ILLUSION OF THE WORLD

     We have often seen that the Vedic religion states that this universe is not REAL but an ILLUSION . But then what is real. If what I feel and what I see and what I smell-touch-hear etc is not real. But then what is real? and why do we feel it and act according to what our senses inform us ?

     There are some explanations for such concepts . One is that this whole universe is nothing but DREAM . Just like if I dream I CREAT all the characters and their movements and emotions and what they see - act and the story of their life . If  want someone to laugh I DO THAT and if I WANT THEM TO act, they do it . And when I wake up THEY ARE GONE. So they exist in my dream and even though the people in my dream and the tree and the car and animals etc may look and act as real, everything is is in my dream and if I wake up or my dream ends -ALL WILL DISAPPEAR. 

   If we extend this to the DREAM of the GOD then we are all nothing but existing in HIS DREAM and so is NOT REAL But as one can see , if I CREAT a DREAM , then I AM PRESENT -in thought form -in everything that I see . The tree , the garden the house ,the furniture and all the persons in the dream that I AM WATCHING have ME IN THEM. So if the GOD created a dream world then in everything that HE created will have his presence. SO THAT IS WHY WE SAY GOD IS PRESENT IN EVERY THING IN THE THIS UNVERSE. Remember the story of the devotee PRAHLAD and Hiranyskashyapu. 

      The persons in my dream have no idea of the creator of the dream - namely me. And he or she can not find ME in Temple or church or school or anywhere, but I AM PRESNT IN EVRYTHING THAT THAT PERSON IN THE DREAM IS COMING ACROSS. The same way, I cannot find the GOD in THIS UNIVERSE or church - temple etc ,But HE IS THERE IN EVERY THING THAT I SEE -TOUCH - FEEL ETC 

WHAT KIND OF GOD WILL I SEE IF I GET ENLIGHTENED >

      In Vedic religion, we have many Gods . In fact that is one of the objection raised by the ABRAHAMIC religions. But then they also have  their own so called point of respect namely cross or Virgin Mary and so on. But since we have so many different Forms of God , and different people worship different Gods , or correctly stated different Forms of the GOD, which one would one SEE- PERCEIVE-when one gets enlightened or would it be just NOTHING ?

     Again what I am going to say is just my view, as I am not enlightened. But my opinion is based on experiences of many masters and  feel that even they needed a statue to worship or meditate. Ramakrishna was in ecstasy with Mother KALI. Even though he was realized soul, he still worship the ultimate being in form of Mother Kali. So what was he seeing or perceiving when he was in Samadhi 

      So that brings to me the question and it's answer. If one is lucky to perceive the GOD, then one will see- perceive whichever GOD he or she was worshiping. The God or the BRAHMAN will be in form of ISHVARA, with form that one was worshiping , thinking about when one was meditating or having devotional worship. So if I am worshiping LORD KRISHNA, I will see Krishna and if I am worshiping Lord Rama, then I will see Lord Rama and so on.

 

HOW LONG IT TAKES BEFORE REINCARNATION

       Those who believe in reincarnation, may have a question that if we are incarnated , how many years it takes for reincarnation. This is a theological questions and so there is could be many answers. It may depend upon what one believes as to the reincarnation and why are we born again . 

   The short answer could be -'quick' to  hundreds of years. What I am writing is my OWN THOUGHT PROCESS. To know the time lapsed between the death and new life one must answer as to why we are born or may be why we need to be born . What is it that we CANNOT have in Astral world that we can get only in PHYSICAL world. 

   We have unfulfilled desires or VASANAS or have DEBT - give and take with the people that we come in contact with. Certain Desires or VASANAS cannot be fulfilled without having a physical body, e.g. eating food that I loved or alcohol or drug or sex .We cannot experience that pleasure without physical body and so we must be born in physical body to experience that pleasure. But these desires are not always intense and so they may not be effective to force us to be born quickly. But if a person dies in an accident, he or she will have more intense desire to come back than a person dying at age 90 years . So the person dying young will come back earlier than older one. Think of a mother who dies when her child is very young. She will be born very quickly. So it may happen in days or year . Contrast to that if someone dies a natural death at late age when usual Desires - VASANAS are fulfilled  including taking care of small children - parents or achieving success in life etc. , then they will  not be born for years . These people will be born to UPLIFT THEMSELF rather than fulfilling desires . Remember most of the things that we do as GOOD DEEDS or KARMA are to physical body - helping hungry, sick suffering in pain and so on - we cannot help them unless we have physical body . So if I need to create good KARMA ,I must have PHYSICAL body . To neutralize bad KARMA -debt that I did not repay - I have to come back in physical body . So to fulfill Desires , to Create Good Karma  and to wash out bad Karma ,, we need new physical body . 

    Depending upon these forces time that it takes for one to be reborn is determined .  . 

WHY WE DON'T HAVE MEMORY OF PAST LIFE?

      I have talked about the reincarnation and how we carry same Astral Body - also called SUKSHMA SHARIR and Causal body -or KARAN SHARIR. The Astral body is SUBTLE BODY and the subtle body is Mind ,Intelligence ,and Ego (MANAS-BUDHHI - AHANKAR). The mind and inelegance should have or have MEMORY. We act in certain way based on our PREVIOUS experience. So if I know that  fire flames in fire place are HOT and our hand will get burns, if we touch it, then even with fake fire place and flames which look  red hot , we will hesitate to touch it as our memory and intelligence tells us NOT TO DO IT. This memory should be carried from one life to other if the mind and inelegance are the SAME from one life to other.

     But that does not happen.. The child has NO memory of fire place or heat or anything like that. So why is this memory not there if the mind is same in new life after reincarnation. The answer may be as to what we call as memory. We in present life call memory when we 'remember ' the actual thing .When I see someone or meet someone , that I had seen in past, I am expected to remember him . This is the memory as we talk about in this life . But the memories that are carried from life to life are not that kind of memories. If I do remember the people , then I will have problem in my next life with relationships. The memory is stored in ASTRAL body is stored as IMPRESSION or in ABSTRACT form . So if I like donuts or cakes - i like sweet things - the memory that is carried from one life to other is not that of 'liking donuts or cakes' but stored as 'like sweet things'. If I am born in Indian family in my next life ,I will like sweet Indian things like 'JALEBI OR LADDU' ETC. The same things applied to dog or cat or a person. We will be in love with animals  and with certain person , we will have some kind of attraction. For them or certain qualities in them. 

     That is why we do carry memory, but not the same type of memory as we have in physical body memory