The Great Illusion

Dr. Rajesh Bhola
India
Mar 28, 2014

 

We all have seen a magic show at some time in our lives and breathlessly watched the magicians perform tricks. At heart we know that what we are seeing is only an illusion but, under the spell of magic, we perceive it as real. From the spiritual viewpoint, life itself is an illusion. Our scriptures make it clear that our world is a trap and illusion is the trapping mechanism. All the ‘visions’ that we see in our lifetime are like a big dream. In this context the term vision denotes not only visual perceptions, but also appearances perceived through all our senses - including sounds, smells, tastes and tactile sensations. The perceived reality is considered literally unreal, in that objects that make up perceived reality are known as objects within one’s mind; and that, as we conceive them, there is no pre-determined object or assembly of objects in isolation from our experience, which may be considered the true object. Our self, and the objects in the world, is also an illusion. This world, which seems so solid, substantial and real …is only a dream. Our past, though full of action and emotion, is just a memory now – and memory is but a simple thought, an idea in our mind. The present, and even the future, will become the past also. What is left is only a series of thoughts that come and go. 

If we see the world as illusion at its surface, we can discover the depths of the cosmic reality wherever we look. We can find the whole in each part, the eternal in a moment, the infinite in a point, the entire universe in every object. All that we see is sacred and divine, a display of vibrations, in which creatures and objects arise like patterns in a kaleidoscope - only to dissolve back again into the light. We are the light behind the appearances, which is also the light through which we see. Colours emerge and submerge and the process goes on. The light alone remains and in it nothing is ever lost. Nature’s example of an illusion is a rainbow. It looks beautiful in the distance, but when you go closer it disappears. It is only an optical illusion. There are many rainbows in our lives. Some are illusions based on how we look at the world, but others are indications of yet greater realities that we cannot see. We are all able to see and feel varying images and sensations depending on our sensory organs and inner properties. Of course our sensations are subjective and exist only with regard to our feelings. The closer our properties are to the properties of the truth, the closer the image of ‘my world’ comes to the actual reality, and the less distorted it is by our egoistic attributes. Since the property of truth is altruism, when we attain that quality and bond with the truth, we learn to feel reality as it is. Of course, all our sensations are personal and might change over time.

The great illusion is created by Him, and is the basis of conflict between good and evil. When we sever our connections with Him, the source of our life, ills take root. Having been disconnected with the source of our very existence, we become egocentric and assume too much of ourselves and discount others; man thus deluded leads a discontented life. Those who absorb their mind in the pursuit of material objects, involve themselves in strife, become greedy, arrogant, guilt stricken, shameless, reckless and restless; they ultimately destroy themselves. Beguiled by ignorance, they rob others and run amuck in all directions, to gather the poison of illusion. Man’s selfishness and his uncontrolled cravings for possession of material things involve him in a web of illusion, which is hard to overcome. We live in this world enveloped by illusion, in a state of ignorance about ourselves. We fail to discriminate between truth and falsehood, become confused, engaging ourselves in egoistic struggles that make us lose our connection with our own divinity. If someone comes and tells us that we are divine souls, we do not believe it, not realising that we could not have been here without there being some underlying purpose. We all want to believe that we are not mere mortals and that there is something about us that extends beyond what we know and what we can feel and touch. But our rational minds would not be satisfied with mere assurances of religious scriptures or the teachings of self-realised masters. We need proof, which will not come unless we stand on the edge and take a deep plunge - with a desire to know about our current state of existence, how much alienated we are from our true nature and how deeply entangled we have become with the objects of our desires. In the process we are weaving a web of deception around ourselves, which is keeping us conveniently concealed from the truth of who we are or what we should have been. It is a state in which each individual soul considers itself to be separate and distinct from the rest of creation. It is curiosity, temptation and desire that brings us here in the first place and puts us in contact with the objects of our world. Out of desire comes attachment and out of attachment a man becomes deluded. Human beings who depend upon the senses cannot go beyond the visible and perceptible world. This results in ignorance and the loss of wisdom to know the reality from unreality, to discern truth from untruth, good from bad, divine from demonic and right action from wrong action. The person under the influence of illusion is always attached to the world outside him. Memories pursue him, time haunts him and thoughts possess him. By becoming attached to the world, conditioned by memory and accumulated knowledge, he develops envy and selfishness and also many such negative qualities – such as pride, fear, greed, anger, malice, caprice, cruelty, callousness, lust and intense desire for success and personal advancement. Life becomes a battlefield in which he alone has to win. There is no place for failure and weakness. Attracted to pleasures, averse to pain, fearful of loss and hopeful of gain, unable to go beyond the lures and temptations of the world, though aware that all is in vain at the end, he plods on, striving and struggling, almost believing that death would never touch him. The man of delusion cannot see the One hidden in all this. He sees only the diversity and the multiplicity of the life and the world around him. Unable to trust others and the world he lives in, as if the world is an enemy determined to subdue him and destroy him, he suffers from intense anxiety about himself and his future. Because of this sense of duality he loses his unified vision and sees the world in terms of pairs, divisions, groups, categories, numbers and opposites - in short, in terms of relative and subjective reality. The ego is responsible for the sense of ownership, identification of the individual with his body and mind and failure to know his true nature. It makes the individual souls think and act selfishly and egoistically as if they are different from the others and engages them in acts of self-preservation, characterised by competition and conflict rather than co-operation and friendship. Thus the ego ultimately lands all the beings into suffering, delusion and bondage to the earthly life. Under the influence of illusion, human beings succumb to the desire of enjoying the fruits of their actions. Once we taste them, we enter into a make-believe world and stop thinking about going back. We become involved with the process of becoming and being, imprisoned in our own thoughts and bodies, undergoing births and deaths, binding ourselves to the consequences of our own actions and delaying our own liberation. It is difficult to understand how we can deliver ourselves from this delusion of mind and thereby from our bondage to the cycle of births and deaths - and the pairs of opposites, such as pain and pleasure or happiness and sorrow. Due to their unfulfilled desires, the beings return again and again to the mortal world. Depending upon their previous actions, they take birth in different wombs, circumstances and families and suffer from the consequences of their previous actions. This process goes on repeatedly till they realise their folly and engage in right actions with the right attitude and lay the foundation for a progression towards their freedom, self-realisation and self-emancipation.

We all suffer from the grand illusion that we are capable of knowing the facts of our existence with the help of our minds and senses, whereas the truth is that we cannot discern reality with our limited consciousness. This is the limitation of human existence and human intelligence, brought about by the divine play of illusion. We look but we do not actually see. We live, but we are not sure whether it is the right way of living. We know something, but are not sure whether it is the truth; we are not sure whether we are awake or asleep when we are conscious. We are not even sure of why we are here…for what end. However, there is one final reality…of death. Everything dies…and thus it has been from time immemorial. All our progress, our vanities, our wealth and our knowledge have that one end — the certainty of death. And yet we wish to defy it and want to cling on to our life. We do not want to – or cannot - give it up. And this is the ultimate illusion!

Dr. Rajesh Bhola is President of Spastic Society of Gurgaon and is working for the cause of children with autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple disabilities for more than 25 years. He can be contacted at rabhola@yahoo.com