MAYA AND FREEDOM

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Posted by: " Uttishthata " uttishthata

Thu Jan 17, 2008 10:01 pm (PST)

 

" Trailing clouds of glory we come, " says the poet. Not all of us come

as trailing clouds of glory however; some of us come as trailing

black fogs; there can be no question about that. But every one of us

comes into this world to fight, as on a battlefield. We come here

weeping to fight our way, as well as we can, and to make a path for

ourselves through this infinite ocean of life; forward we go, having

long ages behind us and an immense expanse beyond. So on we go, till

death comes and takes us off the field - victorious or defeated, we

do not know. And this is Mâyâ.

 

Hope is dominant in the heart of childhood. The whole world is a

golden vision to the opening eyes of the child; he thinks his will is

supreme. As he moves onward, at every step nature stands as an

adamantine wall, barring his future progress. He may hurl himself

against it again and again, striving to break through. The further he

goes, the further recedes the ideal, till death comes, and there is

release, perhaps. And this is Maya.

 

A man of science rises, he is thirsting after knowledge. No sacrifice

is too great, no struggle too hopeless for him. He moves onward

discovering secret after secret of nature, searching out the secrets

from her innermost heart, and what for? What is it all for? Why

should we give him glory? Why should he acquire fame? Does not nature

do infinitely more than any human being can do? - and nature is dull,

insentient. Why should it be glory to imitate the dull, the

insentient? Nature can hurl a thunderbolt of any magnitude to any

distance. If a man can do one small part as much, we praise him and

laud him to the skies. Why? Why should we praise him for imitating

nature, imitating death, imitating dullness imitating insentience?

The force of gravitation can pull to pieces the biggest mass that

ever existed; yet it is insentient. What glory is there in imitating

the insentient? Yet we are all struggling after that. And this is

maya.

 

to be continued...

 

The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Volume 2 (Delivered in

London, 22nd October 1896)

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QUOTE OF THE DAY:

" Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. " " The Kingdom

of Heaven is within you. " Where do you go to seek for the kingdom of

God?--asks Jesus of Nazareth--when it is there within you. Cleanse

the spirit, and it is there. It is already yours. How can you get

what is not yours? It is yours by right. You are the heirs of

immortality, sons of the Eternal Father.

- Swami Vivekananda