CC daily 121 – M 6.173 – Impersonalist notion of illusion is itself an illusion

Chittamrita Amrit Madhyamila, Chapter 6 Liberation of Sarvam Bhattacharya, Text 173 jivera dehe atma buddhi se hi mithya hai jagat ye mithya nahe, na shvara matra hai so here Chittan Mahaprabhu is continuing his analysis of the principles of bhakti and therein he states jivera dehe atma buddhi se hi mithya hai so just as what is illusion now Chittan Mahaprabhu is pointing out the valid and the invalid applications of the conception of illusion so he states that a valid example of illusion is when the soul thinks of oneself to be the body the soul is spiritual and for the spiritual soul to think that I am the body that is illusion jivera dehe atma buddhi se hi mithya hai which is mithya the soul is real, the body is real but for the soul to think that I am the body that is an illusion and this is a valid application of illusion but if suppose somebody starts saying the soul itself is an illusion the body itself is an illusion that's not true as a person is watching a movie on a TV or on a movie screen the person really exists the movie screen also really exists but the person's infatuation, obsession misidentification with the character in the movie and subsequent panorama of emotions that the person goes through those are illusion so similarly this so here also in this particular example that the body is not illusion the soul is not illusion the soul's misidentification of the body is illusion that is a valid application of illusion but to say that because a person watching a movie goes through various illusory emotions to say that everything is illusion to say that not only the emotions the person is going through are founded in illusion but that the person and the movie and the movie set and the movie theater everything is illusion is actually itself an illusion so similarly this sort of categorical branding of everything as illusion is a blunder it's a blunder in reasoning and it's a blunder that runs contrary to common sense and experience jagat ye mithya nahe nashwar matra hai jagat ye mithya nahe that the world is not illusion it is it is temporary nashwar matra hai it's temporary so misidentification of the characters in the movie is not illusion is the illusion and it's illusion because those characters in the movie are going to be there just for a few hours and actually to get caught up in them is pointless so the problem with the world is that it is temporary while it is there of course it is real what comes from the supreme reality what is one of his energies that because supreme source is lord is real, he is the topmost reality so what comes from him is also a reality and the reality of that needs to be recognized and acknowledged and that's what is being done here or that's what is being asked for over here by the lord and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu says don't misapply the concept of illusion so now how do the Mayavadis interpret they say that both it is not the perception that is the illusion so the perception is the illusion for example the soul to see a good looking form and the soul to think that oh this form will give me enjoyment that is an illusion but for the soul but the form which is there that form is not an illusion, the soul itself is not an illusion so what the impersonalist says it's not only the perception that is the illusion they say the perceiver and the perceived everything is illusion so when they say then they say that if you see attractive form and then you go into illusion then it is that form is the illusion your conception of yourself is also an illusion and enlightenment means all this is exposed to be an illusion and then you will become enlightened however such a conception of enlightenment raises the question who will be there to rejoice the joy of enlightenment now if we no longer exist our sense of I-ness comes from our individuality now the problem is that our individuality or our conception of individuality is expressed presently at the material level and we need to understand our conception of individuality at the spiritual level but till we understand that conception it is important to recognize that rejection of all individuality is not the solution so if we consider the perceived and the perceiver both are illusions then the mistake with that is that that who is it that will rejoice the realization of enlightenment because ultimately there will be no I left because the I will merge into the cosmic I and then our sense of existence as a distinct individual will no longer be there so if whatever is conceived of as liberation in the impersonal sense if that involves a dissolution of our sense of I-ness then that is not a liberation that I am going to enjoy because I won't be there to enjoy it at all I won't be able to rejoice or relish it because the very conception of I is going to get dissolved so the perceived and the perceiver are not illusions it is a perception that is the illusion so a man is real, a woman is real real in the sense that there are real souls who are having real bodies which are really entangled together at least at that present time now what is the illusion is that when the man sees the woman and starts thinking that oh this woman will become the source of my lifelong happiness or the woman looks at the man and thinks that this man will become the source of my lifelong happiness that is an illusion so if we misdiagnose the nature of illusion then we will misdescribe the solution to so that way with the misprescription of the solution we may end up creating a problem worse than the original problem that it was intended to solve Bhaktiswant Thakur gives the example that once there was a boy who was who had sore eyes and he couldn't see properly it could cause him a lot of pain trying to see and even then his perception was inaccurate so one uncle came and said he is not able to see and eyes are causing pain just pluck out the eyes and another uncle came and said oh this boy is not able to see and that is causing him distress and that is causing you distress just kill the child you will be free from all misery so no that is not the solution neither are the solution these two solutions are in a rough sense what impersonalism and voidism propose impersonalism propose that because we are because our sense perception of the sense objects is the cause of illusion therefore we should reject our senses and we should reject the sense objects all as illusion in fact we should reject all forms and all sense objects as illusion that is like because the eyes cause pain just pluck off the eyes and because the forms belong to persons so we should reject all persons also and voidism holds that our very existence itself is the cause of suffering so we should dissolve our existence and that is how we will become free from suffering now both are solutions that actually worsen the problem plucking off the eyes will make the child permanently blind killing the child will deprive the parents of the child at all the solution is that the child's eye has to be treated and cured the cataract which is causing the trouble in perception and that cataract needs to be removed so like that we need to clearly understand the what is exactly the illusion and deal with that so the illusion is the conception that we are enjoyers independent of Krishna and the perception of the objects of this world as enjoyable is the illusion and that illusion can be cured by re-envisioning the objects in the world in connection with Krishna as his energy meant to be engaged in his service and by that perception the very objects that are the source of illusion will become the source of pathways to purification by engaging the worldly objects in Krishna's service we will move onwards towards Krishna by the steady practice of bhakti and become progressively enlightened and liberated thank you.