Swami Shivapadananda on illusion

SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA

DAILY READINGS

Taken from Mother Radha’s
notes, written at Swamiji’s feet.

Day 94

An excerpt from “Children of the Rishis” by
Swami Vivekananda

Few lands can claim that their great ones were Rishis, seers of Truth.
The things of the world seem to be made of the pairs of opposites – and made to
go together – for example husband and wife. You must have a counterpart to make
the glory of the light of the Rishis shine out. In Hinduism, in Vedanta
[literal meaning: end of the Vedas, summation of, final word on], the religion of the Rishi, it usually
deals with the Knowledge that swallows all other knowledge, when secular
knowledge comes to an end. One designation of this ability is known as Vedanta.

The Vedas teach you how to fulfil your desires, how to live happily in
this world, through comforting and protecting others etc. And this is swallowed
by that Knowledge, knowing which, all other knowledge is known. The seer of
Truth should know not only the Truth, but what is ignorance – meaning complete
knowledge.

Totapuri [the Advaita (non-dual) Vedanta ‘teacher’ of Sri Ramakrishna]
realized God, the Supreme Lord, in nirvikalpa samadhi [super-consciousness of
the non-dual, formless] and called it Brahman, according to the Vedas, and
said, “This world is a world of magic. It is illusory in the form in which we
see it.”

Swamiji: To whom is the world illusory? It is illusory to us who are the
children of the Rishis [Seers, sages, saints]. Why? Because the Rishis realized
it and say it is so. The whole world appears to be, but it is not so. The Vedas
say: Maya [the veil/force of illusion] cannot be said to appear or disappear.
Whilst it is there, it is there – like the snake and the rope [*see footnote].
The snake is the reality to whom? To the ignorant man. After finding the rope
you cannot say, “It did not exist,” or, “It did exist.” You can only say, “I
saw the reality as something else.” Swami Vivekananda calls this ‘the world
play of God’ [this is where the term ‘lila’ (pronounced leela) is frequently
used].

* the rope analogy: The Hindu scriptures and teachers say that if you
come across a rope lying on the ground, in the dark, you may mistake it for a
snake. It isn’t a snake and never was, but the illusion of the snake is there.

Posted by Clive Simpkins