Ramana: Why The World is Unreal?
Ramana Maharshi’s Most Difficult Teaching—And How to Actually Live It
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Words: 990 | Normal Reading: 5 minutes | Slow Reading: 10 minutes
I still feel the warmth of my child’s hand resting in mine.
I still see my wife’s smile in the morning sun.
I still marvel at cities rising from dust, the hum of progress, and the cool touch of rain on skin.
The world felt so real.
I could watch technology evolve, AI rise, nations fall, and buildings sprout.
And yet, Ramana Maharshi says the world is not real. Only the Self is real. He describes the phenomenon of the world appearing real as maya, an illusion. How can this be?
(Self = Being = Source = Kingdom of Heaven = God)
The world is changing. Evolving. Tangible.
If the world is truly an illusion, why does it feel so vivid? So urgent? So intimate?
Today, I am going to “try” to explain this teaching so you not only understand it but also live it.
Because this teaching transformed my life and helped me escape suffering.
Let Me Explain..
Think of a dream. When you're dreaming, everything feels real—people, buildings, even your own body. You react to things, feel emotions, and experience events as if they are actually happening. But when you wake up, you realize it was just a projection of your own mind.
Ramana Maharshi says the waking world is the same. Currently, it appears solid and objective because your mind is fully engaged with it. But if you investigate deeply by asking, Who is the ‘I’ that sees this world? You find that the world exists only when the mind perceives it.
If the world were truly independent and objective, it should remain for you even in deep sleep. But in deep sleep, when the mind is absent, the world also disappears. This shows that the world is not outside you—it appears in your consciousness, just like a dream.
Ramana’s key point: The world seems real only because you take yourself to be a separate individual. When you realize your true nature as pure awareness, the world is seen for what it is—an appearance in your awareness, not an absolute reality. (And with that knowing, you stop reacting to it)
What Does "Illusion" (Maya) Really Mean?
When Ramana Maharshi (and Advaita Vedanta) say that the world is an illusion, they do not mean that the world does not appear. They mean that the world has no independent existence. It is completely dependent on your perception, just like a dream. To every person, the physical world appears different according to their subjective perception.
A mirage in the desert appears, but it has no water. A rope in dim light may look like a snake, but the snake was never really there. Similarly, the world appears real, but its reality is not absolute; it is dependent on the mind.
The World Appears, But To Whom?
Ramana’s method of inquiry is simple: He asks, to whom does this world appear?
If you are asleep, where is the world? It vanishes.
If you are in deep meditation, where is the world? It disappears.
If the world were truly independent, should it not exist for you at all times?
This shows that the world appears only when your mind is active—it is not separate from the perceiver.
Science Also Supports This
Even modern physics backs up this idea. Quantum mechanics suggests that reality only exists when observed—particles exist as a wave of possibilities until measured. This agrees with what Ramana is saying:
The world seems solid because your mind interprets it that way, but it has no reality outside of your perception.
If no one were to perceive the universe, where would it exist?
So What Is Real?
Ramana’s answer is simple, but radical:
“The Self alone is real. The world is not real. The Self is the world.”
What?
For modern readers, what it means is.
The only real thing is the awareness that you are.
The world you see is not real in itself—it's a projection of your mind’s peception within that awareness.
And when you know yourself as that awareness, you see: there’s no world apart from you. Then there are “no others” for you.
Ramana Maharshi confirms that the material manifestations, which are part of the outer world, are innocent in themselves and do NOT disappear. Only the person (ego) who has formed a personal relationship with the physical manifestations of the world drops away. When this occurs, the world is perceived as it truly is.
The physical world continues to appear, but you see it for what it is—just an appearance in the infinite awareness that you truly are.
He’s not asking you to reject what appears.
He’s asking you not to identify with it.
You are not a person in the world.
You are the awareness in which the world appears, just like a dream appears in the dreamer’s mind.
The world exists for you only because you are aware of it.
When the sense of being a separate self dissolves, you don't see the world as “out there” anymore. You see it as a play of consciousness, appearing in you, the unchanging Self.
Don’t Deny the World—Stop Identifying with It
Ramana never said to abandon your family or reject beauty.
He said: Stop mistaking the dream for the dreamer.
Stop giving the movie more reality than the screen it plays on.
When you awaken spiritually, the world doesn’t disappear.
But your relationship to it does.
You stop chasing it.
You stop fearing it.
You stop clinging to what was never permanent in the first place.
You live in the world, but you know—you are not in it. It is in you.
Ramana says, the only way to realize God is to ‘Keep your mind inward and free yourself from thinking.”
→ What if the only thing that’s ever been truly real is you, the one aware of it all?
✨ If This Resonated With You…
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Who can be called wise? He who can discriminate between the real and the unreal. -Shankara
Thanks for your excellent article.