Is This Visible World Real?

  In the Yogavasishtha, the Learned Sage imparting the knowledge of the Self, 'brahmn'. As the story goes, Sri Ramachandra was seen depressed due to the sad state of the poor people and worried about his ability to solve their problem as a Prince and later as a King of Ayodhya. Sage Vasishtha visits the King at this time and the latter narrates how Ramachandra is depressed and worried, neglects his food, and getting weak. Thus, the instructions given to Rama that runs into almost 32,000 are abridged by some learned Kashmiri scholars to nearly 6000 and finally e have small booklet of just 223 verses here in ten chapters. The essence of the Text is simple. The Learned sage says this visible world is unreal. The visible world is limited by Time (kaala), Distance (desha) and Causality (karya-karana). Whatever is limited and liable to decay and destruction is not real. Even the human body comes within this definition. It's a straw says the Great Sage. Further, whatever is made of parts is liable to give way and disappear when parts are gone. So, what is real is not that is visible and we experience with the help of the senses, mind, and intelligence. Whatever is experienced by the inner Self (Atman) is the only reality. Hence it is essential to know the ਰeality of our ਏxistence.  The Self (Atman) is the manifest aspect of supreme Self (paramatman). The body is made out of the elements and all beings are like the snail in shell. The silkworm weaves out a cocoon, hibernate, and finally makes a whole through it and flies of as a butterfly. That's all.

In Yogavasishtha, the Learned sage is instructing Ramachandra, son of King Dasharatha about the 'Reality' of this visible world. In fact, Ramachandra here is a divine incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Etymologically and esoterically the word Rama has different connotations than the one historical character Ramachandra. However, the name Rama, son of King Dasharatha is no different from the one we are discussing here as the Godhead. King Dasharatha who is a descendant of the dynasty of Ikshvaku, the worshiper of Sun-God, gave this name to his first son Rama. The two syllable 'Ra' and 'Ma' refers to Ravi (Sun) and Earth (Bhu), respectively. In fact, even Lakshmana and Hanuman associated with Rama are very significant, indeed. In Adhyatma Ramayana, the terms denote the soul (Ra), the body (ma), the neervous system (Lakshman) and the Prana (Hanuman). Hanuman is actually called vatatmaja (borne out of air, ie., Oxygen) and Anjanisuta (borne out of Fire/Sun/Hydrogen). 

  It is very significant that the 'Vishnu Sahasranama' ends with the words: sahasranama tulya rama naama varaanane | 'Rama is the incarnation of Vishnu. This name is equal in value to a thousand other words that describe Lord Vishnu. What is so special about this? The two syllables 'Ra' and 'ma' stand for the Suryanarayana and Lakshmi (Bhu devi. In fact, the earth is a planet that is formed out of cooling and condensation of the solar flares. The Earth as a planet in the solar system is supposed to be the only suitable place to support diversified forms of plan and animal life (including birds and man), It is also a laboratory where man can evolve into the human and attain divinity like Sri Ramachandra. This attainment is made possible by a learned 'Guru'. The Guru imparts spiritual knowledge and weans away the suffering beings (jivarashi) from attachment to the sensuous world. The sensuous world is subject to limitations (niyati) of time and distance. The suffering of the living beings is attributed to ignorance as to the true nature of this world. A learned guru comes only to an earnest seeker who seeks refuge and liberation. ignorance as to the true nature of our existence is the root cause of suffering. Only the 'knowledge of the Self' (Atmajnyan) can remove the ignorance. The jiva is finally redeemed when its true nature is realized with the help of a guru.  This is the case of Sri Ramachandra, too. Here, Ramachandra was depressed after seeing the sick, old and the poor during is tour of Ayodhya Kingdom. Sage Vasishtha comes to impart the true nature of this visible world and the 'knowledge of the self'.

 Learned Sage Vasishtha imparts spiritual knowledge to King Dasharatha's son Ramachandra at a very early age as found in the voluminous 'Yoga Vasishtha'. This enables the prince to become a very famous king as also attain divinity. Sri Rama ruled Ayodhya so well that it came to be known as "Rama Rajya"- a land of peace, plenty, and prosperity and became very famous all over the world. What was so special about that rule may be stated to be just performing 'Rajadharma'. Sri Ramachandra is now worshiped as God. This is what the history of ancient Bharat, may be 7500 years ago known as tretayuga. 

  The teachings of sage Vasishtha are a masterpiece and a guide to all those who seek redemption, liberation.