S.S. Cohen - Guru Ramana - Memories & Notes, Maya

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Of all the aspects of Advaita philosophy that of Maya is the

most difficult to understand, still more to explain. Some interpretit as ignorance, others as dream, others still as illusion, and nothingbut experience can explain it satisfactorily. In the meantimeconsiderable misunderstanding is created by explanations – themore it is explained, the more obscure it becomes.

In one of the Ashrams I visited in 1939 I met a Canadian

lady. She had come to India “in search of Truth,” and hadvisited many yogis and Ashrams, the last of which was theRamakrishna Mutt in Madras. We talked as usual on yoga,meditation, etc., but when I mentioned the word “maya”, shegasped, clutched her throat, and dropped her voice: “Don’t sayit,” she whispered, “those people of Ramakrishna Mission wereabout to destroy me, but God came to my rescue and I escaped.”I. How do you mean, did they want to kill you? They are

sannyasis.

She. Not my body, but my soul. They told me that nothing

exists: no world, no human beings, no trees, nothing,nothing – all is illusion, all my own imagination, andthat I cannot kill the illusion till I surrender myself.Where will I be without my soul and mind?

I had no alternative but to change the subject.But Sri Bhagavan’s explanations are superb, as will be

seen from the following dialogues.

 

* * * *

 

15th April, 1937

 

 

Mr. C. wanted to know the mystery of this gigantic

world illusion.

C. We speak of the world as illusion, yet everything in it

follows rigid laws, which proves it to be well-plannedand well-regulated.

 

Bhagavan. Yes, he who projected the illusion gave it the

appearance of order and sound planning.

 

C. All spiritual institutions except the Advaitic give

prominence to the creative aspect of Reality, which theyname God. They speak of prophets, saints, scriptures,etc. Are they all illusion?

 

Bh. They all exist in the same way as you, the questioner,

exist. You are in the relative world, so they are; or elseyou would not have known of them. In dreams one alsosees a well-regulated world with saints, scriptures, etc.,but the moment one wakes up they all disappear. So alsowaking from this dream world into the SupremeConsciousness causes them all to disappear.

 

C. But how out of Truth does illusion, falsehood spring up?

Bh. Maya is not falsehood, although it has the appearance of

it, but the active side of Reality. It is the maker of formsin Consciousness and form means variety, which causesillusion – mind you, all this variety is in consciousnessand nowhere else; it is only in the mind. One jiva, seeinganother jiva, forgets its identity with it and thinks of itas separate from itself. But the moment it turns itsattention on its own nature as consciousness, and not asform, the illusion of diversity or separateness breaks as adream breaks when waking takes place.

 

C. It is hard to conceive God, the formless, giving rise to forms.

 

Bh. Why hard? Does not your mind remain formless when

you do not perceive or think, say, in deep sleep, insamadhi, or in a swoon? And does it not create space andrelationship when it thinks and impels your body to act?Just as your mind devises and your body executes in onehomogeneous, automatic act, so automatic, in fact, thatmost people are not aware of the process, so does theDivine Intelligence devise and plan and His Energyautomatically and spontaneously acts – the thought andthe act are one integral whole. This Creative Energywhich is implicit in Pure Intelligence is called by variousnames, one of which is maya or shakti, the Creator offorms or images.

 

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