Consciousness Undivided

{c§rya Ga*ap§da in his M§;*ukyaK§rik§ (on M§;*ukyopani>ad) says that the perceived world is mithy§ --‘not real’.  Just as dream is not real, similar is the case of the world. What does that mean?  I am talking to you.  Is it real or not?  I touch the water, it feels cool.  I drink water, it quenches my thirst. Are these experiences real or not?  I knocked the pillar.  It hurts.  If you say, it is not real, then what does it mean?  What does it mean by saying that this is all unreal?  

All these actions and experiences are taking place only because of one thing, that is Consciousness. Had there been no Consciousness, there would have not been any experience or even action etc.  Had I been not Conscious, I would have not been acting or experiencing in the first place.

Moreover, is the hand knocking a wall?  Is my mouth speaking to you?  Or are the vocal cords speaking?  Nobody says so.  

Or is it Consciousness in hand knocking the wall?  Nobody says that ‘one Consciousness is speaking to another Consciousness’.  No, Consciousness does not speak.  It is a fact that all actions and experiences are due to Consciousness alone and nothing else.  Hence there is one reality—Consciousness. This is what Gau*ap§da would like to state.  

Talking, knocking, listening—all are appearing in Consciousness.  It is just as a screen on which many films are played.  Or a stage on which various dramas are enacted.  actors come and go.  Films come and go. Screen remains the same.  Hence stage is the reality. Screen is the reality.

It is certainly not that there is a (body) physical structure in which there is Consciousness, mind etc.  It is one undivided Consciousness everything is being played out.  This is the stand that Gau*ap§da takes.

It is just as bubbles, waves, ripples, foams etc. are appearing and disappearing in an ocean. Ocean is the reality.   

Gau*ap§da would like to ask:  a) There is a mango.  b) I see a mango. Which one of these two statements is more correct.  The second one is the reality.  Without perception caused due to Consciousness, there can be no existence of mango.

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