This Universe is a Dream in Consciousness. Is this all an Illusion?

Speaker A [00:00:00]: This universe is simply a dream in consciousness. Everything Speaker B [00:00:04]: that we are Speaker A [00:00:05]: seeing around us is an illusion or it is not what it actually is. This is the greatest teaching given to us by the ancient Vedas and Upanishads. Now in this episode, let us understand how can this be possible. How can this universe that feels so real to us, and feels so self evident can be a dream or an illusion. First, let us understand our dream world. We all dream different dreams, and within our dreams, We experience a lot of things. We experience ourselves as the dream ego, and We interact with the dream world, we talk to different people, we interact with different objects in the dream, and we go through experiences like this every single day when we go to sleep and when we dream. And within our dream, we never realized that it is actually a projection in our Mind or it is an illusion or anything like that. Speaker A [00:01:08]: Whatever happens, we think that it is actually happening to us and it is actually real. Only once we wake up, we come to a realization that whatever we experienced in our dreams is just a mere illusion or a projection. Now with this perspective, let us look at our waking world. Once we wake up, we go through our day and we assume that the reality that we experience in the waking world is Actually real. It is actually happening. But what the teachings of the Upanishads tell us is that even this It's not true. You think that whatever you're experiencing is real because you have not woken up to Another reality, the ultimate reality, and this reality is called Brahman or pure consciousness. It is because you haven't waken up from this world in which you are living and which you think is real, You experience it as real just as you were experiencing your dream world as real when you were asleep. Speaker A [00:02:22]: The same thing is happening again. Of course, this world is much more real in terms of its sophistication, in terms of the various laws that govern this world and various other factors. But that does not mean this World itself is an absolute reality. We need to understand that there is another reality which is Pure consciousness or awareness and this dream and this world is just a dream in that consciousness. This is the understanding that we need to come to. Speaker B [00:02:58]: In order to understand this clearly, we need to understand the 3 levels of reality as explained by Vedanta. Vedanta talks about 3 levels of reality. The first level of reality is. This is pure consciousness or god or pure awareness. This is limitless. It is all pervading, and it is abundant. The 2nd level of reality is. This is the world that we live in. Speaker B [00:03:29]: Right now, you are in this level of reality. While you are experiencing this video, you are understanding different concepts. So our politics, Economy, religion, spirituality, everything happens at this level of reality. Then there is the 3rd level of reality, which is called as or illusionary reality. The dream experience that we looked at earlier comes under this level of reality. So the entire existence is segregated into these 3 levels of realities. But if we look closer, all these 3 levels of realities Have one thing in common, and that is awareness or consciousness. Whatever you experienced in the dream, You experienced it in your awareness itself. Speaker B [00:04:15]: Whatever you experience in the waking world as a man or a woman, You experience it or witness it in your awareness. And, hence, that awareness itself is that ultimate reality in which this universe is being experienced. I know for the people who are listening it to the 1st time, this kind of breaks their mind and This stretches the boundaries of our minds. This happens because our mind itself is limited. There are certain inherent limitations to our minds, and these limitations are time, space, and causation. So when we start talking about The true nature of reality and when we start talking about the teachings of the ancient Vedas and Upanishads, our minds will start to break because we are stretching our minds beyond its limitations. So what the Ancient Upanishads tell us is that there is 1 pure awareness or consciousness that is the ultimate reality. The Vedanta calls it Brahman. Speaker B [00:05:18]: This is God or pure awareness. And this awareness is dreaming this universe. And within the dream of this awareness is our reality that we are experiencing right now. Now why is this relevant and what should we take away from this? Let us look at this deeply. What the Upanishads tell us is that all of our suffering in this world is due to a misunderstanding or ignorance. We do not realize who we truly are. We think that we are limited. We think that we are finite. Speaker B [00:05:52]: And we believe that we are this body mind unit. So because we assume that we are this body and mind and because we limit that pure awareness Into a body mind unit, we suffer the consequences of this and we suffer the limitations of this body and mind. And we Suffer death, we suffer poverty, and we suffer various things in this world. If we only realize who we truly are, If we realize our true self as that infinite, abundant, limitless consciousness or awareness, All of our suffering will cease to exist in an instant. This is the promise of the Vedanta, and this is what we need to understand. Now with this, we can understand how this universe is a projection in that pure awareness or consciousness. But then we can ask, are we awake in a dream or are we unconscious? The answer is most of us are unconscious. Just like how within our dreams, We were unconscious of our waking reality, and we experienced ourself as the dream ego. Speaker B [00:07:01]: We are experiencing ourself right now as this. And we are experiencing various Things and objects of this universe, and we are interacting with the world around us. Once we realize who we truly are and once We realize our true nature as pure awareness. We will wake up to a higher level of reality. And from this perspective, Even this waking world will seem like an illusion or a projection. We are not there yet, but we are discussing it conceptually. So this is the framework given by Vedanta to understand the nature of reality. And by understanding these three levels of reality, We understand what this existence is and what is actually real and what is unreal. Speaker B [00:07:47]: Another way to look at it Is through this example. We all are now familiar with the virtual reality devices that we wear, and we play various Virtual reality games while wearing that headset. Now those headsets have a certain parameters to them. They work in a certain way. They have certain limitations, and they have certain boundaries within which they project a virtual reality for us to experience the Virtual world. And in that virtual world, we play different games. Just like this, we can understand the nature of reality also. This universe in which we are living right now is also just a game. Speaker B [00:08:28]: It is a projection. It is an illusion. But we have forgot who we truly are. We have been wearing this lens that we call the mind for a very long time, and this mind itself is a mask. And once we remove the mind, we can understand who we truly are. Most of us think that we are the mind, but we are Actually, not the mind. If we look at our experiences carefully, we will come to this conclusion. We are pure awareness and our mind is a filter or a lens through which we perceive this world. Speaker B [00:09:02]: And we have identified that pure awareness with our minds, and, hence, we are experiencing the limitations of our minds. So that pure awareness or consciousness or Brahman Has identified itself with a mask, with a mind. And through this mind, It is having an individual experience in this universe, and it is experiencing itself. Since the objects of this world are also consciousness And since the subject which is experiencing is also consciousness as there is nothing else apart from that consciousness within which This dream is being projected. Everything is consciousness, and that pure consciousness is experiencing itself within itself. This is the truth of existence. Once we understand this, we will Truly understand who we are, and we will come out of the self inflicted suffering that we have created for ourselves. If you Want to go deeper into these concepts if you want to truly understand the nature of reality and if you want to learn how to Consciously create the life that you truly want to live. Speaker B [00:10:15]: Then we have created a community cum learning Platform that we call the Advaita Conscious Society. You can join our platform by visiting advaita.com.