No "I", No World

Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj 

In a dream, the short period of five minutes may contain a prolonged period of life. When one is in deep sleep, neither the waking life, nor the dream life are present. There one enjoys a certain bliss. In that, there is the Self, but the body is not there, but the subtle ego is still there. Birth and death are also false. As soon as the Self is forgotten, the "me" comes into being, and that makes us see and experience birth and death. The entanglement in worldly life makes life extremely difficult and it has become very hard to go beyond it. One who becomes something is deceived by Maya. The lust for enjoyment of self-objects becomes powerful in the individual, and by that, Maya's energy and strength are increased. They say that the image of Ganapati (Ganesha) should not be touched without first taking a bath. But who sees that the little son of the potter was passing urine into the clay before it was used for the making of the idol? In short, as soon as the jiva has limbs, arms and legs, they are bound to grow. However, when they are not there, or are broken from the beginning, how can one break them? How can there be any destruction?

Another example is there of a man who gives one paise (pai-se; a fraction of a rupee) in charity with a hope that he will get one hundred paise in the future. This is sheer ignorance. Maya is of this nature. To find it out and use some means to discard it is like an activity of a ghost. It is dissolved only by the teaching and advice of the Sadguru. Is the activity in the dream true or false? Will it ever be possible to find out which is false? There was a town that was never built. To whom should one ask why the town was not built? It is senseless to make such enquiries. You must understand that Maya is only imagination. Everything that appears is false. All is dreamlike. It is very hard to go beyond this Maya for those who take her to be true. Many people say, "All this happened," or, "I said all this, and then I was awakened." While one utters "I am," repeatedly, they say that "I have done everything." While I was calling myself either "happy" or "unhappy," I am now awake by the blessing of Sadguru. Say, "I am liberated, and it is by the grace of the Guru that this Knowledge arose." Otherwise one thinks that Maya is true and real, and becomes caught in the cycle of births and deaths.

To say, "I am my body" means birth through a womb, but to say that "I am Brahman" is to be without that process at all. One who says this is the "Son of the Guru." To have this sense of "I" in Brahman is to be the individual, a jiva. But, when "I" is nothing, then all is Brahman. We should see what is the structure of the "I". If "I" does not have any structure or shape, it is automatically proved to be false. When it does not have its own structure, how can we prove its existence? Therefore, any statement should be made after we observe the structure of the "I". When "I" is gone, the whole world is gone, because the entire world together with the "I" is Illusion, it is false. Therefore, there is the saying, "When we die the world is drowned into nothingness." One who has dropped the sense of "I" becomes the real "Knower of Brahman."