitude, eternal, imperishable, self-caused, self-luminous; Satyam-Jñānam-Anantam Brahma, or Truth-Knowledge-Infinity (Taittiriya Upanishad, 2.1.1); the Rig Veda (1.164.46) says the Reality is ONE: the wise call It by various names, Ekam sat vipra bahudha vadanti; Brihadaranyaka Upanishad (3.9.28) describes It as "Vijnanam Anandam Brahma," or Knowledge, Bliss, and Brahman, and "Sat-Chit-Anand," or Existence-Consciousness-Bliss (Tejobindu Upanishad, 3.11). The rest of everything that appears to our sensual perception is delusive in nature and limited by adjuncts of space, time, and causation. Adi Shankaracharya proclaims succinctly 

brahma satyaṃ jaganmithyā jīvo brahmaiva nāparaḥ.

anena vedyaṃ sacchāstramiti vedāntaḍiṇḍimaḥ (Brahma Jnānavali Māla, Verse 20)

Brahman is the Ultimate Reality; the universe is Mithya, as it is more of a dependent reality. The jiva is Brahman itself and not different. This statement should be understood as the correct Sastra, or Scripture. This Truth is proclaimed by Vedanta. The world as a dream explores Mandukya Upanishad explores three states of consciousness—waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. From the perspective of Turiya, or the state of Bliss, or the fourth state, even the waking world is seen as dreamlike and ultimately unreal compared to the non-dual Self. Isha Upanishad teaches that for the knower who perceives oneness, there can be no "delusion or grief," as the illusion of separation is eliminated. Katha Upanishad describes the world as an "inverted banyan tree" with roots in heaven and branches on earth, noting that everything in this mortal world is captivating to change. Shvetashvatara Upanishad explicitly mentions the "Self-power of the Divine hidden in its own qualities" and the one "delusion" that arises from duality. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad posits that individuals who perceive plurality ultimately perish, while those who recognise Atman, or Self, as the sole Reality, achieve liberation. The opening lines of Isha Upanishad begin, “With the Lord all this must be clothed, even all that is world in this moving universe; abandon the world that thou mayest enjoy it, and neither covet any man’s possessions.” It urges renunciation and non-attachment, or letting go of desires for possessions, to find true enjoyment and fulfillment through Self-knowledge, or Self-realisation, rather than through relishment of objects in the phenomenal domain. Yoga-Vasistha (1.28.14) maintains that the existence of this delusive world is akin to the appearance of an actress on stage, shuffling her costumes as she dances along. 'Many things are going to decay, and many are coming anew day by day,' says Yoga-Vasistha (1.28.18), 'and there is yet no end of this accursed course of events in this ever-changeful world.' The phenomenal world is subject to limited adjuncts of space, time, and causation, an affirmation by Yoga-Vasistha (1.28.19-21). It claims that men degenerate into lower animals, and those again rise to humanity; gods become no-gods, and there is nothing that remains the same. The sun displays everything to light by rays and watches over the rotations of days and nights to witness, like time, the dissolution of all things. The heaven, the earth, the air, the sky, the mountains, the rivers, and all the quarters of the globe are subject to destruction like the dry fuel by the all-destroying fire of the last day. Riches and relatives, friends, servants, and affluence are of no pleasure to him who is in constant dread of death.

 3. Remarks 

In the Upanishads, the world is portrayed not as a fixed material entity but as a transitory, ever-changing flux that varies based on an individual's state of consciousness and perception. The world is of varying relative reality that can be realised between Sathyam (absolute, unvarying truth) and Nijam (relative truth). The material world is considered a "varying rate of vibration" of Brahman, the Only reality. It appears as a "mass of perceptions". To those in ignorance (Avidya), it appears as a separate, material reality; however, through spiritual knowledge (Vidya), it is realised as a manifestation of the Self. The universe is described through our perception as a hierarchy of seven states of consciousness (worlds), ranging from the gross material world (Bhurloka) to the world of true existence (Satyaloka). These "worlds" are essentially organised conditions of conscious beings. Brihadaranyaka Upanishad presents the "" Madhu-vidya, or Honey Doctrine, asserting that all beings and elements are mutually dependent and nourishing, like honey, all stemming from one Brahman. Different Upanishads offer varying philosophical frameworks. While some are purely non-dualistic (stating the world is identical to Brahman), others are dualistic, treating the material world (Prakṛti) and consciousness (Purusha) as distinct. 

 - Asutosh Satpathy