83. Illusion! Illusion! Every thing is illusion! (Maya)
- Illusion (Maya) is only that amusing aspect which gives aplenty a desire to possess things and also the required energy and it is similar to keeping the butter in the hand and go on searching everywhere else for ghee.
- Before one gets enlightenment, there is no big difference between the sixty years of life the man lives and six hours of dreaming. There is however a difference in the measure of time. That is all.
A dream - Six hours!
A life - Sixty years!
- After the dream comes to an end, the dream world will disappear. When the ego comes to an end, the normal world will disappear. It is only when the 'Atman' soul awakens the 'real and true world itself' will be visible to the eye!
For a man who is asleep - dream is an illusion. For a man who is awake - the present world is an illusion. For an awakened man - All are illusion
- Illusion is that one which, unless driven out, it won't go away by itself.
- Do you wish to live your life? Do you wish to enjoy and experience the real world? Do you wish to see God in people?
There is no other go at all. The curtain of illusion must be torn off. That too can be done by you only...
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Two friends, who were waiting for the route 12-B bus, were at the peak of their drunken state. As they did not know that the time was 2 in the night, they discussed between themselves, 'Why 12-B bus has not yet come?' and then they directly went to the bus depot itself.
They were telling, 'We ourselves will take the 12-B bus from the depot and drive to our house.' And they searched for 12-B bus.
There were more than 100 buses standing in the depot. While staggering due to the drunken state, they searched for 12-B bus, every time getting into each bus and getting down saying that this is not 12-B bus.
After two hours of searching, they said, 'We are disappointed. There is not even a single 12-B bus here.' Feeling this way they went home walking quite dejected.
- Because of their inebriated condition, it did not strike them that they can drive away any of the buses. They searched for 12-B bus only.
Illusion is also similar to this only. It will catch hold of any one particular aspect of life and make man be caught. Result – After having finished living, every man feels disappointed.
Aha! This is a mirage!
Lo! It appears for our eyes that there is a beautiful grove there; no, it is not at all a grove. It is also a part of the desert only.
One, who knows very clearly that there is certainly nothing there that will quench his thirst, will never go up to the mirage and get disappointed.
Infatuation, speed, fame, money - For a person running after these, if he comes to know that whatever is going to satisfy his infatuation is not present there, he will not run. If suddenly, all come to know of this truth the very movement of society will come to a stand-still.
The power or energy of illusion is such that, even if a person accidentally reads that what he searches for is not at the place of his search, it will see to it that he will not be allowed to understand it.
Once a devotee asked Ramana Maharishi (an enlightened Master from South Bharat), 'Swami, What is Maya? How to come out of the delusion of maya?'
Ramana said, 'If you engage yourself in the spiritual meditation called, 'self enquiry', you can come out easily. The delusion of Maya is similar to the saying, 'If you find the stone, there is no dog; if you find the dog, there is no stone.'
The devotee could not understand what Ramana said.
Laughingly Ramana asked, 'Don't you understand...? As long as YOU, the ego is present there, all will appear as greenery at a distance. This only is Maya.