Maya and Illusion

[Guest guest]

Coming to the principles, we find these Vedic thinkers very

courageous and wonderfully bold in propounding large and generalised

theories. Their solution of the mystery of the universe, from the

external world, was as satisfactory as it could be. The detailed

workings of modern science do not bring the question one step nearer

to solution, because the principles have failed. If the theory of

ether failed in ancient times to give a solution of the mystery of

the universe, working out the details of that ether theory would not

bring us much nearer to the truth. If the theory of all-pervading

life failed as a theory of this universe, it would not mean anything

more if worked out in detail, for the details do not change the

principle of the universe. What I mean is that in their inquiry into

the principle, the Hindu thinkers were as bold, and in some cases,

much bolder than the moderns. They made some of the grandest

generalisations that have yet been reached, and some still remain as

theories, which modern science has yet to get even as theories. For

instance, they not only arrived at the ether theory, but went beyond

and classified mind also as a still more rarefied ether. Beyond that

again, they found a still more rarefied ether. Yet that was no

solution, it did not solve the problem. No amount of knowledge of the

external world could solve the problem. " But " , says the

scientists, " we are just beginning to know a little: wait a few

thousand years and we shall get the solution. " " No, " says the

Vedantist, for he has proved beyond all doubt that the mind is

limited, that it cannot go beyond certain limits--beyond time, space,

and causation. As no man can jump out of his own self, so no man can

go beyond the limits that have been put upon him by the laws of time

and space. Every attempt to solve the laws of causation, time, and

space would be futile, because the very attempt would have to be made

by taking for granted the existence of these three. What does the

statement of the existence of the world mean, then? " This world has

no existence. " What is meant by that? It means that it has no

absolute existence. It exists only in relation to my mind, to your

mind, and to the mind of everyone else. We see this world with the

five senses but if we had another sense, we would see in it something

more. If we had yet another sense, it would appear as something still

different. It has, therefore, no real existence; it has no

unchangeable, immovable, infinite existence. Nor can it be called non-

existence, seeing that it exists, and we have to work in and through

it. It is a mixture of existence and non-existence.

 

Coming from abstractions to the common, everyday details of our

lives, we find that our life is a contradiction, a mixture of

existence and non-existence. There is this contradiction in

knowledge. It seems that man can know everything, if he only wants to

know; but before he has gone a few steps, he finds an adamantine wall

which he cannot pass. All his work is in a circle, and he cannot go

beyond that circle. The problems which are nearest and dearest to him

are impelling him on and calling, day and night, for a solution, but

he cannot solve them, because he cannot go beyond his intellect. And

yet that desire is implanted strongly in him. Still we know that the

only good is to be obtained by controlling and checking it. With

every breath, every impulse of our heart asks us to be selfish. At

the same time, there is some power beyond us which says that it is

unselfishness alone which is good. Every child is a born optimist; he

dreams golden dreams. In youth he becomes still more optimistic. It

is hard for a young man to believe that there is such a thing as

death, such a thing as defeat or degradation. Old age comes, and life

is a mass of ruins. Dreams have vanished into the air, and the man

becomes a pessimist. Thus we go from one extreme to another, buffeted

by nature, without knowing where we are going. It reminds me of a

celebrated song in the Lalita Vistara, the biography of Buddha.

Buddha was born, says the book, as the saviour of mankind, but he

forgot himself in the luxuries of his palace. Some angels came and

sang a song to rouse him. And the burden of the whole song is that we

are floating down the river of life which is continually changing

with no stop and no rest. So are our lives, going on and on without

knowing any rest. What are we to do? The man who has enough to eat

and drink is an optimist, and he avoids all mention of misery, for it

frightens him. Tell not to him of the sorrows and the sufferings of

the world; go to him and tell that it is all good. " Yes, I am safe, "

says he. " Look at me! I have a nice house to live in. I do not fear

cold and hunger; therefore do not bring these horrible pictures

before me. " But, on the other hand, there are others dying of cold

and hunger. If you go and teach them that it is all good, they will

not hear you. How can they wish others to be happy when they are

miserable? Thus we are oscillating between optimism and pessimism.

 

- Swami Vivekananda

 

.... to be continued