Unreal actions and actors

[Anand Hudli]

>Surely this little trick is every bit as wonderful as boring old Brahman
>who just sits there unchangingly, saying, thinking and doing nothing
>whatsoever! "Waking up" out of this dream can come if it likes, it is such
>a kick being an illusion, I'm not sure I want the fun to end. I think Maha
>Maya deserves a big round of applause  for bringing a nothing out of a
>something and making each seem to have the characteristic of the other!
>I suppose we'll all get enlightened and disappear out of this dream
>eventually, so in the meantime, maybe we can enjoy the illusoriness of
> this illusion while there's still a chance!  As the Yogavasishtha says,
>"Enjoyment accompanied by Spiritual Knowing conduces to pure contentment.
>The thief, admitted into company with knowledge of him *as thief*, becomes
>more a friend than a foe."

  Several problems here. Brahman is not just a passive, inert entity. It
  is Infinite Bliss/Happiness. What maayaa can offer is only limited
  happiness, limited by many factors such as time, space, etc. Inherently,
  we seek eternal happiness without any restrictions/limitations. That is
  why the Chhaandogya upanishhad says:

   naalpe sukhamasti

   There is no happiness in that which is small. There is no point in
   going after small things. We are not little boys anymore, when we
   were happy with little things. :-)

   yo vai bhuumaa tatsukhaM

   That which is big (offers) happiness.

   All happiness in the phenomenal world is finite and limited. What we
   are looking for is happiness that is desha-kaala-aadi-anavachchhinna ,
   not limited by space, time, etc. We want be happy wherever we go, and
   we want to be happy all the time. And we want the happiness to never
   end. Even Bill Gates can't get that kind of happiness here!



>hmmm... I think the waking up must be waking up *from* us and we will
 >be seen to have never been. If that's the kind of thing we *really*
>want then we are asking for annihilation. This is something that only
>a guru can give, but where can we find someone like that?
>If nothing else, we can always avail ourselves of Ramana Maharshi's guru,
>I suppose. As Ramana says in the Eleven Verses on Sri Arunachala: "Oh men
>who, disgusted with this life of intense misery, seek a means of giving
>up the body, there is on earth a rare drug which, without actually
>killing him, will annihilate anyone who so much as thinks of It. Know
>that It is none other than this Arunachala!" As most of us know,
>Arunachala is Ramana Maharshi's guru, a hill in India, and the embodiment
>of Shiva. If an enlightened being like Ramana Maharshi says it is so,then
>isn't it as certain as anything can be in Advaita Vedanta? How convenient
>for us and generous of Ramana to provide such a  vehicle for this time
>when it seems difficult to find a *real* guru. Arunachala will probably
>*seem* to be around for some good time to come and is unlikely to
>encourage our doubts by having sex with female devotees or depositing
>millions in Swiss banks!

  By all means, worship Shiva. He will lead you to a Guru.

>- Allan Curry

>P.S.

>Brahman (the Real) does not act, (not once, not ever) and all actions and
> all actors are unreal. Is this really the position of Advaita Vedanta

  You are right.