Story of Leela - Two Worlds

Rama: "Sage, you speak of the mind creating reality. But how can the immaterial mind create the solid world I see around me?"

Vasishtha: "Let me tell you the story of Leela, a queen who discovered the answer to your question through direct experience."

Rama: "I am eager to hear."

Vasishtha: "In a certain kingdom lived King Padma and his devoted wife Leela. Their love was so complete that Leela could not bear the thought of ever being separated from her husband. She prayed intensely to Goddess Saraswati for a boon - that when her husband died, his soul would not leave their palace chambers."

Rama: "A strange request. What happened?"

Vasishtha: "Saraswati appeared and granted her wish. Years later, King Padma died. True to the boon, his consciousness remained in the chamber - but it had created an entirely new world. Within the space of that room, Padma was reborn as a young boy named Viduratha in a different kingdom, lived a full life, became a great king, and was now himself an old man on his deathbed."

Rama: "Wait - how could a lifetime fit within the moments since Padma's death?"

Vasishtha: "Time, Rama, exists only in the mind. When Saraswati took Leela on a journey to see her husband's new existence, they traveled without moving. Within the same room, they found an entirely different universe. And here is the wonder - in that universe, Viduratha also had a wife praying for him not to leave."

Rama: "Worlds within worlds..."

Vasishtha: "Precisely. And when Saraswati showed Leela the truth, she saw that both worlds - the one where she was queen and the one where Viduratha ruled - existed simultaneously in the same space. Neither was more real than the other. Both were projections of consciousness, as real as dreams are to the dreamer."

Rama: "But our world feels so solid, so consistent. Dreams are fleeting."

Vasishtha: "Consistency is not proof of reality. The dream feels consistent while you dream it. This world feels consistent while you experience it. But ask yourself - where was this world in your dreamless sleep? Where was your kingdom, your name, your history? They vanished entirely, then reappeared when you woke. How is that different from Leela's experience?"

Rama: "Then what is truly real?"

Vasishtha: "Only that which perceives. The consciousness that witnesses both waking and dreaming, both Padma and Viduratha, both absence and presence - that alone is real. Everything else is its play, its creative expression. Leela finally understood this when she saw her husband existing as two different people in two different worlds, both equally real, both equally dreamlike."

Rama: "Did she find peace in this understanding?"

Vasishtha: "She found more than peace. She found freedom. When you know that all worlds are creations of consciousness - including this one - you stop being trapped by any of them. You can engage fully while remaining untouched, like an actor who gives a powerful performance but never forgets it is a play."