The world is only dust and concepts, and then, Parabrahman

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Objects that can be destroyed by "right thought," are not only insubstantial, but were non-existent to begin with. All objects that possess name and form are destroyed by proper thought(viveka, discrimination between the true and the untrue). Names are untrue, and hence all objects that possess names are untrue and doomed to destruction.

All that arises from dust is nothing but dust. What is Food? It is some sort of dust originating from the earth. All objects including our bodies are made up of dust. Metals, again, are variations of the same dust. The same object (dust) has been invested with a host of different names, just for the sake of facilitating practical life. These names are nothing but manmade concepts. All the eight worlds, that of words, that of imagination, that of the thoughts, etc. are all untrue. They are all only concepts. Once you become aware of this, your "so-called" world collapses like a house of cards.

It's told in ancient legend (Puranas) that upon attaining Self-Realization, Bhasmasurathe, a devotee of Lord Shiva, set everyone and everything on fire, turned it into ashes, and rubbed the ashes on Lord Shiva. In simple words, after realizing that everything is dust and nothing but dust, he turned everything into the form of Shiva. The Puranas were written in order to help us find out whether "Knowledge" has been correctly understood. Brahman is also known as "the Visionary," "the Witness," "the Life-energy," "the Power," etc. All of these are names, and hence untrue.

What then is Parabrahman? Parabrahman is that, which extends beyond Brahman and is the one and only Truth. It has no name, and therefore is true. All those pleasures and pains, which have been experienced by us, so far, were nothing but concepts. Just as the shadow cast by a moving cloud does not last at a particular place for long, so is this transient world, ever changing, passing like a motion picture on the Self. He, who realizes this dreamlike quality of the world, attains Parabrahman.

- Shri Siddharameshwar Maharaj from a talk given October 2, 1933 on the Yogavasishtha