Maya and Illusion

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These tremendous contradictions in our intellect, in our knowledge,

yea, in all the facts of our life face us on all sides. A reformer

arises and wants to remedy the evils that are existing in a certain

nation; and before they have been remedied, a thousand other evils

arise in another place. It is like an old house that is falling; you

patch it up in one place and the ruin extends to another. In India,

our reformers cry and preach against the evils of enforced widowhood.

In the West, non-marriage is the great evil. Help the unmarried on

one side; they are suffering. Help the widows on the other; they are

suffering. It is like chronic rheumatism: you drive it from the head,

and it goes to the body; you drive it from there, and it goes to the

feet. Reformers arise and preach that learning, wealth, and culture

should not be in the hands of a select few; and they do their best to

make them accessible to all. These may bring more happiness to some,

but, perhaps as culture comes, physical happiness lessens. The

knowledge of happiness brings the knowledge of unhappiness. Which way

then shall we go? The least amount of material prosperity that we

enjoy is causing the same amount of misery elsewhere. This is the

law. The young, perhaps, do not see it clearly, but those who have

lived long enough and those who have struggled enough will understand

it. And this is Maya. These things are going on, day and night, and

to find a solution of this problem is impossible. Why should it be

so? It is impossible to answer this, because the question cannot be

logically formulated. There is neither how nor why in fact; we only

know that it is and that we cannot help it. Even to grasp it, to draw

an exact image of it in our own mind, is beyond our power. How can we

solve it then?

 

Maya is a statement of the fact of this universe, of how it is going

on. People generally get frightened when these things are told to

them. But bold we must be. Hiding facts is not the way to find a

remedy. As you all know, a hare hunted by dogs puts its head down and

thinks itself safe; so, when we run into optimism, we do just like

the hare, but that is no remedy. There are objections against this,

but you may remark that they are generally from people who possess

many of the good things of life. In this country (England) it is very

difficult to be a pessimist. Everyone tells me how wonderfully the

world is going on, how progressive; but what he himself is, in his

own world. Old questions arise: Christianity must be the only true

religion of the world, because Christian nations are prosperous! But

that assertion contradicts itself, because the prosperity of the

Christian nation depends on the misfortune of non-Christian nations.

There must be some to prey on. Suppose the whole world were to become

Christian, then the Christian nations would become poor, because

there would be no non-Christian nations for them to prey upon. Thus

the argument kills itself. Animals are living upon plants, men upon

animals and, worst of all, upon one another, the strong upon the

weak. This is going on everywhere. And this is Maya. What solution do

you find for this? We hear every day many explanations, and are told

that in the long run all will be good. Taking it for granted that

this is possible, why should there be this diabolical way of doing

good? Why cannot good be done through good, instead of through these

diabolical methods? The descendants of the human beings of today will

be happy; but why must there be all this suffering now? There is no

solution. This is Maya.

 

- Swami Vivekananda

 

.... to be continued