- I accept everything – the fourth state of turiya as well as the states of waking, dreaming, and deep sleep. I accept all the three states. I accept Brahman as well as maya, living beings, and the world – all. If I did not accept all, I would not get the full weight.
- When a man talks of the essence of a bel fruit, he means the pulp only – not its seeds and shell. But to be able to tell the weight of the bel fruit by simply weighing the pulp alone will not do. One has to take the pulp, the seeds, and the shell together to weigh it. So, I accept the Absolute as well as the phenomenal world. I don’t do away with the world by calling it maya. If I did, it would lose weight.
- Qualified Nondualism is Ramanuja’s view that the finite soul and the phenomenal world are parts of the Absolute and not separate from it. The three are one.
- How can you leave out the world and the living beings? If you do that, it loses its full weight. A bel fruit weighs much less when its skin is peeled off and its seeds taken out.
- Why should the world be an illusion? These words are only a matter of reasoning. After realizing God, you realize that He Himself has become the universe and its living beings.
- The devotee sees all these things at the same time: God, maya, living beings, and the universe. “He sees that maya (vidyamaya and avidyamaya), living beings, and the universe exist, and yet do not exist. As long as one is conscious of ‘I,’ he is conscious of others. But once it is cut through with the sword of spiritual knowledge, nothing at all exists. Then even the ‘I’ becomes the magic of the magician.
- A person keeps getting scalded by the three fires of the world, yet says it is alright. A sharp thorn cuts into his hand and he bleeds profusely, yet he says, ‘There’s nothing wrong with my hand.’ This thorn has to be burnt in the fire of spiritual knowledge.
- As long as you retain ‘I-ness’, so long do you see that God indeed has become maya, the universe, living beings, and the twenty-four cosmic principles.
- One idea is that He Himself has become everything that you see. And the person who says it is also He – God, maya, the individual soul, and the universe.
Embodied Being
- People can be divided into four classes: those bound to the world, seekers after liberation, the liberated, and the ever-free.
- There are four classes of human beings – bound souls, seekers after liberation, the liberated, and the ever-free.
- Why doesn’t the mind of embodied being turn toward God? The attraction (of Mahamaya) is much stronger than that of God. The orderly of a judge is more powerful than the judge
- God has become everything – human beings and all the other creatures that I see. They appear to be made of leather, while He Himself, from inside, moves the hands, the feet and the heads. It is the same as I once saw before – houses, gardens, garden paths all made of wax. Also cows, everything – all made up of the same wax material.
- I see that God Himself is the executioner, the sacrificial victim and also the sacrificial block.
Bound Souls
- Bound souls are attached to worldly things. They forget God and never give a thought to Him.
- A worldly man doesn’t think of God. Even when he has leisure, he either indulges in empty talk or engages himself in useless activities.
- One who constantly says, ‘I am bound, I am bound,’ that rascal really becomes bound! He who repeats day and night, ‘I am a sinner, I am a sinner,’ does become a sinner.
- Bound souls remain attached to the world, that is, to ‘lust and greed.’ They remain sunk in the sordid sea and think they are very happy.
- Bound creatures, the worldly, do not wake up. They suffer so much misery, so many trials, so many sorrows. Even then they do not awaken.
- A camel likes thorny bushes, but the more it eats, the more its mouth bleeds. Yet it keeps on eating the same thorny bush; it doesn’t stop. The worldly suffer so much agony, so much sorrow, yet they revert back to the old self quite soon.
- Bound soul state can be likened to that of a snake trying to swallow a mole. The snake can neither swallow the mole nor give it up. The bound soul may have realized that there is no substance in the world – that it is like a hog plum containing nothing but stone and skin – yet he cannot give it up, cannot turn his mind to God.
- There is yet another sign of a bound soul. If he is lifted from worldly life to a spiritual environment, he will pine away to death.
- They who live only with ‘lust and greed’ – who don’t think of God even once – are bound souls. What great work can they perform? They are like mangoes pecked by crows. Such mangoes cannot be offered to the gods. Eating them yourself is also risky.
- Bound souls, worldly people, are like silkworms. They could come out of their cocoons if they wished, but they have built their own homes and maya does not allow them to escape. And it all ends with death.
- Mahamaya wants to keep everybody bound to the world. You know how it is? “Many boats float on the ocean of the world. How many of them sink!” Again, “Out of a hundred-thousand kites, only one or two have their strings cut through and are thus set free; oh, how then You laugh and clap Your hands!” Similarly, out of a million people, only one or two attain liberation. All the rest remain bound by the Mother’s will.
- Sri Ramakrishna talks about worldly men: They are like silkworms. They can come out of their cocoons if they want to, but they’ve made them with such effort they can’t give them up. So they die there.
- They’re like fish in a trap which can come out through the hole they have entered but, enjoying the sweet sound of water and swimming about with other fish, they get lost and don’t even try to come out. The lisping of children is the sweet sound of the water. The other fish are other people and the family. Only one or two swim out. They are called liberated souls.
- The person who says he won’t succeed doesn’t succeed. A person who feels he is liberated becomes liberated. But the person who thinks himself bound remains bound. The one who says emphatically that he is liberated does in fact become liberated. The one who says day and night, ‘I am bound, I am bound’ truly is bound.
Ever-Free
- The ever-free, like Narada and others, are those who live in the world for the good of mankind, to teach truth to others.
Liberated
- The liberated are not attached to ‘lust and greed’ – for example, sadhus and great spiritual personalities. There is no attachment to worldly things in their minds. They always meditate on the lotus feet of God.
- The Divine Mother is the creator of both bondage and liberation. Due to Her maya (illusion), worldly man is bound with the chains of ‘lust and greed.’ And then he is liberated by Her mercy and grace.
- When an embodied soul says, ‘O Lord, I am not the doer, You are the Doer; I am an instrument, You are the Being who uses the instrument,’ his trials and tribulations in the world cease. Only then is the embodied soul liberated; it doesn’t have to return to this field of activity.
- As long as a frog doesn’t shed its tail, it has to live in water. It can’t climb onto dry land and move around. Then it can live both in the water and on the land. Similarly, until a man sheds the tail of his ignorance, he lives in the water of worldliness. When he casts off the tail of ignorance and attains knowledge, he is liberated and can move about anywhere.
- When one says, ‘Naham, naham, naham’ (‘not I, not I, not I’), I am nothing, O Lord. I am the servant; You are the Master,’ it is only then that he is released, he is liberated.
- Liberated souls are not under the control of ‘lust and greed’. Some clever silkworms cut their cocoons and come out. But they are very few.
- Because of maya (attachment), one remains forgetful. Few attain spiritual awakening, few are not deluded by the magic of maya, are not subject to the control of ‘lust and greed.’
- What is the use of sowing boiled paddy seed? It can never sprout into a plant. When a man has been baked (perfected) in the fire of jnana, he is not used for new creation – he attains salvation.
- He who has attained this knowledge of Brahman is liberated in this very life. He rightly realizes that the body and the Soul are separate.
- After practicing a lot of austerities, one or two attain the vision of God and are liberated by His grace. The Divine Mother then claps in joy: ‘There! It’s cut free!’
- I am a child of God, the son of the King of kings. Who can bind me? If a snake bites, its venom dries up immediately if you say emphatically, ‘No venom, no venom.’ Similarly, by saying repeatedly and firmly, ‘I am not bound, no, I am not bound. I am free.’ You in fact become that, you become free.
Seekers After Liberation
- Seekers after liberation struggle for liberation. But only some of them attain it.
- Those who seek liberation and those who are liberated look upon the world as a deep well. They don’t like it. Some of them who attain Knowledge, the vision of God, give up their bodies. But giving up the body in this way is very rare.
Maya
- Maya, or ‘I-ness,’ is like a cloud. The sun is not visible if there is even a patch of cloud. As soon as the cloud passes, one can see the sun. If, by the grace of the guru, the feeling of ‘I-ness’ vanishes, one sees God.
- I’m creating a barrier in front of my face with this hand towel. You cannot see me, though I am so near. Similarly, God is so near to us all! Even then, we can’t see Him because of the veil of maya.
- It is very difficult to go beyond the three gunas. It is not possible before God-realization. The embodied soul lives in the domain of maya. This maya doesn’t let one know God; it keeps a human being in ignorance.
- Love toward your relatives: toward father and mother, brother and sister, wife and son, nephew and niece – that is maya. But daya means love for all created beings.
- As long as you have not seen God, as long as you haven’t touched the philosopher’s stone, you remain under the delusion that you are the doer – that you are doing right or doing wrong. This awareness persists. The feeling of distinction is God’s maya and is necessary to run His world of illusion.
- By taking refuge in the maya of knowledge, by taking the road of truth, you can realize Him. He who realizes God, who gets His vision, he alone can cross over His maya. (BG 7.14)
- It is Her will that there should be some running around. Only then is there fun. He has created this universe in sport. That is what Mahamaya is. One must, therefore, take refuge in that Mother, the embodiment of Shakti (Power). One has been bound in the meshes of maya. By tearing its net, one can have the vision of the Lord.
- There is great confusion about the working of His maya. No one can say what event will come after this, or if this will produce that.
- One attains the vision of God only when Mahamaya steps aside from the door. What you need is the grace of Mahamaya. That is why God’s Power is worshipped. You see, God is so very near, and yet one does not know Him because Mahamaya stands between.
- Such is the supreme power of Yogamaya, She can perform this magic. In Her sport in Vrindavan, Yogamaya performed this magical feat. It was by Her power that Subol brought Radha to meet Krishna. Yogamaya – that is, Primeval Power – has this power to attract. I have made use of the same power.
- Rama said to Narada, ‘Narada, I am very happy to hear your hymn of praise. Please ask for a boon from me.’ Narada said, ‘Rama, grant that I may have devotion to your lotus feet and faith. And grant that I may never be enchanted by your world-bewitching maya.’ Rama said, ‘So be it. Please ask for another boon.’ Narada said, ‘Rama, I don’t want anything else.’
- Everyone is enchanted by His world-bewitching maya. Even when God takes up a human body, He too is enchanted by maya. Rama wandered about weeping in search of Sita. Bound by the five elements, even Brahman laments.
- There is a saying, ‘When I was in my mother’s womb, I was in union with God. Coming into the world, I have eaten its dirt. The midwife has cut the umbilical cord, but how am I to cut the cord of maya? ‘Lust and greed’ is maya. One attains union with God when the mind is rid of these two.
- When Narada recited a hymn of praise, Rama told him to ask for a boon. Narada asked for pure love for God. And he added, ‘Rama, may I never be enchanted by your world-bewitching maya.’
- This is the attraction of Yogamaya. She casts a spell. Radhika disguised herself as Subol with a calf in her arms, she was so afraid of Jatila (her sister-in-law). Jatila blessed her. When one takes refuge in Yogamaya, then even a Jatila blesses. The whole sport of Lord Hari is played out with the help of Yogamaya.
- When God descends to play His part, attraction is generated by Yogamaya. A spell is cast.
- Why can’t we give up attachment to things of the world? This is what is called maya. It is maya that makes you perceive the real as unreal and the unreal as real. The real, in other words, is the eternal, the Supreme Brahman. The unreal is the world, the ephemeral.
- If the world is maya – is magic – why doesn’t it vanish? Because of inborn tenden-cies. Living in the world of maya for several births, one begins to think of it as real.
- One day God also revealed to me what the maya of Mahamaya is. A small light in the room gradually became bigger and bigger until it spread out over the whole world and enveloped it.
- He showed me a big lake totally covered with sedge. When a breeze parted it a little, I saw water. But in no time at all, the sedge came dancing from all sides and again covered it completely. I was shown that the water was Sat-chit-ananda and the sedge was maya. Because of maya, you can’t see Sat-chit-ananda. But some-times, though you can get a momentary glimpse, maya again covers it up.
- Brahman and maya! A man of knowledge rejects maya. Maya is like a veil. See, I am using this towel in front of the lamp to bar the view, and I can’t see the light of the lamp. Thakur holds the towel between himself and the devotees. He says, Look. Now you can’t see my face.
- A devotee doesn’t reject maya. He worships Mahamaya. Taking refuge in it, he prays, ‘Mother, don’t stand in the way. Only when you step out of the way will I attain the knowledge of Brahman.’ A man of knowledge denies the three states of wakefulness, dream, and deep sleep. But devotees accept them all. As long as ‘I-ness’ persists, so long does everything else exist.
- This very Consciousness in the form of Mahamaya keeps everyone in ignorance. The Adhyatma Ramayana says, ‘All the rishis who saw Rama just said only this, ‘O Rama, don’t enchant us with Your world-bewitching maya!’
- Everything that you see, hear or think is all maya. If you have to say so in a word, ‘lust and greed’ constitute the veil of maya.
- The same Consciousness, the same power of Ignorance, has become the twenty-four cosmic principles. One day when I was meditating, my mind entered Rasik’s house. He is a scavenger. I said to my mind, ‘Stay, stay here, you rascal!’ The Divine Mother showed me that all the members of his household were the same containers and have the same kulkundalini inside and the same six centers.
- It’s said that the Mahamaya once swallowed Shiva. When her six centers were awakened, Shiva emerged out of Her thigh. Then He [Shiva] created the Tantra philosophy.
- You have to take refuge in that Chitshakti, that Mahamaya.
- Saying, ‘Mine! Mine,’ and getting attached to all those things are maya. Loving everybody is compassion. I love only the members of the Brahmo Samaj is maya. To love all people of the country, the followers of all religions, comes from compassion, love of God. Maya binds a man and makes him forget God, but compassion moves him to realize God. Sukadeva and Narada had compassion.
- Maya doesn’t allow us to know what His will is. Because of His maya, the ephemeral appears to us as permanent and the permanent appears transitory. The world is transitory. It is here now and then gone. But His maya doesn’t let us see that. It is His maya that makes me think I’m the doer and all these – wives, sons, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, hearth and home – are all mine.
- Maya is both knowledge and ignorance. The world of ignorance makes you forget, and the knowledge aspect of maya, of spiritual knowledge, takes you towards God, towards love for God and holy company.
- But for the person who is beyond maya, by God’s grace, they are both the same, knowledge and ignorance.