This world is an illusion. What we sense around us and what we experience are only illusions. To our senses, this world is real and we can touch, feel, taste and smell it. To say that the world is maya or illusionary is not escapism or inability to cope up with reality. Understanding this concept helps us to realize the truth of our nature and the cosmic reality.
None of us would like to have the validity of the life that we are living questioned in any way. The world we experience through our senses feels real enough. But the input data that we get from the scientific means of communication and the sensory organs may just scratch the surface of reality. The stream of information outpouring from the media reflecting the politics, social scenario, advertising only confuse rather than clarify. Physics now tells us there is no mass but only vibrating particles and what we feel by touch is not solid as it seems. The goods we buy are not what is reflected in the advertisements or the contents label; our appearances are not what they are and people rarely speak or do what they think. Our religious and political leaders give us knowledge and we are indoctrinated into a way of life which makes it very difficult for us to understand or accept the greater reality. And on the top of it, is our expectation from people, situations and God which makes all life very hazy and illusionary.
Sri Ramakrishna used to tell a very apt story of a tigress in order to illustrate the world of maya or illusion that we live in. Once a tigress chased a flock of goats and pounced on one to kill it. At that moment, she gave birth to a cub and died. The cub was adopted by the goats and grew up to be one of them. The goats ate grass and the cub copied them. They bleated and the cub bleated too. It pranced around like the baby goats. Time passed and soon it grew to be a young adult who lived as a goat.
One day, another wild tiger attacked the same flock of goats. He was amazed to see a young adult tiger living with the goats. The goats scattered around bleating in fear. The young adult also did the same. The wild tiger chased the young adult and finally seized him. The young adult bleated in fear. The wild tiger dragged him to the water and showed their reflections in the water. The young adult was amazed to see that he looked just like the wild tiger. But he was still goat like in his behaviour. So the wild tiger took on the task of teaching him to be true to his nature – of being a wild tiger.
The wild tiger hunted and brought raw meat and fed the young adult. The young adult could not swallow the raw meat and blood and began to bleat again. Gradually, by regular training, the young adult learnt to eat meat and like the taste of blood and relish eating meat. He learnt to roar like a tiger. Now he was no different from his mentor. So they went together to the forest and lived and hunted together.
We are like the grass eating tiger. We think that we are mere humans and not a spark of divinity. We feel lost and bound. We doubt our capacity to get knowledge and wisdom. We are very sure we do not have depths of love and surrender towards God. When we meet the Guru, the Guru teaches us about our true nature and the necessary spiritual practices needed for us to realise our true nature. We realise that we are not the body. We realise that we are souls and we have a borrowed body. We understand that we are a spark of the Infinite and are Infinite. When the Guru’s grace descends on us, we have inner experiences of our true nature and who we are. The Guru gives knowledge and experiences of the real and unreal. He teaches about illusion or maya and the reality of the Light. Real knowledge takes us beyond the appearances into the reality as it is. Then we see and experience the world in a very different and wonderful way. In this Universe, God alone is real. All other things are an illusion.
