Dear Devotees,
Sri Bhagwan says that we take the world to be real, because it is a creation of our own mind, as in our dream. We do not see it in sleep because then it is wound up and merged in the Self, together with the ego and the mind, and exists in seed-form in our sleep. On waking the ego rises, identifying itself with a body and at the same time sees the world. So, Sri Bhagwan says that our waking world is a creation of our mind, just like our dream-world. however, there must be someone who sees the world, both in waking and in dream.
Dear devotees, here is a very instructive dialogue which is as follows:
Sri Bhagwan : Who is he who sees the world, both in waking and in dream? Is he the body? No, is he the mind? It must be so. But you cannot be the mind, since you exist in sleep, when there is no mind.
A western visitor: I do not know that. PERHAPS I CEASE TO EXIST THEN.
Sri Bhagwan : If so, then how do you recollect what was experienced yesterday? Do you seriously contend that that there was a break of your continuity of your self?
W. visitor: It is possible.
Sri Bhagwan : IF SO, THEN JOHNSON GOING TO SLEEP MAY AWAKE AS BENSON. But this does not happen. How do you explain your sense of persistence of your identity? You say ‘I slept’ and ‘I woke’, implying that you are the same as the one that lay down to sleep.
The visitor had no answer to make. Sri Bhagwan continues:
Sri Bhagwan : When you awake from your sleep you say ‘I slept happily and feel refreshed.’ So sleep was your experience. He that remembers the happiness of sleep—saying ‘I slept happily’—cannot be other than the one that experienced that happiness. The two are one and the same.
Sri Bhagwan continues: If as you say the world existed in your sleep, did it tell you so then?
W. visitor: No, but it tells me now. I get the proof of the existence of the world when I knock my foot against a stone in my path; the hurt proves that the stone and the world of which it is a part.
Sri Bhagwan : Does the foot say that there is the stone?
W. visitor: No, I say so.
Sri Bhagwan : Who is this ‘I’? It cannot be the body, nor can it be the mind. It is just witness of the three states—waking, dream and sleep. They do not affect the ‘I’. The three states come and go; but the ‘I’ remains constant and unmoved. He is the real Self, ever happy and perfect. The experience of this Self is the cure of all discontent and the realisation of happiness and perfection.
W. visitor: It would be selfishness for anyone to remain in that state, enjoying happiness, especially if he did nothing to contribute to the happiness of the world.
Sri Bhagwan : You are told about this State so that you may win that State and thereby realise the truth that the world has no existence apart from your Self. When you realise this, the word selfishness will have no meaning, since the world will be merged in the Self.
W. visitor: Doess the Sage know that there are wars and suffering in the world? If he does, how can he be happy?
Sri Bhagwan : If a picture of a flood or a fire passes over a cinema screen, does it affect the screen? The Real Self is just like this screen. He is unaffected by the events of the world. Suffering is possible only while there is distinction between subject and object. This distinction does not exist in the Egoless State. THERE THE SELF ALONE IS. THE SAGE IN THAT STATE IS THAT SELF. HE IS PURE SPIRIT, THE HOLY GHOST. FOR HIM THIS WORLD IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. AND THAT KINGDOM IS WITHIN YOU.
WHO CAN EXPLAIN BETTER?
Thank you,
Anil
