Maya
Maya commonly means myth, illusion, falsity, unreal, non-existent and unknown, but these meanings do not give a comprehensive understanding of the word. The following story gives us proper insight into this.
Once Narada, a favourite devotee of
Lord Vishnu, was taking a walk with Sri Krishna, an incarnation of Vishnu. Out
of curiosity, Narada asked Krishna, “People talk about maya; what exactly is
maya? Please tell me.” When Krishna suggested that he should ask for something
else other than this difficult subject, Narada insisted on knowing about it.
Krishna smiled and invited Narada for a walk in the woods. They walked for a
long time and reached a dry plateau. Both were tired and thirsty; Krishna
settled against a tree and said to Narada, “I feel very thirsty. I see in the
horizon some signs of villages. Can you please go and fetch me some water to
quench my thirst?” Narada immediately sped off towards the villages in search
of water.
As he reached the outskirts of
village, he saw a beautiful maiden drawing water from a well. He approached her
and politely requested for a pitcher of water. She was very respectful and
offered to help him. She took him to her house and performed all the honours
that any venerable guest would receive in those days. Narada was not only
impressed by the hospitality, but also mesmerized by her beauty and sweetness.
Their conversation prolonged and he met her family, who were all very nice to
him. As time passed, he felt comfortable and stayed longer at their request.
Days passed and Narada and the maiden fell in love and got married with the
blessings of her parents. He continued to live with them, taking up the family
business. Years passed and in due course he had two children.
Soon after their third child was born,
a huge flash flood hit the village and all the houses were submerged under
water. Narada held the infant above the water and shepherded his other
two children to safety. But the force of water pushed him and he lost control;
the infant was washed away by the currents. His other two children and wife too
got washed away and drowned. He was carried away by the currents and thrown
ashore onto a far-off land. As he was gasping for life, he prayed hard to
Vishnu to save him from this calamity!
Just then, Krishna appeared on his
side and asked him, “Narada, where is the water I asked for? I have been
waiting it for more than 30minutes!” Narada was bewildered! When he came to his
senses, he realized that it was all maya --- there was no family, no flood and
no calamity; it was just his desires that had completely consumed him!
As contrived as it might appear, the
story reveals an important truth --- one can be so intensely driven by the
mind, desires and emotions that one completely forgets one’s real state and
falsely assumes the perceived state as real.
Scholars say that maya not only hides
the reality from you, but also misguides you to think of another fictitious
state as reality. A simple analogy that all of us face is a dream. In a dream,
we could be chased by a tiger, and we feel desperate; our heart pounds faster,
we lose hope as the tiger catches us in the dream and when we suddenly wake up,
we realise there is no tiger or calamity.
Is our day-to-day life also like that?
As children, you may not be able to answer that question or understand the depth
of the situations we face. But our ancestors have thought about these questions
very deeply and have provided answers in the Vedas. When you grow up, try to
read this lore of knowledge as it will help you understand life better.
