“Lead me from illusion to Truth
Lead me from darkness to Light
Lead me from cycles of birth
and death to spiritual liberation.
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti.”
– Brihadaranyaka Upanishad
Hold onto your hats folks, this one’s a toughie.
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The yogic concept of Maya is the idea that everything is an illusion, from the chair you’re sitting on to the computer you’re reading this on, from the grass beneath your feet when you walk outside to the sea you swim in – it’s all a figment of our collective and individual imaginations.
It’s pretty hard to take in huh? It’s pretty hard to take seriously at all.
As my yoga practice developed over the years on both a physical and spiritual level it began to have a deeper and deeper effect on my life in general and I knew that much of the esoteric ideas and philosophies relating to yoga definitely had something in them. But then I learned about Maya.
Maya was a massive stumbling block for me for a very long time. Yoga had taught me to open my heart and feel compassion and empathy to a much greater degree than I had before. It also had an amazing effect on my physical body. But how could it if my physical body is nothing but an illusion? How can this be an illusion, these things I can see, these things I can touch, smell, feel?
And yet….
The world is constantly changing, day by day, season by season, year by year, eon by eon; and to believe too strongly in it as something static can trap us. Belief in Maya isolates us by placing a mirage in front of us to focus on and preventing us from embracing our Atman, our true selves.
…a human being is part of the whole called by us a universe — a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and his feelings as something separate from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison for us; it restricts us to our personal decisions and our affections to a few persons closest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
–Albert Einstein*
Throughout our lives we are told certain things that we accept as fact. How the world works, how we should behave, the things that society deems right and to always back up our thoughts with material evidence.
Along the way we lose our innate intuition, the guidance within us all, so bogged down are we by what the material world has taught us to be correct. We lose the ability to believe that is so prevelant in small children. We lose our divine guides (imaginary friends if you will) to concentrate on the real world. Which may or may not be real after all.
We have forgotten who we really are. Behind our various roles we are all one energy — one spark of life. Our true selves.
And our yoga practice can bring us back to where we are meant to be. The illusion of Maya is a series of judgements, positive and negative and through yoga we can begin to break through these judgements, theses illusions, if only for a moment, and set ourselves free.
Everything will change. It is the nature of things. But the energetic spark of life within us all will never change.
And that is reality.
True happiness does not come from a wide screen tv, or a designer handbag, or (in my case) another pair of shoes. It does not even come from the beauty of literature, art or nature (although all those things are worthy of our time too). It comes from within and it is right there inside if we are willing to look. It may take many lifetimes to find, but it will be there.
Forever.
The Mona Lisa is a great piece of art, but you would view it as a weapon if you were hit over the head with it. Likewise, understanding Maya doesn’t make the physical a bad thing. It allows us to step back and appreciate its beauty without having it blind us to our true nature…**
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*From “I am with you always” – Douglass Bloch
**Yoga and the Path of the Urban Mystic – Darren Main (p.27)
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Great post. I love reading about other religions, spiritualities and philosophies. Thank you
Hi, I’ve been following your blog for some time now and I love it! I wanted to comment on this post to thank you for breaking this particular concept down into such easy-to-understand terms. I’m relatively new to the spiritual aspect of yoga, and while I try very hard to come at everything with an open mind, sometimes I just come across things that make me go “whaa?” and I revert back to being a skeptic. I had the same reaction at the beginning of your post when you stated what Maya was. But then I read on, and I am so glad I did! I will admit, I have never heard of Maya before. I’m probably not there yet in terms of my spiritual practice. But this post has given me something to think about, and I am so grateful that you made such a difficult concept so accessible!
Also, just on a general note, I really love reading your blog
Thanks for another great post!
Hi Elyse! Thanks for the comment. I think maya is the one of the hardest things to grasp. Even now somedays I can’t quite get my head round it!
So happy you like the blog!
Thanks for this great post. I first learned about Maya in Darren Main’s book, and I have a very hard time getting my head around it. I had hoped we’d discuss it in yoga teacher training, but it never came up. I’m sure that’s because it’s such a difficult subject. I really like your approach to it.
Looking at the photos from the Iceland volcano reminded me of this concept for some reason, not that I can begin to understand why! They also reminded me in general of how small a part of the world we are and at the same time how connected to the larger world we are. In particular, I highly recommend the photos at http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/more_from_eyjafjallajokull.html.
Thanks for this great thought provoking post! I also have difficult getting my head around this. The way I like to think of it is, rather than everything being an illusion – it is our ’separateness’ from it that is the illusion – everything is made of energy, vibrating at different frequencies – we are all made of the same stuff – but our humaness, our senses, the part of our brains that make us identify things, labels and judges them, our egoes – is what creates this ‘illusion of separation’. But the yogic philosophy of Oneness identifies our deepest truest nature.
xx
i love this concept. you put it so beautifully
i think for me this is about impermanence and uncertainty. terrifying to most people.
perhaps this is why we cling to objects in an attempt to make us happy. we try to relive, or remain in our youth for as long as possible. we fill our lives up with plans and with stuff – distractions from our own inevitable end.
and the crossing into the utter unknown. its the next great adventure!
though really this is the sort of thing we should be discussing over a massive pile of veges. lunch soon?
thank you for this Rachel, I agree with Elyse- it was well written and explained in a really nice way.
I think I have far to go with this concept, and am not sure if I will take it in within my own spirituality, but it was definitely interesting and challenging in the sense that I had to stop my “own” road blocks while reading.
Thank you!
I’m about to write up an excerpt of one of Robert Svoboda’s books which talks about Maya in a very personal kind of way. I’d been thinking about it and then saw this post. It’s very hard to talk about Maya in an accessible way, so well done!
Funny, maya was one of the first things I grasped… acceptance is my struggle
Interesting to see how you (and some people commenting) struggle with something I see so inherently. I didn’t know these people existed! Though I suppose I must have suspected. I suppose you’re all good at something I can’t do as well as you. Like we each have our own yoga poses. Different strokes.
Hi KoraKaos. Thanks for your comment!
Acceptance has always come quite easy to me. I have a kind of c’est la vie approach to life. Like you say, we are all good at different asana and different philosophical concepts I guess!