Why should I accept the world as unreal?

Sri Ramana Maharshi

M: For the simple reason that unless you give up the ideas that the world is real your mind will always be after it. If you take the appearance to be real you will never know the Real itself, although it is the Real alone that exists.This point is illustrated by the analogy of the snake and the rope. As long as you see the snake, you cannot see the rope as such. The nonexistent snake becomes real to you, while the real rope seems wholly nonexistent as such.

Q: It is easy to accept tentatively that the world is not ultimately real, but it is hard to have the conviction that it is really unreal.

M: Even so is your dream world real while you are dreaming. So long as the dream lasts, everything you see and feel therein is real.

(Continued in this post)