https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwcft4auszA&ab_channel=VedantaNewYork why do we call this world false what good does it do and how is it false? these are the questions and this is in the very world in which you are discussing advaita vedanta is the very world in saints and incarnations have come and this is all that we know right so the straight answer to your question is you don't have to take it as mithya remember [[mithya falsity]] falsity is a part of the doctrine of advaita vedanta but that's just one approach among many approaches you need not take it as false you can take it as real as real as everybody else takes it you don't have to worry about it so that's one approach if you do that however what will happen is if this world is real in what sense real means out there there's a i see a chair what's it it's a chair i see a man a woman what's it man woman world everything is real out there as i see it what's wrong with that nothing in that case what you are going to talk about what you are going to seek god you know the impersonal reality brahman it must be something other than this world he said no it can be this world itself if it is this world itself then why call it religion you become a materialist you're chasing the world notice if you take this world as it is then your god becomes a separate god because then are you trying to attain a chair or a table or a man or a woman or a money pleasure what are you trying to attain that's all that the world can give you this is the world then god becomes a separate reality and no problem there that is dualistic approach if god becomes a separate reality apart from you apart from the world then you have to set up a relationship with god > [!NOTE] 1. God as a separate reality > Contents god is the father or for sri ramakrishna god is the mother for arjuna god is the friend for yashoda or mother mary god is the child for radha god is the beloved relationship bhakti so that is the dualistic approach no problem there or > [!NOTE] 2. This world is real and all is God > - vishishtadvaita you could have that it is real and it's all god also that also is possible there is one infinite divinity and we this is also all divine and this divine this is included in that infinite divinity and we have to realize that this is divine somehow or the other is all pervaded by divinity god alone is all of this you can also do that that is called **vishishtadvaita** these are all vast sophisticated philosophical systems qualified manism or you can say god alone exists and the whole thing is an appearance in god > [!NOTE] 3. God alone exists > - all is an appearance in God. > - God alone is > - God is given maximum importance appearance is another name for appearance is mis-mitti or falsity notice in which of the three systems is god given maximum importance in the third one the first one world is there i am there and there is something else called god no matter how important how beautiful whatever but still quite different from the world and from me and god is reduced by that much second one god is there but we have this god has distinct parts like people and things and all third one god alone is nothing else is all appears in god swami vivekananda says when mary hale wrote to him i have understood what you have taught god is everything or everything is god swami vivekananda said i've never taught such strange doctrine and she was taken aback she said you say these things and swami vivekananda he says what i meant was he i might have said it i mean many times he says god is everything but i might have said it but what he says what i meant was god alone is everything is not that is advaita vedanta now what good does it do twofold good one is apparent and one is at the surface one is the deep application in spiritual life what does it do for us there's a philosophical side to falsity whereby argument you try to show the falsity of the world it's a difficult job because it seems very real to us you know one thing why does it seem very real to us because what when you say what is the world is which is false when you tell people like that what they normally take is here this world and they're telling us this is false it's like snake appearing as a rope appearing as snake you say the snake is false but what it does not mean that there's nothing there there is something that there's a rope there similarly when advaitan says this world is false it doesn't mean the normal way people take it it usually immediately think people think that oh they're dismissing everything but then i'm left with nothing i don't know anything else but no no when you dismiss this you're throwing away the baby with the bath water the reality is here where you see the snake there you see the rope where you are seeing world and people and body and mind there the enlightened one is seeing brahman god divinity existence consciousness please i'm using the word god in a very general sense in a very philosophical sense so this is the deep meaning of the falsity of the world what is the meaning of the falsity of the world if the world is false there must be a truth what is the truth you can't just have falsity if somebody tells a lie hey that's false that means there's a true this is the truth so what's the truth if the world is false what's the truth brahman is the truth where will you find the truth where you are seeing falsity where will you find the rope where you are seeing snake sanctuary gives a succinct definition very powerful statement atasmin what is not there you see there snake is not there you see a snake that that snake is false but the reality is right there that's a rope you're seeing world and people and good and bad the reality is right there it's god it's existence consciousness place one unlimited existence so this is the deep meaning of falsity of the world what the advantage is **it is giving you direct access to reality** by saying what you are seeing is not as it should be then what as it should be the reality is right there right now and in fact it's you when i say i see myself as this little person that's false you are brahmana so what you are seeing as i what i am seeing as i me myself sarvah priyananda advaita says please investigate this itself your favorite subject yourself investigate this what what can be more interesting to you than yourself and please investigate this you will find god srirama krishna's words when the human being realizes who he or she is he finds god so this is the this is you see this great it's advaita vedanta yes but this is predicated upon the falsity of the world if the world is not false then this god you have to look elsewhere for god what is the secondary benefit of it the secondary benefit is we are very attached to the world and that's what's stopping us you see it's not philosophy which is stopping us the philosophy of advaita vedanta is not difficult to understand so in vivekananda says many people come to an understanding few realize on this path so there's a difference between just understanding it and realizing it and how do i know whether i've understood or realized it just check the benefits it's supposed to take you beyond sorrow it's supposed to give you fulfillment are you honestly truly beyond sorrow are you honestly truly fulfilled if i if you say no if we say not really and then it might be understanding but it's certainly not realization so **this attachment to the world this desire is at the root of all spiritual problems** and this falsity doctrine of falsity it cuts at the very root of that desire everybody knows that the world is temporary even this q and a session is temporary so don't worry people will be like how long is he going to go on it's temporary this too shall pass this too shall pass but that does not remove our attachment to the world i know the cookie is temporary who cares who wants an eternal cookie anyway i want a temporary cookie and i want to enjoy it i know the movie is temporary great i don't want an endless movie i want to enjoy this temporary movie this temporary cookie i know life is temporary things in the life are impermanent that does not remove our does not shake our desire for the world **but notice the moment we clearly honestly believe this world to be an appearance your desire immediately disappears fear also disappears** **fear and desire terror and temptation they are predicated on supposing something to be real** notice in the dreams we are scared in the dreams we are terrified or tempted in the dreams as long as we dream when we wake up we still remember what we saw but we are not scared anymore we are not terrified anymore why because the falsity has been proved notice a movie horror movie tragedy in a horror movie we can enjoy it but you're not really horrified by it a tragedy it does not traumatize you for life you can you can cry in the movie and still have aesthetic enjoyment why because falsity is proved if it was real i always give this example of king kong the great guerrilla who it seems to attack new york so you can enjoy king kong climbing the empire state building huge gorilla and people can clap and cheer and enjoy it and ooh and ah but if a little actual little monkey came into this the movie theater they would i'll evacuate the theater they'll all run screaming out of the theater why what's the difference between king kong the giant king kong and the little monkey giant king kong is proved to be is taken to be false appearance not a source of real terror even the terror that it evokes is a delicious thrill so that's the that's the benefit spiritual benefit of falsity of the world but yet again as i say you don't have to take it as false there are there are paths there are different paths and by the way it might surprise you in hindu philosophy hindu philosophy the only system which takes the world to be false is advaita vedanta nyaya takes the world to be real bhaishika takes the world to be real umsankhya takes the world to be real yoga patanjali's yoga takes the world to be real purva me mamsa takes the world to be real it's only in vedanta that too advaita vedanta it takes the world to be unreal or an appearance the other vedanta systems the dualistic system qualified monastic even all these systems they all take the world to be real the world to be an appearance and consciousness alone to be real that's advaita vedanta but it has a lot in common with multiple systems in buddhism that's why advaitans were always charged by other hindus are you guys really hindus or your buddhists so shankara you are crypto buddhists hidden buddhists there is an attack by the dualists um so sometimes we are there's a pejorative term maya vadi you are teachers of maya the illus the illusion of the world that's what you talk about so we we are we can become defensive we say no brahmavadina we are teachers of brahman the absolute reality then the dualists come back with this response we are also teachers of the way of brahman what is the uniqueness of your teaching the uniqueness of your teaching that means the non-dualist teaching is the falsity of the world is it not and we have to say yes that's so so the uniqueness of your teaching is maya yes and that maya is mithya false so you are maya badis well in that sense maybe so you are mithyawadis your your teachers of falsity you are false teachers all right thank you