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moksha (liberation).' And he would reply, 'Forget that! Just let me run my business happily.'
Therefore, the world is real (satya). “My wife, my children', does he not talk like that? And he becomes obsessed with woman; he dies for her and even commits suicide! So if it were an illusion (mithya), would anyone do that? Illusion (mithya) – even the pesticide to kill bedbugs is not an illusion. If you drank it, would you not know whether or not it is an illusion? And if you did drink it, would it not cause a commotion? Therefore Brahma (Soul) is real (satya), and the world is also real. The world is a relative truth (satya), and Brahma is a real truth.
You Will Have to Understand the Facts
Questioner: So the interpretation of the term, “The world is an illusion (mithya)' that they give us, is completely wrong then, is it not?
Dadashri: In whichever time-cycle (kaad), that meaning was necessary, it was interpreted in that time-cycle. But exactly (in truth), this world has never been unreal (mithya).
Questioner: So is it because of maya that it appears as mithya?
Dadashri: This cannot be maya! What would you say is illusion (maya)? If someone does magic, and shows you some rupees (money) in your hands, but even then it has no effect on you at all; that is called maya. Maya as people understand it to be - this world is not like that maya.
Maya (illusion) is to not understand the vastu (The Self: it has dravya-matter, guna-property and paryaya-phases); exactly as it is. That is called maya (deceit). It is this maya that does not allow you to understand anything exactly as it is: that is what you would call maya. What do people understand about maya? They will say, “This is all how it is, it is all just maya’:
