True Nature of the Physical World

 

What deludes and stops one from seeing the true nature of the physical world? 

"Man spends his years of life as a beast does. Beasts are deluded by the desert mirage; they run towards it in order to quench their thirst; they die of despair and exhaustion. Men, too, are deluded by the objective world; they run towards it in order to quench the thirst of the senses for pleasure and happiness. They die, disappointed and exhausted. 

The dream is real until one awakens. The pleasures derived while awake are known to be unreal when one awakens into the light of one’s Divine substance. However, man is not allowed to know his glory, by the six enemies who hide in his mind  - lust, desire, anger, greed, undue attachment, pride, and hatred. They pollute his values by their emanations. 

There are also eight waves of pride which obstruct his attempt to know himself - the pride of caste, of physical strength, of scholarship, of youth, of wealth, of personal charm, of overlordship, and of one’s spiritual attainments. No one discovers that these are liable to disintegrate very soon. Shankara has warned men against placing faith in any of these sources of pride: "The all-powerful time robs you of these in a trice."

~ Sri Sathya Sai Baba ~

(Divine Discourse - 1.6.1985) 

Time is the devourer of the physical. The Lord is the devourer of Time itself. When there is faith in God, man transcends the physical. - BABA