WORLD AS AN ILLUSION

WORLD AS AN ILLUSION

Jacques the melancholy philosopher tells the Banished Duke, in Shakespeare’s As You Like It that all the world is a stage and all the men and women merely players! They have their exits and entrances and each plays many parts. He describes the seven ages of man starting from his birth and ending with death. Philosophy has different perceptions of the mundane world and it's existence. Vedanta considers the world as illusion! “ Brahma satyam jagan mithya”. Supreme Reality is the truth. The universe or the world is illusion or Maya. The world appears as real because of ‘avidya’ or ignorance. It is like stepping on a rope in darkness and screaming in fear that you have stepped on a snake! Actually there is no snake but the similarity of the rope to snake and the darkness create an illusion to frighten you! When there is illumination or Knowledge the reality is known.

Maya can be described as the play of the Supreme consciousness of the Providence. This results in projecting things and forms temporarily phenomenal and retain the illusion of oneness and permanence! It is similar to a marvellous dream of a person who is awake! Illusion is unreality distinct from the reality represented by God or the Brahman. Ma means source or the cause. Ya means that which proceeds, goes, walks or spreads out.  Ma also represents universal mother. It is the Leela or play of God engendered through his creative and dynamic energy or force or shakti. Maya also refers to Prakriti or Nature which is the manifestation of God. Thus in illusion things appear differently from what they are actually!

Everything in the universe is in constant motion but we think we live in a stable world! The sky has no color but it appears blue because of reflection of light. Day and night and seasons change regularly.There is unperceived change in our body but we are not conscious about it. As Adi Sankara points out in his classic Bhaja Govinda “ Dina yaminyau sayam prataha sisira vasantau punarayataha.” Constant change is the essence of life and world but we are not aware of it.The world is considered as unreal as a dream! As long as you experience it, it appears real. But the moment you open your eyes you realize that it is, after all, a dream but not a reality! When we have terrible nightmares we want them to be unreal; but when we experience good dreams we want them to be real!

In the cinema theater we are under an illusion that what happens on the screen is real! Characters flit across the screen on the stage.The hero is applauded and the villain cursed by the audience.The heroine is loved as she is your favourite! You feel happy over a love sequence and an item number! Under the emotional impact of the story and dialogue you sometimes breakdown in the cinema theater and wipe your eyes with handkerchief! Why is that reaction? Because you think it is real for the time being --for about two to two and half hours! Knowing that to be unreal, you force yourself to think it is real. This is called suspension of disbelief! Under its influence you enjoy the film and come out. Otherwise, if you think that there is no point in seeing imaginary characters on the white screen, you cannot see or enjoy the picture at all!

The difference between enjoyment in the cinema theater and life in the world is that we do not consider the world as unreal though it is so! There is a web of deception woven by the great Spider God to envelop the world in delusion! His creative glory of man and Nature has enthralled humanity and has made it a permanent prisoner!  However much he tries it is impossible for him to release himself from this illusion or Maya! Lord Krishna himself points out  to Arjuna, “mama Maya duraratyaya.” It is really difficult to think that the body is unreal though everyone knows it. To consider this fascinating world as unreal is much more difficult. Detachment from family, wife, children, kith and kin and wealth is practically impossible! The little and brittle pleasures are mistaken for happiness! Thus man is drowned in the shoreless sea of samsara and caught in the cycle of birth and death! It requires proper realization and  tremendous concentration to know that the world is unreal and illusory!