Maharshi- waking & dream states

[Guest guest]

Q: We see, feel and sense the world in so many ways.

These sensations are the reactions to the objects seen and felt.

They are not mental creations as in dreams, which differ not only

from person to person but also with regard to the same person.

Is that not enough to prove the objective reality of the world? Maharshi: All

this talk about inconsistencies in the dream world arise only now,

when you are awake. While you are dreaming, the dream was a perfectly

integrated whole. That is to say, if you felt thirsty in a dream, the illusory

drinking of illusory water quenched your illusory thirst. But all this was real

and not illusory to you so long as you did not know that the dream itself

was illusory. Similarly with the waking world. The sensations you now have

get coordinated to give you the impression that the world is real.

If, on the contrary, the world is a self-existent reality (that is what you

evidently mean by objectivity), what prevents the world from

revealing itself to you in sleep? You do not say you did not

exist in your sleep. Q: Neither do I deny the world’s existence

while I am asleep. It has been existing all the while. If during

my sleep I did not see it, others who were not sleeping saw it. Maharshi:

To say you existed while asleep, was it necessary to call in the evidence

of others so as to prove it to you? Why do you seek their evidence now?

Those others can tell you of having seen the world during your sleep only

when you yourself are awake. With regard to your own existence it is different.

On waking up you say you had a sound sleep, and so that extent you are aware

of yourself in the deepest sleep, whereas you have not the slightest notion

of the world’s existence then. Even now, while you are awake, is it the world

that says, "I am real", or is it you? Q: Of course I say it, but

I say it of the world. Maharshi: Well then, that world, which

you say is real, is really mocking at you for seeking to prove

its reality while of your own reality you are ignorant. You want

somehow or other to maintain that the world is real. What is the standard

of reality? That alone is real which exists by itself, which reveals itself by

itself and which is eternal and unchanging.

Does the world exist by itself? Was it ever seen without the aid of the mind?

In deep sleep there is neither mind nor world. When awake, there is the mind

and there is the world. What does invariable concomitance mean? You are familiar

with the principles of inductive logic which are considered the very basis of

scientific investigation. Why do you not decide this question of

the reality of the world in the light of those accepted

principles of logic? Of yourself, you can say "I exist". That

is, your existence is not mere existence, it is existence of

which you are conscious. Really, it is existence identical with

consciousness. ( www.hinduism.co.za )

 

 

 

 

Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax