If everything is false, then what is the truth?

 

If everything that we we know, see, hear, feel, and taste is false, then what is the truth?

Standing on the brink of a kind of collapse never before experienced on earth, this question assumes great importance.

In India our ancestors probed everything very methodically. Our scriptures record the knowledge, mostly in forms of questions and answers. The texts serve as guide for all regardless of time and space, geographical location, or the faith that one subscribes to. The truth is universal and applicable to all.

I have come across diverse people who in their quest for meaning of life, have found solace in the knowledge and wisdom that is peculiar to India.

The epitome of that knowledge is found in the Mandukya Karika, considered one of the finest Vedantic texts.

The world does not exist. Nothing is happening. No one is striving for realization. Shocking as it seems this is indeed the truth as expressed in the Mandukya Karika by Gaudapada.

"There is no dissolution, no birth, none in bondage, none aspiring for wisdom, no seeker of liberation and none liberated", Verse 2.32, Mandukya Karika.

We are dreaming even as we are all established in Brahman. When we wake up from the dream we will know that we are that which we seek. There is no path to travel because we are fully established in the destination.

"Just be". This is the final instruction of Nisargadutta Maharaj. The "I am ness" that we always experience is the only truth, asserts Ramana Maharshi. The best of actions is the complete cessation of all actions. The deer rushes frantically here and there in the forest seeking the enchanting smell that emanates from the musk in its own navel.

The freedom we seek is not freedom of the person but freedom FROM the person. The person we have identified with is the cage that torments us. Letting go is about completely letting go without any inhibition.

We are witness to a film that currently is set to portray the end of an era. Tumultuous scenes will rock us creating myriad emotions within. But like the screen on which the scenes unfold that is not touched by the happenings we too have a base that is untouched and uncorrupted.

It is the silence behind the witness that is dispassionately observing everything. It is beyond the waking, dream, and deep sleep states. It is even beyond that state that is called turiya.

As we stand to lose everything that we hold dear, we should remember the words of The Mother of Pondicherry.

“Do not give way, hold tight. It is when everything seems lost that all is saved.”

We need to just stop dreaming.