Illusion

The distinction between knowledge and ignorance starts with the hymns of the RigVeda, where knowledge means being conscious of the Truth and what is right, and ignorance is being unconscious of the Truth and what is right, opposing it and creating false or negative effects.

This world is an illusion of colors and sounds, a false display created by the tricks of Maya, the mind, and the senses.

As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror by dust, as an embryo is enveloped by the womb — so is this (knowledge) covered by that (desire).

As moths fly full of speed into a blazing flame to their own destruction, so too do these worlds plunge into your mouths with great force, rushing to annihilation.

Your true nature is pure existence, consciousness, and bliss. The physical body is just an illusion.

Prajapati said to them: 'Adorn yourselves well, put on fine clothes, groom yourselves, and look again into the dish of water.' They adorned themselves well, put on fine clothes, groomed themselves, and looked into the dish of water. Prajapati asked them: 'What do you see?'

The wise, with the help of the Vedas and knowledge, having ascertained that the visible universe is an illusion, instantly realizes the Supreme Spirit as the sole existing independent essence.

It is the self-luminous Atman that, through the power of its own maya, imagines all the objects that the subject experiences, both within and outside, by itself and within itself.

If something does not exist at the beginning or the end, it must not exist in the present. The things we see are like illusions, yet they are considered real.

Those who live and move within the realm of ignorance stumble and are battered, deluded, like the blind being led by someone who is also blind.

When the mind is gone, everything disappears. The mind's activity creates all appearances. Due to ignorance or illusion in the mind, you perceive objects and trees as separate and real.

What will a person gain by knowing many scriptures? The most important thing is to know how to navigate the world. God alone is real, and everything else is an illusion.

If the devotee practices spiritual discipline to some extent, the guru clarifies everything for them. The disciple then understands the reality and unreality of things. Only God is real; the world is an illusion.

It is to be realised through the mind alone; there is no diversity whatsoever here. He who sees as if there were diversity here goes from death to death.

'He who moves about exalted in dream — that is the Self,' he said; 'that is the immortal, the fearless; that is Brahman.' Indra went away satisfied in heart, but even before reaching the gods he saw this danger: 'Even though this body is blind, that dream-self is not blind; though the body is lame, he is not lame. He is not tainted by the defects of the body.'

They said: 'Just as we two are, revered sir, well adorned, finely dressed, and groomed, so are these two, well adorned, finely dressed, and groomed.' 'That is the Self,' he said; 'that is the immortal, the fearless; that is Brahman.' And the two went away satisfied in heart.

'Look at yourselves in a dish of water, and whatever of the Self you do not understand, tell me.' The two looked into a dish of water. Prajapati asked them: 'What do you see?' They said: 'Revered sir, we see this whole self of ours, a likeness exact down to the hairs and the nails.'

Prajapati said to them: 'The person that is seen in the eye — that is the Self. That is the immortal, the fearless; that is Brahman.' They asked: 'But, revered sir, the one who is perceived in water and the one in a mirror — which of these is he?' He replied: 'It is he himself who is perceived in all these.'

'The red appearance of lightning is the form of fire, the white that of water, and the black that of food. Thus the lightning-ness of lightning has vanished: the modification is a mere verbal handle, a name; the truth is only the three forms.'

'The red appearance of the moon is the form of fire, the white that of water, and the black that of food. Thus the moon-ness of the moon has vanished: the modification is a mere verbal handle, a name; the truth is only the three forms.'