Q. So the world is not really illusionary?
A. At the level of a spiritual seeker you have got to say the world is an
illusion. There is no other way. When a man forgets he is Brahman, who is real, permanent and omnipresent, and deludes
himself into thinking that he is a body in the universe that is filled with bodies that are transitory, and labours
under that delusion, you have got to remind him that the world is unreal and a delusion. Why? Because his vision which
has forgotten his own Self is dwelling in the external, material universe. It will not turn inwards into introspection
unless you impress on him that all this external, material universe is unreal. When once he realizes his own Self he
will know that there is nothing other than his own Self and he will come to look come to look upon the whole universe as
Brahman. There is no universe without the Self. So long as a man does not see the Self, which is the origin of all, but
looks only at the external world as real and permanent, you have to tell him that all this external universe is an
illusion. <Snip>
Q. Is the world that is seen, felt and sensed by us
in so many ways something like a dream, an illusion?
A. There is no alternative for you but to accept the world as unreal if you
are seeking the truth and the truth alone.
‘The Teachings of Ramana Maharshi’. Edited
by David Goldman. P. 187
