Mauna, and Maya - Sri Ramana Maharshi

[Guest guest]

Devotee: What is Mauna, or Quiescence? Is it, in itself, dynamic, or

is it mere passivity and inertness?

 

The Maharshi: It is not a state of indolence devoid of activity.

Every act that constitutes what is known as the external activity of

the mundane world is carried on intermittently by only a fraction of

the mind. The inward Quiescence of Atma vyavahara, or the communion

with the Self, is a continuous and unbroken activity of the entire

mind. Maya, or illusion, which is not to be destroyed by any other

means, is completely destroyed only by this inward communion, which

is activity par excellence.

 

Devotee: What then is maya?

 

The Maharshi: That is maya, or illusion, which makes one think and

believe that That which is ever-present and all-pervasive, which is

full to perfection and self-luminous, and which is verily the Self,

the core of one's Being, as something nonexistent and unreal.

 

Conversely, that is maya which makes one think and believe as real

and self-existent what is non-existent and unreal, namely the jagat-

jiva-para (the world, the individual soul and God [note 11]) , which

in all times and throughout all ages has been declared an illusion.

 

 

 

Note 11. In the theological sense of a spiritual personality existing

separate and distinct from the Self or Atman.

 

From Origin of Spiritual Instruction, published by Society of

Abidance in Truth

 

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Not two,

Richard