THE Doctrine of Maya - HolyBooks.com

"""""""DEVELOPMENT OF ITS CONCEPTION 105exhaustively by Gaudapada. It has been shownthat experiences of the waking condition are no lessunreal than those of dream. Both are illusions alike.Sankara works out the same idea in the passagequoted above, and only touching upon it brieflyleads us to see that the Atman is not affected in anyway by the assumed existence of the world. If wejust think for a moment about the subject of dreams,we perceive that we can hold without any fear ofcontradiction that(1) The dream-state is as real as the waking stateso long as the dream lasts i.e., so long asthe consciousness to distinguish theas such from the wakingarisen. 1dreamcondition has not(2) But as the illusory nature of a dream is determined only on waking up from the sleep,which prepared the way for it ;so too onacquiring a knowledgeof the Atman thesole reality waking up from the slumber ofignorance, the truth that the world is anillusion is clearly perceived.(3) It is only relatively speaking that we saythe dream-world is unreal and thewakingworld is real; strictly speaking1Mr. F. H. Bradley, the well-known author of Appearance and Reality, once told us that there could be no difficulty whatever on speculative grounds in holding thisposition. Socrates (in Plato) discussed the same view, andTennyson said, Dreams are true while they last."