The late Philip K. Dick put it better than I could have:
Could God create a man so gullible as to believe that nothing exists? Because if nothing exists then what is meant by “nothing?” How do you distinguish a nothing that exists from a nothing that doesn’t?
It is possible that we are in a simulation, at least in the sense that this thesis is impossible to disprove; but if we were, that would imply that beyond the simulation was reality. Otherwise, what is the difference between a simulation of reality and reality itself?
But the idea that nothing exists at all is contradictory.
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The famous ‘Vishwaroop’ that Krsna showed to Arjuna is the form of MahaVishnu or Karanadakasayi Vishnu. MahaVishnu is one of the vyuha manifestation of Lord Vishnu.
The four Vyuha manifestations are:
- Vasudeva
- Sankarsana
- Pradyumna
- Aniruddha
The last vyuha form is the preserver of the cosmos, who resides in Ksheer Sagara or milky ocean, and it is from him numerous avatar manifests.
The whole existence constitutes the body of MahaVishnu, which is but a quarter of the Purusha as per Purusha Suktam.
Within the vishwaroopam, every mobile and immobile being was seen.
Gita 11.13:
tatraika-stham jagat kritsnam pravibhaktam anekadha
apashyad deva-devasya sharire pandavas tadaAt that time, Pandava saw there, in the body of the God of gods, the whole diversely differentiated Universe united in the one (Cosmic form).
The same form was witnessed by Utanka.
Mahabharata Anugita Parva Section LV:
'Gratified with him, the holy one then showed Utanka that eternal Vaishnava form which Dhananjaya of great intelligence had seen. Utanka beheld the high-souled Vasudeva’s universal form, endued with mighty arms. The effulgence of that form was like that of a blazing fire of a thousand suns. It stood before him filling all space. It had faces on every side. Beholding that high and wonderful Vaishnava form of Vishnu, in act, seeing the Supreme Lord (in that guise), the Brahmana Utanka became filled with wonder.'
The supreme-soul Vasudeva takes various forms to generate/manifest, preserve and dissolve the cosmos.
Narada Puran 1.2.26:
I take resort to the unborn Lord who assumes the form of Brahma, and creates the worlds, who alone is the protector ( of the worlds ) assuming the forms of Brahmanas and Vishnu, and who assumes the body called Rudra for dissolving the worlds at the end of the kalpas.
Thus, the supreme form of Lord Vishnu is beyond direction, location, time and shape.
Parama Samhita Chapter 3:
His form has not been defined by direction, location, time or shape.
The supreme state of Vishnu is described as follows:
Vishnu Puran 1:9:50 – 51:
viśuddhaṃ bodhanaṃ nityam ajam akṣayam avyayam | avyaktam avikāraṃ yat tad viṣṇoḥ paramaṃ padam || na sthūlaṃ na ca sūkṣmam yan-na viśeṣaṇa ‘gocaram | tat padaṃ paramaṃ viṣṇoḥ praṇamāmaḥ sadāmalam ||
That which is the Supreme State (Paramam Padam) of Vishnu is pure, conscious, eternal, unborn, undecayable, inexhaustible, unmanifest, immutable, It is neither gross nor subtle, nor capable of being defined, to that ever immaculate Supreme State of Vishnu I bow.
Vishnu Puran 1.2.16:
pradhāna-puruṣāvyakta-kālānāṃ paramam hi yat | paśyanti sūrayaḥ śuddham tad viṣṇoḥ paramam padam ||
What is beyond matter, spirit, manifestation, and time; that pure [state] which sages behold that is the supreme abode of Vishnu.
Now, we shall see what Lord himself states to his beloved wife.
Padma Puran Gita Mahatmya ( 6.175 onwards ):
I see my own body of Śiva ( auspiciousness ). O goddess, that which the contemplative saints see within with their sharp intellect, which produces a continuous mass of joy and which is without a second.
O goddess, this my body is illusory and not real, and is augmented with the mass of the acts of creation, maintenance and withdrawal. O dear one, the nature of the soul is different from this. It is without duality and unity. It is free from existence and non-existence; and without beginning or end. It is pure consciousness, has acquired lustre, is beautiful due to great joy, is the form of lord, can be known only through the oneness of the soul, and is told in the Gītā.
Therefore, the forms that the Lord withhold for creation, operation and destruction of the cosmos, is ultimately unreal or illusory. The nature of Atman is different from name and form.
The transcendental form of Atman is described as follows:
Katha Upanishad 1.3.25:
aśabdamasparśamarūpamavyayaṃ tathā'rasannityamagandhavacca yat |
anādyanantaṃ mahataḥ paraṃ dhruvaṃ nicāyya tanmṛtyumukhātpramucyate || 15 ||15. Which is soundless, touchless, formless, undecaying, so tasteless, eternal and scentless, beginningless, endless, beyond the Mahat, and constant, knowing that, man escapes from the mouth of Death.
This Atman is latent in all beings. It is eternal and changeless. It is of the form of bliss and knowledge.
One who restrain his mind and senses, meditating on the inner witness reaches the supreme abode of Lord Vishnu.
Katha Upanishad 1.3.9:
vijñānasārathiryastu manaḥpragrahavānnaraḥ |
so'dhvanaḥ pāramāpnoti tadviṣṇoḥ paramaṃ padam || 9 ||9. But the man who has a discriminating intellect for the driver and a controlling mind for the reins, reaches the end of the road, i.e., that highest place of Vishnu.
Adi Shankara describes it as:
the nature of the all-pervading Brahman, the Paramatman known as Vasudeva.
Therefore, the entire existence constituting of names and forms are illusory appearances on Lord Vishnu.
Atmabodha Upanishad:
Like the truth in the (illusory conception of a) snake, etc., in the rope, so the truth of Brahman alone is, and is the substratum on which this universe is playing. Therefore the universe is not. Just as sugar is found permeating all the sugar-juice (from which the sugar is extracted), so I am full in the three worlds in the form of the non-dual Brahman. Like the bubbles, waves, etc., in the ocean, so all beings, from Brahma down to worm, are fashioned in Me; just as the ocean does not long after the motion of the waves, so to Me, there is no longing after sensual happiness, being Myself of the form of (spiritual) Bliss.
All the forms and names appears upon the Lord, that is the substratum, by the help of his Maya.
Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 2.5.19:
rūpaṃ rūpaṃ pratirūpo babhūva, tadasya rūpaṃ praticakṣaṇāya |
indro māyābhiḥ pururūpa īyate, yuktā hyasya harayaḥ śatā daśa || iti |(He) transformed Himself in accordance with each form; that form of Hi$ was for the sake of making Him known. The Lord on account of Māyā (notions superimposed by ignorance) is perceived as manifold.
Srimad Bhagwatam 10.59.29 states that the Lord exists independently of all the names and forms that he assumes.
tvaṁ vai sisṛkṣur aja utkaṭaṁ prabho
tamo nirodhāya bibharṣy asaṁvṛtaḥ
sthānāya sattvaṁ jagato jagat-pate
kālaḥ pradhānaṁ puruṣo bhavān paraḥDesiring to create, oh Master, You stand out as being the Unborn One [as Brahmâ], for the purpose of annihilation You adopt the mode of ignorance [as S'iva], and for the sake of maintenance You are [manifested as] the goodness [as the Vishnu avatâras] of the Universe. [Yet You are] not covered [by these basic qualities], oh Lord of Jagat [the Living Being that is the Universe]. Being Kâla [time], Pradhâna [the unmanifested state of matter, the primal ether] and the Purusha [the Original Person], You nevertheless exist independently thereof.
Gopal Purva Tapani Upanishad Verse 19:
The one, all-pervading controller is the worshipable Krsna. Though one he appears in multiple forms. Those sages who constantly worship him upon his throne attain permanent happiness, and not others.
The maya potency of Lord is described as follows:
Srimad Bhagwatam 11.3.3:
ebhir bhūtāni bhūtātmā
mahā-bhūtair mahā-bhuja
sasarjoccāvacāny ādyaḥ
sva-mātrātma-prasiddhayeThe power with wich the Adi-purusha becoming the Atma(soul) of the universe for material pleasures and Moksha (libration) creates the worlds (lokas) which are lower & higher. That is called Maya.
In his book Vivekchudamani, Adi Shankaracharya writes:
avyaktanāmnī parameśaśaktiḥ
anādyavidyā triguṇātmikā parā |
kāryānumeyā sudhiyaiva māyā
yayā jagatsarvamidaṃ prasūyate || 108 ||Avidya (Nescience) or Māyā, called also the Undifferentiated, is the power of the Lord. She is without beginning, is made up of the three Guṇas and is superior to the effects (as their cause). She is to be inferred by one of clear intellect only from the effects She produces. It is She who brings forth this whole universe.
Thus we can conclude that the ultimate form of ParaVasudeva cannot be witnessed by either material or divine eyes, he can be contemplated upon by diving within and can be realized as the SELF which is peaceful, auspicious and non-dual.
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“The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation. But your thoughts about it.”
- Eckhart Tolle
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