CC daily 119 – M 6.171 – See the world not as a product of illusion but as an arena for purification

Disclaimer: This transcript was generated using AI and may contain occasional errors or inaccuracies.

… … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … The unchangeability of Brahman to be reconciled with the changeability that characterizes this world? That is a question that has the philosophers, the Vedantic philosophers often put to a great amount of trouble, especially when they hold on to an impersonalist conclusion. So they, because Brahman is unchangeable, then the changeability of the world makes them posit that the world itself is an illusion and beyond the world is a transcendental reality and that is the only reality.

As they say, Brahma Satya Jagan Mithya. Now we have discussed the problem with labeling the whole world as Mithya. What is the origin of Mithya? How does Mithya overcome Brahman, even if it is a portion of Brahman? These are all perplexing questions for impersonalists of the Mayavadi orientation.

Now Bhagavatam helps us understand and Chetan Charitam further elaborates that. So it is said that yes, the changeability of the world can be reconciled with the unchangeability of the Brahman by understanding that Brahman is not just one isolated existence and understanding the energies helps us to cognize that Brahman is ultimately the unchangeable but still that does not mean that its energies can't be changeable, have to be unchangeable also. No, the energies do change and the important point is to redirect our heart towards eternal and the changeability of the world guides our heart, prompts our heart to move towards the ultimate unchanging reality that is God himself.

How does our heart move like this on observing the changeability of the world? Not just on observing but on internalizing, that means on contemplating and accepting. The changeability of everything means the changeability of my body also. The changeability of my body means that this body is going to be destroyed.

So that is going to cause us immense frustration unless we learn to dovetail our propensities towards transcendence and we redirect our aspirations away from the world towards Krishna and that is essentially what Bhakti Yoga is. So Bhakti Yoga presumes that Ishwara is eternal and though he is eternal he is also reciprocal and as a person he reciprocates with different souls differently and those souls are in the perfect state, they perceive Krishna's reciprocation to be so expert, so enduring and so for the impersonalists to argue that God's unchangeability or Brahman's unchangeability means that the whole world is an illusion. The problem with such a conception is that actually this world is also seen by the devotee as a gift from God.

It is not for our ratification, it is for purification but even a means for purification is also a gift just as there can be a playground and there can be a hospital. Now depending on what the child needs both are valuable gifts coming from the parents. So if the child is in good health and wants to play a playground is wonderful but if the child is sick at that time playground is not what the child needs.

Similarly for us souls who are sick because of our worldly desires what we need is not an arena for playing around we need an arena for purification and the world provides us that opportunity. So rather than seeing the world merely as a product of illusion a devotee sees the world as an arena for purification. It means that there is illusion in this world is undeniable but the world itself is not a product of illusion.

The world is a manifestation of God's compassion so that these souls can get an opportunity to come closer to him and in this way we can move onwards in our journey towards him and thus move towards eternal happiness. So the important point to recognize with respect to this context in the flaw with impersonalism is they think because the world is evil the world is contaminated by the moors so if Brahman were connected with it then Brahman would also become contaminated because the world is prone to change and degradation so Brahman will also be prone to change and degradation if it were connected with the world were connected with Brahman and so therefore they propose a rigid rupture, a rigid separation between the world and Brahman by saying the world is a product of illusion and Brahman is the only reality but the point is the world is an energy of Brahman and in fact Brahman has two energies material and spiritual and depending on how the soul uses this the soul who has free will approaches the material energy that material energy can act as the cause of illusion and entanglement or can also act as the soul means for purification and liberation. Thank you.