दैवी ह्येषा गुणमयी मम माया दुरत्यया |
मामेव ये प्रपद्यन्ते मायामेतां तरन्ति ते || 14||
daivī hyeṣhā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā
mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te
daivī—divine; hi—certainly; eṣhā—this; guṇa-mayī—consisting of the three modes of nature; mama—my; māyā—God’s external energy; duratyayā—very difficult to overcome; mām—unto me; eva—certainly; ye—who; prapadyante—surrender; māyām etām—this Maya; taranti—cross over; te—they
Translation:
This divine illusion of Mine caused by the qualities, is difficult to cross over; those who take refuge in Me alone, cross over this illusion.
Commentary:
This verse is of very great importance to all seekers. What is this Maya? What is the way to go beyond it? These two are fundamental questions. The entire universe is under the power of Maya, cosmic illusion. Its true nature should be understood first, then the seeker has to follow the way suggested by the Lord to go beyond it.
Four attributes are mentioned to describe the nature of Maya:
1. Daivi: This cosmic illusion Maya is divine, possessing transcendental power. Maya is of inscrutable, infinite power. Man and the Devas also are deluded by its power, and plunged in the flood of samsara, the cycle of birth and death. Material power, intellectual subtlety, artistic genius, wealth and glory, are all inadequate even to understand it, much less to cross over. Since it is divine, the Divine alone could deal with it.
2. Gunamayi: This Maya is made of three qualities – sattva, rajas, and tamas. Maya has no form. The qualities themselves constitute Maya. If these qualities are removed from the mind, Maya disappears. The whole world is possessed by those qualities and is deluded.
3. Mama: Maya is the supreme power of the Lord. It is under His control and acts according to His command. He may withdraw the power into Himself or project it outside at His will. Though Maya has power to delude the whole universe, yet it is just an instrument in the hands of God. Like servant before the master Maya obeys the Lord. It is inscrutable, mysterious, and wonderful to those who are under its power. To the Lord and the perfected yogis, it is only a non-existent reality. That which is not, that is Maya. That which is non-existent and yet creates the illusion of Reality is Maya. The world is not, yet it appears to exist. The individual self ‘ahamkara’ is not, yet it appears to exist. The reality is covered up and what is unreal is made to appear as the real. Such is the mystery of Maya. But to the wise, it is nothing. The ocean may be difficult to cross for the ordinary man, but to Garutman it is no more than a small canal. He flies over it by the superior power of his wings.
4. Duratyaya: It is difficult to cross over Maya, but it is not impossible. Those who yield to the temptations of sensual pleasures, who are attached to material things cannot cross the ocean of Maya. All spiritual sadhana is intended to eliminate the temptations of the flesh and the delusions of the mind.
Having described the power of Maya in the first line, the Lord points the way to cross over it in the second line. Those who take refuge in the Lord transcend Maya. Devotion to the Lord, and surrender to the Lord is the way to overcome Maya. ‘Surrender to Me. I will take you beyond Maya’. is the Lord’s command. Sankara says that devotion to the Lord’s lotus feet is the strong boat that will carry people beyond the ocean of samsara.
Human skill and intelligence is indeed capable of many worldly victories and achievements. Inventions are made, empires are built, battles are fought and won by human intelligence and skill. But when man stands confronted with the cosmic illusion, he is by himself powerless. Only by surrender to the Supreme Lord, and by His grace alone, can man cross the frontiers of samsara, and enter the land of bliss and blessedness.
Service of the sages and Rishis who had already gone beyond Maya is also of greatest help to the spiritual aspirant. Having crossed the mire of delusion, they help mankind to do so.
The Lord is perfectly clear in his declaration ‘mam eva‘- Me only – is His command. Nothing else, no one else, can work the miracle. If one surrenders to the objective world he will suffer endless misery. If he surrenders to the Lord, he will obtain the highest rewards of freedom and bliss. The choice lies in man. Each one has to take the decision himself. No one can decide for another. The Lord’s promise that he would take man beyond maya, should give infinite strength to man. This verse should be read and re-read, and the divine light by which the enveloping darkness will all be dispelled will flow.
Devotion to the Lord means to have unswerving faith in Him, perform sacred works, meditate on the Self, cultivate virtues, and such other practices that purify the mind.
Swami Vivekananda Says —
We find that with all this, with this terrible fact before us, in the midst of sorrow and suffering, even in this world where life and death are synonymous, even here, there is a still small voice that is ringing through all ages, through every country, and in every heart: “This My Maya is divine, made up of qualities, and very difficult to cross. Yet those that come unto Me, cross the river of life.” “Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” This is the voice that is leading us forward. Man has heard it, and is hearing it all through the ages. This voice comes to men when everything seems to be lost and hope has fled, when man’s dependence on his own strength has been crushed down, and everything seems to melt away between his fingers, and life is a hopeless ruin. Then he hears it. This is called religion. [Source]
We have to come to this idea: “This My Maya is divine.” It is My activity [My] divinity. “[My Maya] is hard to cross, but those that take refuge in me [go beyond Maya].” But you find out that it is very difficult to cross this ocean [of Maya by] yourself. You cannot. It is the old question — hen and egg. If you do any work, that work becomes the cause and produces the effect. That effect [again] becomes the cause and produces the effect. And so on. If you push this down, it never stops. Once you set a thing in motion, there is no more stopping. I do some work, good or bad, [and it sets up a chain reaction] … I cannot stop now. It is impossible for us to get out from this bondage [by ourselves]. It is only possible if there is someone more powerful than this law of causation, and if he takes mercy on us and drags us out. And we declare that there is such a one — god. There is such a being, all merciful.[Source]
“He that followeth Me, walketh not in darkness”, saith the Lord [John 8.12].[Source]
From ‘Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna’ —
♬
Awake, Mother! Awake! How long Thou hast been asleep
In the lotus of the Muladhara!
Fulfil Thy secret function, Mother:
Rise to the thousand-petalled lotus within the head,
Where mighty Siva has His dwelling;
Swiftly pierce the six lotuses
And take away my grief, O Essence of Consciousness!
Sri Ramakrishna: “The song speaks of the Kundalini’s passing through the six centres. God is both within and without. From within He creates the various states of mind. After passing through the six centres, the jiva goes beyond the realm of maya and becomes united with the Supreme Soul. This is the vision of God.
“One cannot see God unless maya steps aside from the door. Rama, Lakshmana, and Sita were walking together. Rama was in front, Sita walked in the middle, and Lakshmana followed them. But Lakshmana could not see Rama because Sita was between them. In like manner, man cannot see God because maya is between them. (To Mani Mallick) But maya steps aside from the door when God shows His grace to the devotee. When the visitor stands before the door, the door-keeper says to the master, ‘Sir, command us, and we shall let him pass.’
“There are two schools of thought: the Vedanta and the Purana. According to the Vedanta this world is a ‘framework of illusion’, that is to say, it is all illusory, like a dream. But according to the Purana, the books of devotion, God Himself has become the twenty-four cosmic principles. Worship God both within and without.
“As long as God keeps the awareness of ‘I’ in us, so long do sense-objects exist; and we cannot very well speak of the world as a dream. There is fire in the hearth; therefore the rice and pulse and potatoes and the other vegetables jump about in the pot. They jump about as if to say: ‘We are here! We are jumping!’ This body is the pot. The mind and intelligence are the water. The objects of the senses are the rice, potatoes, and other vegetables. The ‘I-consciousness’ identified with the senses says, ‘I am jumping about.’ And Satchidananda is the fire.
“…But the Bhakti scriptures admit that the manifestations of Power are different in different beings. It is Rama who has become everything, no doubt; but He manifests Himself more in some than in others. There is one kind of manifestation of Rama in the Incarnation of God, and another in men. Even the Incarnations are conscious of the body. Embodiment is due to maya. Rama wept for Sita. But the Incarnation of God puts a bondage over His eyes by His own will, like children playing blindman’s buff. The children stop playing when their mother calls them. It is quite different, however, with the ordinary man. The cloth his eyes are bandaged with is fastened to his back with screws, as it were. There are eight fetters. Shame, hatred, fear, caste, lineage, good conduct, grief, and secretiveness—these are the eight fetters. And they cannot be unfastened without the help of a guru.
—-
Identity of Brahman and Sakti
Sri Ramakrishna: “The jnanis, who adhere to the non-dualistic philosophy of Vedanta, say that the acts of creation, preservation, and destruction, the universe itself and all its living beings, are the manifestations of Sakti, the Divine Power. (Known as maya in the Vedanta philosophy.) If you reason it out, you will realise that all these are as illusory as a dream. Brahman alone is the Reality, and all else is unreal. Even this very Sakti is unsubstantial, like a dream.
“But though you reason all your life, unless you are established in samadhi, you cannot go beyond the jurisdiction of Sakti. Even when you say, ‘I am meditating’, or ‘I am contemplating’, still you are moving in the realm of Sakti, within Its power.
“Thus Brahman and Sakti are identical. If you accept the one, you must accept the other. It is like fire and its power to burn. If you see the fire, you must recognize its power to burn also. You cannot think of fire without its power to burn, nor can you think of the power to burn without fire. You cannot conceive of the sun’s rays without the sun, nor can you conceive of the sun without its rays.
“What is milk like? Oh, you say, it is something white. You cannot think of the milk without the whiteness, and again, you cannot think of the whiteness without the milk.
“Thus one cannot think of Brahman without Sakti, or of Sakti without Brahman. One cannot think of the Absolute without the Relative, or of the Relative without the Absolute.
“The Primordial Power is ever at play. (This idea introduces the elements of spontaneity and freedom in the creation.) She is creating, preserving, and destroying in play, as it were. This Power is called Kali. Kali is verily Brahman, and Brahman is verily Kali. It is one and the same Reality. When we think of It as inactive, that is to say, not engaged in the acts of creation, preservation, and destruction, then we call It Brahman. But when It engages in these activities, then we call It Kali or Sakti. The Reality is one and the same; the difference is in name and form.[Source]
Sri Ramakrishna Says —
By taking refuge in the maya of knowledge, by taking the road of truth, you can realize Him. He who realizes God, who gets His vision, he alone can cross over His maya.
GO BEYOND KNOWLEDGE AND IGNORANCE
To know many things is ignorance. Pride of scholarship is also ignorance. The unwavering conviction that God alone dwells in all beings is Jnana, knowledge. To know him intimately is Vijnana, a richer knowledge. If a thorn gets into your foot, a second thorn is needed to take it out. When it is out both thorns are thrown away. You have to procure the thorn of knowledge to remove the thorn of ignorance; then you must set aside both knowledge and ignorance. God is beyond both knowledge and ignorance.
Once Lakshmana said to Rama, “Brother, how amazing it is that such a wise man as Vasishtha wept bitterly at the death of his son!” Rama said, “Brother, he who has knowledge must also have ignorance. He who has knowledge of one thing must also have knowledge of many things. He who is aware of light is also aware of darkness.”
Brahman is beyond knowledge and ignorance, virtue and vice, merit and demerit, cleanliness and uncleanliness.
———
As fire and its power to burn are no different, so Brahman and Shakti are the same. …. The One [Brahman] has become many; that is the manifestation of His power. … How is it possible to realize Brahman without taking refuge in Shakti? The words that are used to call on Him, the sound that is used to worship Him—those are all functions of Shakti. You [speaking to M.] have originated from Shakti, and you move and walk by means of Her power. (Source: Mahendra Nath Gupta (M.) the Recorder of the Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna by Swami Chetanananda)
Excerpt from ‘Spiritual Treasures: Letters of Swami Turiyananda’ —
It is avidya, or ignorance, which is the field of lust and anger. Patanjali defines avidya as follows: “To regard the non-eternal as eternal, the impure as pure, the painful as pleasant, and the non-Atman as the Atman-this is ignorance.” [II.5]
In other words, it is ignorance which makes one perceive the unreal world as real, the impure body as pure, happiness in painful sense enjoyments, and to consider wife and chil dren none of whom is really one’s own – as one’s own. These false perceptions are caused by ignorance. This avidya is without beginning: there is no way of ascertaining when it originated. It is also without end in the sense that until one attains illumination by the grace of God, it remains and is not destroyed. This ignorance does not allow us to move towards God. So Krishna said in the Gita, “Those who take refuge in me alone shall cross over this maya.” [VII.14] Our duty is to take refuge in him and lead a God-centred life.
It is the nature of water to flow downwards, but the sun’s rays lift it up towards the sky. Likewise, it is the very nature of the mind to go to lower things, to objects of enjoyment, but the grace of God can make the mind go towards higher objects.
— Sri Sarada Devi
I know the great Purusha, who is luminous, like the sun and beyond darkness. Only by knowing Him does one pass over death; there is no other way to the Supreme Goal.
— Svetasvatara Upanishad 3.8
Know, then, that prakriti is maya and that Great God is the Lord of maya. The whole universe is filled with objects which are parts of His being. By truly realising Him who, though non-dual, dwells in prakriti, both in its primary and in its secondary aspect and in Whom this whole world comes together and dissolves-by truly realising Him Who is the Lord, the bestower of blessings, the Adorable God, one attains the supreme peace.
— Svetasvatara Upanishad 4.10 & 4.11
‘We can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them’
— Albert Einstein
For a change to occur, you must apply more energy to the system than is extracted by the system.
— Entropy Theory
Related Articles:
- Even a wise man acts according to his own nature. Beings follow nature; what can restraint do? (BG 3.33)
Question: What is the nature of Maya?
Answer: It is divine, composed of the three gunas, subject to the Lord and difficult to cross over.
Question: What is the way to cross over Maya?
Answer: Surrender to the Lord and devotion to Him is the way to go beyond Maya.
Bhagavad Gita: Chapter 7 🔻 (30 Verses)
