Fw: [RamanaMaharshi] world - real and unreal

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- Viorica Weissman

RamanaMaharshi

Monday, September 03, 2001 5:35 AM

[RamanaMaharshi] world - real and unreal

"As I recalled Bhagavan saying sometimes that unreal [mithya ,

imaginary ] and real [ satyam] mean the same , but did not quite

understand , I asked him about it. He said , "Yes , I do

sometimes say that .What do you mean by real ? What is it that

you call real ? " I answered : "According to Vedanta , only that

which is permanent and unchanging can be called real . That is

the meaning of Reality." "Then Bhagavan said :'The names and

forms which constitute the world continually change and perish

and are therefore called unreal. It is unreal [ imaginary ] to

limit the Self to these names and forms and real to regard all as

the Self. The nondualist says that the world is unreal , but

he also says , "All this is Brahman." So it is clear that

what he condemns is regarding the world as objectively real in

itself , not regarding it as Brahman. He who sees the Self sees

the Self alone in the world also. It is immaterial to the

Enlightened whether the world appears or not. In either case , his

attention is turned to the Self. It is like the letters and the

paper on which they are printed . You are so engrossed in the

letters that you forget about the paper , but the Enlightened sees

the paper as the substratum whether the letter appear on it or

not. __________ The

Teachings of Ramana Maharshi Arthur Osborne

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