Universe needs no improvement, your outlook does!

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Q. I do not feel that the world is the result of a mistake.

M. You may say so only after a full investigation, not before. Of course, when you discern and let go all that is unreal, what remains is real.

Does anything remain?

The real remains. But don't be misled by words!

Since immemorial time, during innumerable births, I build and improve and beautify my world. It is neither perfect, nor unreal. It is a process.

You are mistaken. The world has no existence apart from you. At every moment it is but a reflection of yourself. You create it, you destroy it. 

And build it again, improved.

To improve it, you must disprove it. One must die to live. There is no rebirth, except through death.

Your universe may be perfect. My personal universe is improving.

Your personal universe does not exist by itself. It is merely a limited and distorted view of the real. It is not the universe that needs improving, but your way of looking.

How do you view it?

It is a stage on which a world drama is played. The quality of the performance is all that matters; not what the actors say and do, but how they say and do it.

I do not like this leela (play) idea, I would rather compare the world to a work-yard in which we are builders.

You take it too seriously. What is wrong with play? You have a purpose only as long as you are not complete (poorna); till then completeness, perfection, is the purpose. But when you are complete in yourself, fully integrated within and without, then you enjoy the universe; you do not labor at it. To the disintegrated you may seem working hard, but that is their illusion. Sportsmen seem to make tremendous efforts: yet their sole motive is to play and display.

Do you mean to say that God is just having fun, that HE is engaged in purposeless action?

God is not only true and good, he is also beautiful (satyam, shivam, sundaram). He creates beauty - for the joy of it.

Well, then beauty is his purpose!

Why do you introduce purpose? Purpose implies movement, change, a sense of imperfection. God does not aim at beauty - whatever he does is beautiful. Would you say that a flower is trying to be beautiful? It is beautiful by its very nature. Similarly God is perfection itself, not an effort at perfection.