DENOUNCING MAYA - NECESSARY OR NOT

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DENOUNCING MAYA - NECESSARY OR NOT

 

" Though I have become a Fakir, have no house or wife, and though leaving off all

cares, I have stayed at one place, the inevitable Maya teases Me often. Though I

forgot Myself I cannot forget Her. She always envelops Me. This Maya (illusive

power) of the Lord (Shri Hari) teases God Brahma and others; then what to speak

of a poor Fakir like Me? Those who take refuge in the Lord will be freed from

Her clutches with his grace " . Baba Chapter 13, Sai Satcharita.

 

Maya, materialism and family is considered to be a hindrance in the path

of spiritualism, or is it really? Let us consider the evil called Maya in light

of Babas teachings to us through Satcharita. From Satcharita we gather that

people initially started going to Baba for fulfillment of their personal needs,

such as begetting a child, to solve their financial problems, increase social

status, and performing marriage of children, win court cases and relief from

health problems. Baba never shunned any of such devotees, in fact He encouraged

them to come to Him and He gladly helped them achieve their materialistic needs.

Sounds dubious? Well consider why Baba said He never wanted His devotees to

fast. A hungry person cannot think of God. Only when the hunger is appeased then

a person can concentrate on other aspects in life. In the same way, man is born

with a purpose in life; he is endowed with responsibilities towards his family

and community. If a person cannot meet his basic needs in life and keep his

family clothed and fed and live comfortably, such a man will always be burdened

with lifes problems and will not focus on anything other than ways and means to

get money to fulfill his familys daily requirements. In order to fulfill the

responsibilities man has to work and earn money and keep his family happy. How

can a person who keeps away from money and materialism keep his family happy?

 

Money materialism and family is not bad, but is essential to fulfill our Dharma,

but the strong attachment to these things makes a person get overtaken by the 6

vicious qualities - greed, anger, lust, desire, envy, and egotism. When a man is

centered only on money and cannot think of anything else in life other than

himself, his status in the society, and endless satisfaction of his desires,then

he is said to be enticed with the seductress called Maya. Such a person is

blinded by the materialism and money and may not respect or love his parents,

god or elders. No amount of money or status can make such people happy. Their

world revolves only around money and such people are easy targets to be

overtaken by Maya.

 

Money should be used for executing responsibilities or dharma. Take Baba for

example, He collected lots of money, but at the end of the day He was same poor

fakir as He distributed money to the people of Shirdi who had responsibilities

to fulfill. The Samadhi Mandir, Sathes Wada, Dixit Wade are constructed by

devotees who were financially well off and staunch devotees of Baba. If it were

not for them we would not have had the privilege to visit Shirdi and relive the

beautiful days as described in Satcharita. These devotees, Buty, Dixit and Sathe

were rich and influential people, but at the same time they were humble and

kind. They used their money for betterment of the community after fulfilling

their family obligations.

 

Another thing to consider is that if Baba wanted people to leave off their

money, home and family why would He ask Sathe to remarry? Why did He ask

impatient Jog, who wanted to renounce everything and be with Him, to wait, as a

time would come when Jog would be free and then he can devote his time to Baba?

Baba knew Jogs wife would predecease him and after Jogs responsibilities were

fulfilled then Baba advised him to turn towards spirituality. Shri Satpathyji in

his book May I Answer also mentions that spiritual progress is faster for a man

who despite being entangled in the mundane world and fulfilling his

responsibilities towards family, work and society focuses his thoughts towards

God.

 

From the above discussion what I gathered is that Money, Materialism and family

itself is not bad, but it is our attachment towards them that creates shackles.

We can keep Maya at bay when we are not always focused on materialistic wants

but consider it as essential for well being and fulfilling our family and

community related duties. And know that God will fulfill our wants and He gives

us as much as we can handle and need in our life. One should not be selfish and

only look after the needs of his own family, but if there is scope then help

others, share things to ease our neighbours pain and help him to be happy.

 

Let us focus our thoughts on god who will help us denounce the strong attachment

for our surroundings and will keep our coffers filled such that we can lead a

comfortable life and fulfill our responsibilities, while progressing spiritually

as well.