Cosmos is a dream of God!
The invincible!
Thus spake Vivekananda!
It is all a show or drama which is the imagination of the writer!
Many of us might have heard the phrase, ‘a dream within a dream’. I was contemplating what this phrase signifies? Of course, philosophically, I can conceive that the world is a big dream of god. The individual who dreams represent the meaning of ‘a dream within a dream’
Is the world really a big dream of god? This question cannot be answered unless one has faith in the philosophy of ‘non-dualism’. Non-dualism states that there is only ONE and there is no second entity! The ONE is always present. There was no time, when it was absent. If we imagine space, he occupies every inch of it and there is no place vacant without him. These explanations are only for the ignorant, otherwise, we cannot even define the One, since even the illusory mind has emanated only from the One. At best we can say that the one is both the speck and the infinite. Imagine a circle. A circle has a center and there is a circumference. Circumference may vary but the center is only one and fixed. From the center, you can draw any number of circles of varying diameters. Similarly, god is the center and the creation may be considered the expansion!
Even the scientists aver that the universe is expanding! Hence it is futile to understand the expanding universe. Instead, one need to focus on the center. Every being has a center, which is not physical but spiritual. It is also termed as spiritual heart. It is imagined to be on the right side of chest, unlike the physical heart which is on the left side. It is not a physical substance but it is the light which illumines the individual. The light is just a witness and it is in no way connected to the actions and thoughts of the individual and hence it is not affected by the sorrows and joy undergone by the individual. Even when the bodies disappear, the light or the spiritual heart is ever-present everywhere. Hence we term it as the Self or Atma. Sri Ramana Maharishi of Thiruvannamalai in South India has spoken much about the spiritual heart.
The physical heart is subject to growth, decline and disease but the spiritual heart is always in bliss. It never suffers due to any modifications of the physical body. I have already dealt with the fact that God is the Director of the big show of life. He is also the story, script writer, costumer, and the stage in which various actors enters and exit. Hence the story writer knows the theme of the drama, how it is going to end, how long each actor should remain in various scenes etc. The onlookers are the individual selves who are afflicted by the ego and body consciousness. Hence the onlookers react to the various scenes with different emotions. When there is comedy, they too laugh and when there are sorrowful scenes, some of the onlookers shed real tears. They become one with the show and hence they are affected by the various scenes intensely. Only when the drama ends, they realize the futility of their emotions and they realize that it is only a drama, conceived by god.
What is the difference between a dream and drama? The dream is the handiwork of the confusing mind. The drama is just an imagination of the story writer. In both these cases, it is only the imagination that plays the role. Hence whether it is a dream or drama, it is pure illusion or fantasy. It can also be termed as ‘fiction” which is nothing but the imagination of the writer. So long as we watch a cinema, it looks absolutely real. At the end, you find only a pure white screen on which the films are projected through the light, which falls on the screen like big images. If you look at the film, it will look tiny but due to the combination of light projected through the lenses, it looks big and real. The movement of films through the projector at a fixed speed enables us to perceive the motions of actors continuously. Sound is added through audio strips along with the films. The entire cinema with various colorful scenes looks so real due to the innovations in film technology. Hence the only reality is the pure white screen fixed on the opposite wall of the picture hall. There may be fire and flood; there may be war and destruction which caused much anxiety in the mind of onlookers. The picture never undergoes any modification or change due to the scenes projected on it.
Pure consciousness (God) inside every one is the pure white screen on which the drama of life is projected by the connivance of light and darkness which is nothing but the mind. If it is only pure light, nothing will be sensible or visible. If it is pure darkness, we cannot perceive any pictures. It is the combination of light and darkness which makes it possible for the cinema show! Hence in God as pure consciousness, no creation is possible. When the illusory mind is coming out of the consciousness, creation is seen. Hence the creation is the handiwork of hoodwinking mind and God is just the base which is static!