everything is like that

[Guest guest]

Sri Ramana Maharshi: Individual human souls are not the only beings known.Question: And the sacred regions Kailasa or Vaikuntha, are they real?Sri Ramana Maharshi: As real as you are in this body.Question: Do they possess a phenomenal existence, like my body? Or are they fictions like the horn of a hare?Sri Ramana Maharshi: They do exist.Question: If so, they must be somewhere. Where are they?Sri Ramana Maharshi: Persons who have seen them say that they exist somewhere. So we must accept their statement.Question: Where do they exist?Sri Ramana Maharshi: In you.Question: Then it is only an idea, which I can create and control?Sri Ramana Maharshi: Everything is like that.Question: But I can create pure fictions, for example, a hare's horn, or only part truths, for example a mirage, while there are also facts irrespective of my imagination. Do the Gods Iswara or Vishnu exist like that?Sri Ramana Maharshi: Yes.Question: Is God subject to Pralaya (cosmic dissolution)?Sri Ramana Maharshi: Why? Man becoming aware of the Self transcends cosmic dissolution and becomes liberated. Why not Iswara who is infinitely wiser and abler?Question: Do devas (angels) and pisachas (devils) exist similarly?Sri Ramana Maharshi: Yes.Question: These deities, what is their status relative to the Self?Sri Ramana Maharshi: Siva, Ganapati and other deities like Brahma, exist from a human standpoint; that is to say, if you consider your personal self as real, then they also exist. Just as government has its high executive officers to carry on the government, so has the creator. But from the standpoint of the Self all these gods are illusory and must themselves merge into the one reality.