What is Maya?
[2nd President and Spiritual Head: the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa]
DAILY READINGS
From Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji
780
Devotee: The world is Maya [God's power of illusion/delusion] Swamiji.
Swamiji: It's not Maya! You mustn't think that my boy. This world is not illusion. I love this world. This world is a beautiful place. It is God. This whole world is God. How can you say it's Maya? You know what is Maya? You don't know completely – that is Maya. But if you know completely, it is God's power. And God and His power cannot be separated – like milk and its whiteness. So how can you say it's Maya? [Chuckles]. I'm chasing after singular forms and names but why should I be after that when I can identify myself with the whole universe?
You saw Sri Krishna's Vishwarup [universal form]? In the eleventh chapter [of the Bhagavad Gita]? Where he shows to Arjuna [his disciple] his universal form? So if you can become the whole universe, why should I go and serve one single man? If can water the root, why should I go and put water on the branches? There is no wasting time. A man who's got active mind, huh? Then he must use that activity because man's mind cannot stand still for one second. Therefore you must use that activity to serve God.
That is a very beautiful one, son, what you said. Don't get me wrong when I say this world is not Maya – but you must look at it nicely. You may call it a delusion but the complete thing is not a delusion – it is your own power. This whole universe is God's power. If you take each individual, if you don't mean the whole, you'll call it illusion. I'll give you another example of that. For instance – a river is flowing, right? We'll call it the Umgeni river [in KwaZulu, Natal]. Now in Umgeni river you'll get a [for the sake of this discussion] Victoria Falls [pictured above], we'll say. A man will say, 'Look at the Umgeni river – when it comes to the falls, what does he say? He focuses on the Victoria Falls and he forgets the big river. But he doesn't know [forgets] that the falls is a continuation of the river. So when you look at a man's hair, you look at a man. But we forget that the man is a continuation of the consciousness called God – as man. Just as the continuation of the water is the falls.
1) Care should be taken by the reader to understand and take Swamiji's words in these postings, in context. Every teaching or instruction that he gave was specific to the people who were with Swamiji at the time.
2) Mouse-over the words highlighted in red in the posting for further explanation or links.
There are currently available, over 100 different CDs or DVDs with mp3 files, of Swamiji speaking. Please email timhoare@webmail.co.za to order.
Click HERE for the second website on Swamiji's life and teachings.
For more about the Holy Trinity, and also the founding Swamis of the Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa, please mouse over their names below:
Sri Ramakrishna Sri Sarada Devi Swami Vivekananda
Swami Nischalananda Swami Shivapadananda
The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna - read online
Reference websites – please mouse over the name and click to connect:
Ramakrishna Math and Mission Ramakrishna Centre of South Africa Ramakrishna Dham