The way of the bird

1
January: The Illusory Nature of the World
1.1 "The world is not true."
The world is not external. Perception of the world happens spontaneously in the Self,
against the unchanging background of reality, like the dream that occurs in sleep. You are
that Self, not an individual, but you have forgotten about it. In fact, the individual person
that appears to have forgotten is also happening spontaneously as one of the characters in
the dream of life, while the Self rests peacefully in its own completeness, like Vishnu
sleeping on the cosmic ocean. If a world appears, there is consciousness of it; if nothing
appears, there is no consciousness of it. The world that appears could be a dream world or
it could be this waking world. The appearance and the one who perceives it arise together
and are not separate. Both the dream world and the waking world disappear when you are
deeply asleep. If they were true, they would remain.
1.2 "The body is dead at this moment."
The body is like an appliance that works when electricity is connected to it and which
ceases to function when the power is disconnected. The body itself, like the appliance, is
an inert thing-it doesn't have any life of its own. The life that animates the body is a
power that transcends the sense of individual existence. What is the nature of that power
that gives life to all that lives? That power is pure knowledge or universal consciousness.
As long as that power is connected, what we call life is there. It is there even when the
body and mind subside into the state called deep sleep (dreamless sleep), which is proven
by the fact that when you wake up in the morning, you say "I slept well." Such
knowledge would be impossible if power had not been continuous during the sleeping
state.
The power prompts two living cells: male and female, to unite and form the gross
physical body in the first place, and continues to make it grow to maturity. It remains for
the span of time allotted to the body, and in the end drops the body. Where does the
power go? It doesn't go anywhere, because it is all-pervasive. The body disintegrates,
returning to the gross elements from which it was formed.
1.3 "Be always courageous. Say that nothing is true."
If you say "nothing is true," that is an act of courage because you have to make that
statement without any support from the world. If you read the newspaper, ask your
relatives, or look anywhere outside, you will not find any evidence to support it. Worst of
all, there is no support from your own perceptions either-your own eyes see the world as