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[sadananda]

What is real and unreal and what is maayaa-

There is very well defined -

First what is real:   Trikaala abhaaditam satyam - That which remains the
same in three periods of time is the truth.  Any thing that undergoes
modification does not come under truth.

What is unreal - that never existed or will ever exist.

- In B.G. II-16 Krishna declares this as:

   naasatO vidyatE bhaavO
   naabhaavO vidyatE sataH|
   ubhayOrapi dR^ishTanta
   stvanyO stattva darshibhiH||

  That which is unreal can never be, that which is real can never cease to
be, those who  see the truth of these two alone see the truth.

In vedanta traditional examples for unreal are - vandyaapurtaH - son of a
barren women, horns of a rabbit, etc.

Since the world does exist and that we see, it does not fall under unreal-
since it  does not fulfill the definition of satyam, the real, we need
another term that is maaya - It appears to be there but upon inquiry it is
not there in all the period of time.  It is neither satyam nor asatyam -
Since it is changing the changing is not satyam - but any change is
possible with some substratum supporting the change which must remain as
changeless - that is the sat or the existence part of it and that is satyam
- that is Brahman.

Hari OM!

Sadananda

K. Sadananda
Code 6323
Naval Research Laboratory
Washington D.C. 20375
Voice (202)767-2117
Fax:(202)767-2623

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What you have is His gift to you and what you do with what you have is your
gift to Him: Swami Chinmayananda
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