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Q: 'Brahman is real. The world is illusion' is the stock phrase of Sri Sankaracharya. Yet others say, 'The world is reality.' Which is true?

Ramana: Both statements are true. They refer to different stages of development and are spoken from different points of view. The aspirant starts with the definition, that which is real exists always. Then he eliminates the world as unreal because it is changing. The seeker ultimately reaches the Self and there finds unity as the prevailing note. Then that which was originally rejected as being unreal is found to be part of the unity. Being absorbed in the reality, the world is also real. There is only Being in Self-realization, and nothing but Being.
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