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Is all this a dream? || Acharya Prashant, with IIM Nagpur (2022)
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3 years ago
Advaita Vedanta
Adi Shankaracharya
Jagat Mithya
Dream
Ego
Awakening
Consciousness
Impermanence
Description

Acharya Prashant addresses the questioner's confusion about the spiritual concept of the world being a dream, especially when one has received this knowledge without the necessary preparation. He explains that this confusion arises when one gets something very easily that someone else, like Adi Shankaracharya, has earned through the effort of an entire lifetime. The speaker clarifies that the questioner is not mistaken in taking the world as a dream, but the mistake lies in taking it only partially as a dream. The problem is that while one might consider the laptop a dream, the thought that "this laptop is a dream" is also part of the dream, and the one thinking this thought, the dreamer, is also a dream. Adi Shankaracharya's teaching of "Jagat Mithya" (the world is unreal) means everything is a dream, including the dreamer. The questioner's mistake is taking the world as unreal while considering himself, the one making this declaration, as very real. The speaker emphasizes that the point of Advaita Vedanta is not to pass judgment on the world but to achieve self-improvement and freedom from the ego. The teaching that the world is unreal is fundamentally about the unreality of the ego, which is in constant flux and dependent on perception. The world's perceived unreality stems from the perceiver's own lack of constancy. He further explains that spiritual awakening is not like waking from a night's sleep where the dream disappears entirely. Instead, the things of the world continue to exist, but one's relationship with them changes. The correct approach is to use the impermanent world to reach the permanent. For instance, the right relationship with an impermanent laptop is to use it to read the timeless Upanishads before it is lost. Acharya Prashant advises that it is alright to worry, but one's worries must be healthy and directed toward the goal of peace and Truth. Most worries are just expressions of an insecure ego that wants to remain insecure. Instead of worrying about countless meaningless things, one should worry about the one real thing, the Truth. This kind of worry is auspicious and healthy. He distinguishes between useless worry and caution, which is necessary to protect what is fragile and precious, like truth, peace, and joy. The purpose of the mind is to reach and guard peace. Therefore, one must exercise caution to defend the Truth and protect one's peace. This is the real import of Advaita Vedanta.