Bhagawan: The world is not external. Because you identify yourself wrongly with the body, you see the world outside and its pain becomes apparent to you. But they are not real. Seek the reality and get rid of this unreal feeling.

Sri Bhagawan says that our entire life is just a dream in our long sleep of Self-forgetfulness. Due to this Self-forgetfulness, we experience ourselves as finite relative beings, as individuals. This individual seems to exist now, seems not to have existed before his birth and will not exist after death. Sri Bhagawan says that we are in essence only pure Consciousness. Everything that we know or perceive appears within the mind, which is a distortion of this pure Consciousness. Our essential consciousness ‘I am’ is the fundamental adhara (base) that supports the appearance or disappearance of the mind and everything known by it. Though the world now perceived by us is experienced within our own mind, we imagine ourselves to be a particular body, one among many objects in the world.

Sri Bhagawan asks, “Can we at any time prove that the world exists independent of our mind?” The answer is ‘no’. Except for the experience of ‘I am’, which is our essential Consciousness, everything else is a product of our mind. Everything that is experienced as the ‘other’ is, in actual fact, experienced within. In fact, Sri Bhagawan says that there is no basic difference between the dream world and the waking world. In “Who am I?” he says, “To the extent that vyavaharas (occurrences) that happen in the waking state appear to be real, to the same extent the vyavaharas in the dream state also appear at that time to be real. In both the states, thoughts and names and forms occur simultaneously.” The relative reality of our experiences in the dream and waking states cannot be correctly judged from either of these two states. After waking up, the dream appears unreal. Just as we correctly judge the reality of a dream by stepping out of the dream, we should judge the reality of the waking state only by stepping out of it into some state that transcends it.

Death is the ending of the dream called life; it is the temporary suspension of the mind. After we have rested for a while in death, the mind rises in another state of activity in which some other body is imagined to be oneself. Rebirth is therefore not real; it is also just a dream. It is an imaginary event occurring repeatedly in a long sleep of apparent self-forgetfulness. Until we know our real nature, we will continue to experience one dream after another. In each dream we will imagine ourselves to be somebody. There is a beautiful story in Yoga Vasishta, the story of Queen Leela, that explains this concept.

The story of Queen Leela

Sri Rama asks sage Vasishta: How are sentient and insentient objects created?

Sage Vasishta: There is no such thing as ‘creation’! Nothing exists except the Self. All perceptions are due to sankalpa or modification of chitta or mind. When sankalpa rises, the manifest Universe and objects are experienced. When sankalpa subsides, the Universe subsides. The Universe is a mere aspect of sankalpa. When the mind is stilled, the experience of the universe ceases.

Sri Rama further asks Vasishta, “If this were to be so, who is the regulator or controller of all this?” The sage answers that Pure Consciousness is the base of the universe; its power appears to be manifested as life. Nothing else has been created. In its manifest mode, it has assumed various forms. This primordial modification or prakriti, conducts all things according to their roles. Prakriti is of the nature of sankalpa. Just as a rope in darkness is taken as a snake, the illusory universe is experienced as real, on account of ignorance. It is one’s own idea that transforms a rope into a snake. So is the case of the perceptible universe that has not been ‘created’. Vasishta continues, “Oh Rama, after prolonged spiritual discipline and ‘Atma vichara’, your delusion will disappear. This delusion exists because of the activity of your mind. When the mind becomes still, the delusion vanishes. This shows that Pure Consciousness is established, and nothing else exists. Just as a dream world is only mental, has no independent existence, and is not experienced on waking up, so is this universe. When you awaken in Atma, your delusion will go and you will realize Brahma-sakthi in diverse forms. Listen to this story:

“Once upon a time there was a king named Padma who was virtuous in all respects. His wife, Leela was a lady of exceptional merit and a great devotee of the Goddess Saraswati. The king and queen had immense love for each other. Unfortunately, during a battle, the king was killed. His body was brought to the palace. Sitting by the side of her husband's body, the grief-stricken queen started meditating on Goddess Saraswati. Saraswati appeared in a vision and told her, ‘O queen, all that you see is a delusion. Do not despair taking this tragedy to be real but try to be at peace.’

Leela asked Saraswati where her husband was, what had happened to him, and requested a meeting with him. The Goddess then explained to her, “There are three types of akash, or space, namely, bhootakash (elemental space or physical space) chittakash, also known as manoakash (mental space), and chidakash (conscious-space).

चित्ताकाशं चिदाकाशमाकाशं च तृतीयकम्‌।
द्वाभ्यां शून्यतरं विद्वि चिदाकाशं वरानने।। - (Yoga Vasishta 3-17-10)

cittākāśaṃ cidākāśaṃ ākāśaṃ ca tṛtīyakam |
dvābhyāṃ śūnyataraṃ viddhi cidākāśaṃ varānane ||

(Oh beautiful lady! There are three types of space: the mental space, the physical space, and the infinite space of Consciousness. Of these, the most subtle is the space of Consciousness!)

Bhootakash (physical space) is sustained by chittakash, (mental space) which in turn is sustained by chidakash (Conscious Space). Having abandoned bhootakash, your husband is now staying in chittakash. Because chittakash is sustained by chidakash, when you attain to chidakash, you will experience the entire cosmos. You will experience all creations as shadows in chidakash. The cognitive potency in the chitta (mind) transmigrates from one place to another in an instant. When you have abandoned all sankalpas or ideations, what remains thereafter is chidakash. When you attain to chidakash, you will see your husband. O Leela, I grant that you will soon attain quiescence and will be free from ideation.”

Saying so, the goddess disappeared. By intense meditation, the queen attained the non-ideational state and, like a bird, she flew into chidakash, where she could ‘see’ the king in his new surroundings in another world. To her amazement, she saw that everything was as on earth and from his new capital he was ruling another land! ‘Is it that only the king had died, or has his capital too died and transmigrated with him?’ she asked herself. The bewildered queen descended from chidakash to her palace. Overtaken with amazement, she came to where the dead body of her husband was lying and tried to meditate on the goddess. Instantly, she had the vision of the goddess. Bowing down to her, Leela asked the goddess what was the nature of the two worlds of the king - one she saw during her flight to chidakash and the other that existed here - and which of the two was real and which unreal.

Goddess: The world presently experienced by your husband is mere formless space. It is just an ideation.

Queen: If it were so, even this world in which I live must only be an ideation or sankalpa, right?

G: Now you understand rightly. I, you, this universe, is all of the nature of akasha. It is experienced on account of an illusion, but has not been created.

Q: How did my husband who was in a subtle and formless state acquire a body or form and how did he experience the universe?

G: Both worlds are illusory. I will tell you now about you and your husband: in the supreme chidakash, there lived a Brahmin priest by name Vasishta. He was highly religious, but had not acquired jnana. Once, when the Brahmin was seated on a hillock, he happened to see a royal couple on a safari in the jungle. Instantly the Brahmin was seized with the desire that he and his wife Arundhati too must enjoy a princely life like the royal couple he saw. This sankalpa for a princely life continued throughout his life. Soon his end approached. As a result of his previous, strong sankalpa for a princely life, the Brahmin visualized after his death that he was a great monarch. Your husband and you were formerly this couple Vasishta and Arundhati. Now listen carefully. The sky, the hills, earth, oceans, the three planes that you are visualizing here, are located in a corner of Brahmin Vasishta’s house. Only eight days have passed since Vasishta died; you also gave up your body thereafter. Your family has not yet completed the final rites. But here you are, enjoying the royal life for many, many years. All this manifestation is illusory. The world you are perceiving now is an illusion arising from another illusion. The world being not real, how can its memory be real?

Q: I am puzzled by your statement that you, I, these mountains and rivers, the vast expanse before us is located just in a corner of the Brahmin’s house. How is it possible?

G: That is the truth! All the events are just like the experience of the vast expanse of three dimensions by a person in a dream state, who, after the dream, finds himself lying in his bed and the three dream-dimensions have vanished. Death too is like this. The subtle body of the jiva is transformed into akash at the place where he dies, and thereafter he experiences a universe according to the strength of his desire and sankalpa. This universe is established in his chitta according to his vasanas and sankalpas, and is experienced with various names and forms. Like an image seen in a mirror, the universe is perceived in chittakash. Consider the universe a dreamland. Just as a person dreams and has a further dream within a dream, so too has this illusion of a universe appeared to you. This world is an aspect of Atman. Where there is consciousness, the universe also exists, because the universe is an aspect of Atman. The illusory universe is experienced as though real. Therefore, abandoning ideation of the unreal universe, you should always be established in Atman.

Q: How is it that you say that only eight days have passed since the death of Vasishta, but here we have spent many years during that very period?

यथैतत्प्रतिभा मात्रं जगत्सर्गावभासनम्‌।
तथैतत्प्रतिभामात्रं क्षणकल्पावभासनम्‌।। - (Yoga Vasishta 3-20-29)

yathaitatpratibhā mātraṃ jagatsargāvabhāsanam
tathaitatpratibhāmātraṃ kṣaṇakalpāvabhāsanam ||

(Just as the world and its creation are mere appearances, a moment and an epoch are also illusory.)

Just as a vast space appears in a small space on account of ideation, a long duration is experienced within a short period. Space and time are illusory and appear real on account of sankalpa. This illusion is very powerful and can do anything. Nothing exists except Brahman/Atman. The experience of one’s own death in a dream is not real and this experience occurs on account of ideation in the mind. Presently you are seized with the conviction of a gross body; you must abandon the illusion of the gross body. When you can still the mind and stop ideation, and establish yourself in Atman, you can reach wherever you like and see whatever you like as I am able to do.

Q: If there is nothing else except Atman, why have I been wandering around all this time?

G: It is due to non-contemplation or avichara. Vichara/avichara, jnana/ajnana are all modes or states in you. When you choose vichara, delusion will go. Just as the illusion of a snake goes with awareness of the rope, illusion of the gross will go with awareness of Atman. You should, therefore, undertake to realize Atman, so this illusion of the universe can go. As soon as the true Self is realized, the feeling and memory of the gross body vanishes. With the ceasing of the vasanas, the subtle body also vanishes. Such a jiva is liberated while still alive. He is a jivanmukta. He may be overtly participating in daily routines, but he is always established in Truth.”

Concluding the story of Leela, Sage Vasishta said to Sri Rama, “Following the instructions of the goddess, Queen Leela realized the non-existence of the body and was firmly established in Atman. O Rama, all embodiments are the forms of chitta. The chitta is like a mirror; as is the firm ideation, so is the reflection in the chitta. He who is firmly established in the gross does not experience the subtle. Experience is the result of firm conviction in the mind. When a person forgets his true nature, he experiences the variegated universe.”

Here is another story on this topic and this one is narrated by Bhagawan himself:

The Story of Appar

Umadevi, a Polish lady had travelled in Kashmir and brought some photos which were shown to all in the old hall. Bhagawan humorously remarked, “We have seen those places without the trouble of travelling.” A devotee thereby said, “I wish to go to Kailas.” Sri Bhagawan said, “One can see these places only if destined. Not otherwise. After seeing all, there will still remain more – if not in this hemisphere, may be in the other. Knowledge implies ignorance of what lies beyond what is known. Knowledge is always limited.” After some time, Sri Bhagawan related the following story.

“Appar was decrepit and old and yet began to travel to Kailas. Another old man appeared on the way and tried to dissuade him from the attempt, saying that it was too difficult to reach there. Appar was however obdurate and said that he would risk his life in the attempt. The stranger asked him to dip himself in a tank close by. Appar did so and found Kailas then and there. Where did all this happen? In Tiruvayyar, nine miles from Tanjore. Where is Kailas then? Is it within the mind or outside it? If Tiruvayyar is truly Kailas, it must appear to others as well. But Appar alone found it so. Similarly, it is said of other places of pilgrimage in the South, that they are the abodes of Shiva, and devotees found them so. This was true from their standpoint. Everything is within. There is nothing without.”

Courtesy: Mountain Path