Question

[Chuck Hillig]

At 03:26 PM 2/3/99 -0500, you wrote:
>Hello all,
>
>I just have one question. I would like to know why God created this world?


Hi Manjunath,

     Hmmmmmm.  An interesting thought, but aren't you really begging the
question here?  First, you're assuming that there is a God who, at some
place in space and time, actually created the world.  Then, after you've
made that assumption, you're asking "WHY did he/she/it do so?"

     But.......is the world that you experience quintessentially different
from the Self?   If the Self is truly indivisable, then all change
(including creation and destruction) is completely illusory and unreal.
Reality is that which persists.

     >Many say He created world & maya and that is how atman got in the
>web of the world.

     Perhaps, though, the words "world" and "maya" can be used
interchangeably here.  If Atman "got IN the web of the world," doesn't that
imply that Atman can also, "get OUT" of the web, too?   But is that even
possible?   Does the Atman ever really "come" and "go?"

>If He is/was always pure, why did He opt to go through this
>misery of being in maya ?

     Well, does the Self complain about this so-called "misery of being in
maya," or is it just this "you" who you think you are who wants to know?

>Again for that many answer it is His lila. It is
>really interesting to know more about this.
>
>Thanks,
>Manjunath

  So, here's a final thought:
            So, perhaps it's the nature of the Self to be what it is
                   by pretending to become
                         what it's pretending
                               to NOT be.

     When that "occurs," the self-consciousness of Consciousness shows up
as a "separate" ego interacting with "others" in a seemingly differentiated
universe.

                              With Blessings,

                                        Chuck Hillig

================================================================
"bhava shankara deshikame sharaNam"
List archives : http://listserv.tamu.edu/archives/advaita-l.html
================================================================