This world we live in is very beautiful and attractive. The variety of colors and shapes of life forms and natural forms are alluring and the dazzling colors are mind boggling.The touch of the various plants, flowers, fruits and life forms are different and appealing to us. We enjoy their textures and feel. And the taste of various foods, fruits, vegetables keep us wanting more. The variety of sounds both natural and artificial is appealing to our ears. Our sense of smell is titillated by the various fragrances of flowers, fruits, the earth etc. All of the world and its contents are experienced by us through our five sense organs. Our pleasure at the experiences that we have through our sensory organs is so strong that we are always craving for more and more. We never realize how much we are caught in this world of senses and craving till it is too late and we are trapped in the cycle of births and deaths and suffering endlessly. We are so caught up in our enjoyment of world of senses that we do not realize that we are in a prison of our own making. Sri Ramakrishna explains this trap of maya or illusion with the example of the parable of fishing net and fish.
When a fisherman casts his nets in the water, many fishes are trapped in the nets. Some of them try to break through the net and escape. They make a dedicated effort to find a way out and escape. Some fishes are careful by nature and they do not get caught. Some of the fishes try to hide under the mud not realizing that they are still in the net and there is no place to hide and they will be pulled out when the net is pulled in by the fisherman. The vast majority of the fishes which are trapped in the net are hardly aware that they are trapped; they are unaware of the net or the imminent death.
Sri Ramakrishna tells us that this world is like a fishing net. Men are the fish and God is the fisherman. God has created this world with His Power of Illusion – Maya. The fishes are all entangled in the Maya and think that this world is real. There are some fish which try to tear through the net in order to get their freedom. They are like men striving for liberation. But not all the fishes who strive are able to escape. Only a few fish escape. In like manner, only a few men attain liberation. Some fish are very careful by nature and do not get trapped. We find some beings of a perfect class like Sage Narad who are never caught in worldliness.
Most of the fish are trapped and are not conscious of the net or the fact that the fisherman is going to pull the net out. Death is dancing in front of them and they are totally unaware. Some of the fish dig into the mud trying to hide. They do not try to break out from the net and flee. They sink deeper and deeper into the mud along with the net. And they think they are safe. Most of us are these fishes. We bury ourselves in daily routine of worldly activities, of earning wealth, name, fame, fulfillment of desires and lust. We sink more and more into these activities totally unaware that we are going farther away from reality and God. Death awaits us and we have done nothing in life to prepare ourselves to face it. Only those who have risen above the material desires and lure of senses know the truth that the world is not what is seems and can forever bind a man unless he fights his way out of it.
The experience that we have of the world through our five senses is an incomplete one. A blind man ‘sees’ the world in a different way and the world is experienced differently by a deaf person. Those who have their sixth sense operating see the world in an entirely different way. They see it as reality of God – His Blazing Light in every atom of Creation. The world can be experienced in a limited way through our minds and senses as both mind and senses are limited. So we sink into the mire of this world more deeply. To go beyond the mind and senses and escape the ‘net’ we need to do our SitaRam mantra, meditation and follow the teachings of the Guru. Then we can tear through the net of Maya and become one with the Light.
