17  Illusion and Maya TC  "17  Illusion and Maya" \l 1

Without reality how can there be illusion? Without illusion how can there be reality? Although there are illusionary factors involved, all this is real. The real illusion is our understanding, and that on which we put the greatest emphasis. Are we putting greater emphasis on the real Self within us, or are we putting the emphasis on the ego self? Our emphasis is on the illusion, not on that which exists.

While we are within the bounds of maya we are limited and we have to accept good and bad, happiness and misery. They are there. They are real for us because we are relative. But, through our meditational practices we go beyond relativity and are able to look at relativity in its proper perspective. And that is how maya ceases. That is how attachment, the mother of maya, ceases to exist for us.

The concept of maya has done the world a lot of harm. It has made people very irresponsible in saying: “Ah! This is so temporary and transient, so why attach any importance to it?” And with that sense of irresponsibility negligence has come about. Instead of getting out of maya, people immerse themselves more deeply in maya, and because of their irresponsibility they create misery.

It is true when the wise man says that life is but a game, but the unwise must not say that. He must take it seriously, even if he can not get out of it alive.

Life can only be regarded as a game if you understand what “game” means and if you understand what “life” means.

When one thinks that life is a game and at the same time panders to the ego then it ceases to be a game.

One of my favorite analogies is—that with a lump of clay, you can make a mouse, and with the clay you can make an elephant. The mouse is real, the elephant is real—but what is actual? The clay.

We know that the senses are forever changing. Today you see something in a certain way and tomorrow you will see the same thing in a different way. The food cooked today tastes nice to you. Tomorrow the same food may not taste so nice. Today you hear a beautiful symphony and enjoy it. Tomorrow that same symphony might not be enjoyable if you have had a quarrel with your wife and are upset. So the senses are forever changing. What is happening is that the changing is perceiving the changing. That which changes is now perceiving the object which is also forever changing. There lies maya.

All forms of analysis being done by the mind must be limited because the mind is limited. That is why we teach meditation, to go beyond the mind. What happens is that the mind, by recognizing itself more and more and by going beyond itself, brings forth into itself that light of which it is a reflection. (You see how deep this is, it requires a lot of understanding.)

The mind brings to itself, by itself, that of which it is a reflection. To merge away from this stage of Divinity means that the reflection simply ceases. The reflection, so to say, reflects itself back into the projector; and there is the secret of appearance and reality. That is all that happens. The torch that shines the light on the wall gathers its light back.

Maya is limited to structure born of concepts.

When we have entered the silence which is our true nature, we have gone nowhere. We have been in silence all the time, and it is this very silence that we experience again. Reaching that silence, all the noise and chaos of the universe becomes nonexistent. When we realize that, we say, “This is a purposeless dream.” But not until then: because if we regard this existence to be purposeless, only chaos can come about. Another Hitler can come about, another dozen Hitlers can come about. That would destroy the entire structure of not only this world, but this whole solar system.

Putting limitations on the unlimited is maya.

The ocean and the waves cannot be separated. The ocean and the waves are the same. But because we have attachments created by maya, we differentiate between the ocean and the waves.  We stand at the seashore and say, “Oh, look at those big waves! How many say, “Look at this big ocean?”

When we reach the Absolute then all becomes an illusion, but when we are not there then maya is real. It has to be real, or otherwise maya could not exist: for maya too is an existence in the form of maya. An illusion exists as an illusion, for an illusion too, is reality. Illusion is reality, for to know what illusion is you have to find its opposite.

The person who can regard this whole universe as an illusion would be the self-realized person who has become one with his essence, with his essential self.

Maya is and is not, because it is forever changing. Work that one out!

Existence is and is not. It is, in the sense of name and form but the name and form that is perceived by the five senses is not its essence. So it is, in the relative sense. Yet in the absolute sense it Is not. This would be the contention of the mayaists. But now to be able to understand name and form they would say that all that which ceases is unreal. (This theory was expounded in particular by Shankaracharya who lived about 1300 years ago). But modern science has proven that even matter is indestructible. So the matter that is contained in this table and this chair must be real: because matter too, is eternal, it never ceases.

If you destroy illusion you will destroy reality as well, for illusion is the opposite of reality. Without reality, unreality cannot exist, for in relative terms everything has to be compared to something. You light an oil lamp, and on the side a shadow is created. That shadow is real. You put out the light and the shadow disappears. But remember in destroying the shadow, you have destroyed the light as well.

Illusion cannot be annihilated without annihilating reality. But an expansion can take place because ego or illusion or thought is but a superimposition upon that which is real. The superimposition is not created by an outside agency. The Manifestor himself creates the manifestation. Both co-exist. With the expansion of our little selves to the universal self we get the idea of what life is really all about, and then we start living. Then it is a lively life. The liveliness is that of knowing reality and yet partaking of all the unrealities in the would and enjoying the unrealities. That is the secret. Not annihilation but expansion.