Maya or illusion... Thats what the scriptures say we are to overcome. To overcome maya is the purpose of a human life, they say. But why is it so difficult to overcome? There are many a times when I have strong desire to follow Master's teachings all the 24 Hrs, to follow when awake, when in sleep. And when I look back 5 minutes after the resolution, I realize I have got distracted... I probably haven't followed my resolution it even for a minute, what talk about 24 hours!!! Why is that so? Is it because that the illusion is so powerful that I am unable to follow my Master or am I empowering maya to overpower my will??? Confusing...
Lemme analyse this more. I think its both. Afterall, whats maya? Nothing but the old vasanas carried from previous births, to put in terms of vasanas. And, we are supposed to overcome them. Thats why the sadhana. Since they are accumulated from last dunno how many births, they ought to be powerful. But allowing myself to be distracted by them, only adds more vasanas and hence empower it more!! O God!! Save me!! It all seems to be a vicious circle. When Maharshi Ramana was once asked how to overcome the vasanas, He simply said, "By not adding more vasanas to the existing ones. The vasanas carry the seed of destruction in themselves.". That seems logically correct and simple too. But the problem is "How do we not add more vasanas?" The previous vasanas are strong enough. So whats the hope for us mortals???? Maharshi says, when we do Self-enquiry, it nullifies previous vasanas. This when followed, I guess leads to decline in the strength of the vasanas. For one, it for sure doesn't add more vasanas to the already existing ones, and two, it burns the previous vasanas. Again, the problem is in remembering to do the Self-enquiry... Darn, I have problem in every solution!!! So, whats the final hope? Probably, praying the Master that I stay in the right path all the time, always remembering Him, always trying to follow the path shown by Him... try to earn His Grace. Afterall, one who has recieved Guru's Grace will not be forsaken just the way the prey in Tiger's mouth has no escape... Thats the reason, probably, why the scriptures say Jnana and Bhakti are one and the same... What do u readers say?
5 comments:
over maya is purpose of life !!
why I'm here to overcome Maya ?
What after I overcome Maya ?
vasanas ? what does that mean ?
rebirths ? do I get to choose what we can in rebirths ? i mean, can i choose to be human again ?
Self enquiry about what ?
cannot imagine jnana and bhakti as one and the same.. !! explaination plz
Nice post Maneesha... really gets to the point.
I would say that with Jnana maarg one can understand what it is one is having bhakthi really in, which would only strengthen it greatly. In my current limited understanding, I feel these two paths are like two sides of a mobius strip - walking on this eventually revealed that what seemed to be the “other path” is no different!
- curiosity helped the cat
Excellent post, Maneesha!
gets you down the simplest things you got to do, to be realised.
Try ur best; n leave the rest to the master, in belief that he wud take care of it.
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