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Commentary by Jayaram V
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16. The unreal has no existence and the real never ceases to be; the reality of both has thus been perceived by the seers of the truth. |
What is reality? Is it the apparent reality, visible and perceptible by the ordinary
senses or the reality one comes across in dreams or in some reverie? Or is there
any reality beyond these, which is not visible and perceptible but truly and definitely
existing and beyond our comprehension? The subject of reality is a subject of intense
speculation in the Vedanta. It is rightly said that one cannot understand the true
nature of God and divine existence unless one realizes the reality and unreality
of ones own present existence. It is therefore expected that one develops a right
perspective before one jumps into the sea of spiritual adventure.
What is visible and sensible need not always be true and real. The mind and the
senses can play tricks, as in the case when you see a rope and mistake it for a
snake. The senses present the sun and the stars as small shining objects revolving
around the earth where as in reality they are not. A person may appear very friendly
and honest but if you dig deeper into his personality you may realize that he may
not be all that friendly and honest. The senses are certainly not the true messenger
of God. They are weak reflectors of light and truth, faltering, falsifying, exaggerating,
distorting and misrepresenting the truth in their own weak and ignorant manner.
They darken rather than illumine the truth. They are the instruments of ignorance
and illusion meant to perpetuate an aspect of reality that is actually not real
at all. They are not expected to bring one closer to God and the ultimate reality,
but actually far and far away from it.
The Reality which is described in our spiritual texts is totally different from
what we understand as reality in our day to day lives. It is the ultimate reality,
the ever-lasting reality that exists beyond all known and relative realities of
the ordinary human mind and its faculties. According to our scriptures in order
to be considered as real, a thing has to possess some fundamental qualifications:
it must be permanent, fixed or unchanging, unborn, without a beginning and an end,
immutable, indivisible and undivided. Any thing that does not possess these qualities
is not real. If we look at our world and the things there in we realize that there
is actually nothing here, including the very existence of any individual, which
fits into this definition. It is therefore logical from this standpoint to consider
the world around as unreal and illusory.
This perspective and understanding are essential because the true exploration,
the soul searching, begins only when we realize that the what we have and what we
truly believe as real is actually not real but very unreal. We become puzzled and
curious and start looking for the reality in our surroundings, and ourselves that
is permanent, unchanging immutable and indivisible. We start asking whether we are
ourselves real, because we are not permanent, not indivisible, not immutable. And
then we begin to look for a life that take us nearer to such a reality. We become
conscious of the need for a radical change in our approach and attitude to our daily
existence and move in the direction of the "seers of the truth."
Bhagavadgita Chapter 2 Verses 1- 21
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