Shatashloki – 26
Maya and the World
Meaning: Maya (Brahman’s Power) has four special characteristics: (1) It is ever youthful and ever new just like a young woman every day looks new by wearing new dresses and adorning herself with new ornaments, (2) It is very clever and can do impossible looking things possible, (3) Initially it looks very sweet and tempting, and (4) It covers the knowledge of Brahman established by the Shruti (Vedas).
In this Maya, Jiva (an individual soul) and Ishwara (the Lord) both dwell like two birds on a tree; Jiva experiences the sweet and bitter fruits of the tree, while Ishwara remains unattached as a witness consciousness.
Reflection:
(I) Maya is ever new:
The word Maya has been used to represent various things: (i) magic, (ii) delusion, (iii) Avidya (ignorance), (iv) space, time, and causation, (v) Ishwara who creates, preserves, and dissolve the universe, (vi) the universe, (vii) the Nature, (viii) Shakti (the power of Brahman), (ix) Prakriti (made out of three Gunas), (x) a statement of fact, (xi) pairs of opposites like joy and sorrow, birth and death, success and failure, (xii) power which covers Brahman and projects names, forms, and attributes, and others. Thus, we can see that Maya does not have any gender. However, thinking of Shakti, one imagines a picture of a goddess.
The 26th and 27th shlokas are connected with the Vedas. In the Rig Veda (8.6.16.3) Maya has been described as a girl having the above-mentioned four qualities. But, we should go beyond the gender-biased. Men also may have these four qualities. The true identity of men and women is Atman (pure consciousness). As pure consciousness, the Atman has no gender.
The first quality of Maya is that it is always new. We see that everything in the universe is constantly changing; for example, the sky, the weather, the trees, our bodies, our moods, our situations in life, and other things. Nothing in the universe with names and forms is permanent. We just start enjoying our favorable situations in life and all of a sudden a cloud of miseries comes. With the joy of success, failures start haunting us. We become aware of our good health and feel the joy of human life, simultaneously or within a short time, the fear of disease and death starts threatening us. Maya would not let us have a good time for a long time. Every now and then it throws a curve ball and our joy turns into miseries. If nothing bad happens, then we get bored with what we have. The opposite also happens; in the midst of dark clouds of miseries and failures, all of a sudden a hope of success comes like a ray of sunshine. A positive twist helps us keep going with our life.
(II) Maya makes the impossible possible:
Shri Shankaracharya, in his ‘Maya Panchakam’, describes how Maya makes impossible things possible. The following are examples of this fact.
(1) My true reality is Atman, which is pure consciousness, one without a second, eternal, unlimited, and devoid of names and forms. Atman and Brahman are identical. But, Maya superimposes on Brahman, the distinctions in the form of Jiva (Individual soul), Jagata (universe), and Ishwara (the Lord).
(2) Maya tempts all people with lust and greed. Being tempted by lust and greed, even people who have learned Vedas and the Upanishads behave no better than animals.
(3) Jiva’s true identity is Atman, which is pure consciousness, blissful, eternal, and one without a second. But, under the influence of Maya, Jiva identifies itself with its body and mind which are made out of five elements, and as a result whirl around in the ocean of ‘trans migratory’ existence.
(4) Jiva’s nature as Atman is Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute and is devoid of all attributes. But, coming under the influence of Maya, Jiva develops a false ego, gets attached to its spouse, children, and property, and acquires attributes like color, caste, creed, gender, and other characteristics.
(5) Brahman is one without a second, undivided, and is nameless, formless, and attribute-less. But, Maya makes even learned people deluded and make them think that Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, and other gods and goddesses are all different from each other.
(III) Maya initially looks very sweet and tempting:
In Viveka Chudamani (shloka 78 of Gita Press Gorakhpur),
Shri Shankaracharya describes how animals first get tempted by Maya and then get trapped afterward. Initially, everything looks sweet and filled with enjoyment, but then it brings pain and destruction.
(i) A hunter charms dear with music and then kills it.
(ii) A hunter keeps a female elephant in a big hole. The male elephant goes to rub its body with the female elephant and gets caught by the hunter.
(iii) A moth gets attracted by the light and ends up dying in it.
(iv) A fish enjoys the bait, but then gets caught by the fisherman.
(v) A bee enjoys the fragrance and honey of a lotus, but in the evening it dies being trapped when the lotus closes its petals.
Shri Shankaracharya says that each animal gets trapped because of having one strong sense. How then a human being could be saved who has five strong senses. Maya creates false pictures of the sense objects and arises temptations in the mind to enjoy these objects. Initially, these sense objects look sweet and charming, but then the human beings find their real nature, get frustrated, and suffer the consequences.
(IV) Maya covers knowledge of Brahman:
As we saw in the Maya Panchkam, Maya covers the Atman (the true eternal divine identity of an individual) and creates an ego who thinks that its identity is limited to its body and mind. Then, this ego that is known as ‘Me or I’ creates a division between ‘Mine’ and ‘Not-Mine’. That is the cause of all the problems in our life.
In the universe, everything is Brahman. But, Maya covers this awareness and projects objects and individuals with names and forms with various characteristics. These are like the characters and situations of a movie projected on a screen. Brahman, like a screen, remains unattached to what has been projected on It.
The Analogy of Two Birds:
When Brahman with Its power Maya creates, preserves, and dissolves the universe, we refer to It as Ishwara, the Lord of the universe. Ishwara and an individual soul (Jiva) are both in the realm of Maya. We find a wonderful analogy of an individual soul (Jivatma) and Atman (Paramatma) in Mundakopanishad (3.1.1), Rig Veda (1.164.20), and Atharva Veda (9.14.20). Atman and Brahman are the same.
Mundakopanishad (3.1.1): “Two birds, which always stay together and are friends of each other, stay on the same tree. One of them eats the fruits of the tree, but the other one sits there with a detached look without eating anything.”
The tree is our body and mind. The two birds are an individual soul (Jivatma) and Atman (Paramatma). Individual soul eats the fruits of its actions, while Atman remains unattached as a witness consciousness without any action.
The last line of the Shatashloki (26) refers to this mantra and the following Shatashloki (27) talks more about these two birds.
Shatashloki – 27
Jivatma and Paramatma
Meaning: Among these two birds, one bird that represents Ishwara (the Lord) always remains unattached. The Jiva (the individual soul) remaining in the ocean of ignorance forgets its own true nature, which is Brahman, and it sees the world of multifarious names and forms as real even though they are mere appearances and have no reality apart from Brahman.
But, when the Jiva, through its intellect, withdraws its mind from the external world and focuses it on the Self (Atman), then it realizes its true nature as Atman (or Brahman). At that time, Maya leaves the Jiva and the Jiva also leaves Maya.
The saints know that Atman and Brahman are one and the same and without a second. However, to teach and guide the students, they describe It in various forms.
Reflection: The true nature of each individual is Pure Consciousness (Atman). But, by the association with Maya (Ignorance), it forgets its true nature and thinks that it is separate from Atman having body and mind. This develops a sense of ‘Me and Mine’ and unfulfillment which leads an individual to make efforts to be happy. All actions have either pleasurable or painful or mixed results which Jivatma has to experience. The results become the cause of more desires and more actions. Thus, the Jivatma continues taking different births to fulfill these desires.
At some point, Jivatma gets tired of running after the false or temporary pleasures of the body and mind. It develops an intense desire to know its true nature which is Atman, Existence-Knowledge-Bliss Absolute (Sat-Chit-Ananda). This is when Jivatma starts doing spiritual practices and focuses its mind on Atman residing within. When it realizes its true nature Atman, Maya leaves Jivatma and Jivatma also becomes free from Maya. At that time, Jivatma merges in Atman or Paramatman. This is the story of Jivatma. If we really understand this story, then we start doing spiritual practices to realize our true divine nature and attain fulfillment.
Sri Ramakrishna used to say that there are two kinds of Maya; Avidya Maya and Vidya Maya. Avidya Maya takes a person away from Atman, while Vidya Maya takes a person towards Atman. When we become aware that Avidya Maya is working on us, then Avidya Maya becomes ashamed and leaves us temporarily. Sri Ramakrishna gave an example that one person wearing a mask of the tiger was scaring children. The children were crying and trying to run away out of fear. Meanwhile, one child recognized that ‘this is my uncle’ and told the person that ‘you are my uncle’. Immediately the uncle took out his tiger mask, laughed, and went away.
Whenever our mind is going away from Atman, during a pleasurable or painful time, we have to fold our hands and request Avidya Maya to leave us. Then, we have to take the help of Vidya Maya to do our spiritual practices, make spiritual progress, and realize Atman. If we don’t do this, then Avidya Maya will teach us through miseries and force us to understand the importance of realizing Atman.
mahendrajani 