Bhagavatam-daily 197 – 11.11.02 – Does material existence have no existence?

Thank you.
11.11.2 So here now the nature of the illusion in our perception that is created by the modes is conveyed through a standard metaphor of dreams so Sukha-dukha is happiness, Shoka-moha is illusion and lamentation this is essentially what take place in the conditions so accepting the material body as oneself all this is illusion so just as what we see in a dream is simply a is a conception it’s just an idea that is there it has no reality just as the dream has no reality similarly samsruti that is material existence has no reality so once again we see a standard standard scriptural theme being repeated that this world is like an illusion as Krishna says over here so this often leads to the question that what exactly is meant by such statements there is no vastavi there is no reality to sense there is no reality to sense perception to not a sense perception to actually even the concept of material existence itself it has no reality so the word reality has to be understood contextually by which we know what it means at one level we can argue philosophically that the material existence is definitely real in the sense that Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that they are my prakritis so they are definitely if they are part of Krishna nature then they are real and Krishna also states about how the maya gunamayi maya is also a part of his nature it’s a part of what he is as in terms of one of his external energy so if that is the case then what exactly is being meant by saying that material existence has no existence it essentially means that actually we are not under illusion in the sense that this illusion is not permanent in the sense that the soul’s capacity for spiritual perception is not permanently retrievably lost in the sense that we even now remain parts of God and after understanding this then we can look at how the what exactly is has no existence actually it refers to the nature of the experience that we are going through just like a dream has no reality in the sense that when we wake up we find out there is nothing in the dream but at the same time Baldevidya Bhushan elaborately argues in the Govinda Bhashya that even dreams are real and when he argues that even dreams are real then what does it where does that leave us exactly it leaves us with the understanding that reality and illusion are terms which need to be understood in their context so as mentioned that material elements are real and Baldevidya Bhushan also states that how in dreams sometimes the supreme absolute truth appears to some special soul so that indicates that there must be an element of reality otherwise how does the supreme reality appear in that and then he goes on to say that actually dreams are the times when we get the reactions to minor karmas so that means this is the reaction to major karmas is arranged by Vishnu through the reality, the mayic reality made of gross matter that is the external world that we experience so similarly reaction to some minor karma is arranged by Vishnu through the mayic reality arranged at the subtle level which we experience in dreams and that’s why some people have good dreams and some people have bad dreams some people regularly have nightmares and they are really miserable all this is because of the reactions coming at different times in different places now going further if we move on to the specific situation now the material elements themselves are real and the soul is also real so what is actually an illusion is our conception just like if somebody goes to watch a movie and the person is actually there watching a movie and the person is sitting on the chair and there is also something being displayed on the screen now what is being displayed on the screen is it real or is it not real that will depend on what we mean by reality now to the extent which we look at some things from a subjective perspective to that extent we will have to acknowledge that it’s not easy to perceive reality to the extent we focus on subjective individual perception to that extent we will have to acknowledge that our perceptions are often disharmonious with reality as happens when we see say a stick bent because of a stick that is partially in water it seems to be bent because of the effect of refraction so our perceptions often even within our experience of the material world do not harmonize with the reality but that does not mean the stick does not exist it’s that the stick is not broken so similarly actually it is not that material existence has no existence rather our current conceptions of the self and our current conceptions of the world they have no existence so that means our current conception that I am the body I am a male or I am a female I am Indian or I am American or I am NRI whatever all these have no factual basis in the sense in the perspective of factuality from the perspective of the absolute truth or eternal reality and the understanding that there is from a practical point of view some reality to our designations that is not contradict the point that from the paramartic from the transcendental perspective there is no reality to our current conceptions our current perceptions and Krishna is talking from the perspective of that absolute truth and herein he states that for the liberated soul who has understood the nature of nature both material and spiritual for such an absolute truth actually there is no illusion in this world and in this way the soul can go beyond all conditionings and the soul can attain ultimate liberation indeed that is what we all need to strive for and we all do indeed strive for by Krishna’s mercy when we practice the process of bhakti intelligently purify ourselves so we need to focus on purifying ourselves through the process of bhakti not letting ourselves get further agitated unnecessarily by circumstantial sensual perceptions but rather knowing the objective reality we stay focused in that objective reality through study spiritual education and study devotional purification then we will understand that actually we are transcendental we have the potential to be transcendental and we will realize and relish ourselves as transcendental in due course of time through education and purification