Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Escaping maya

Q: I feel certain that I will succumb to maya as soon as I get home. I don't feel very optimistic about my spiritual future. 

If there is no mind there is no world, no maya and nothing other than yourself. Maya is ego, ego is mind, and the mind is everything you can think of or perceive. To get away from the mind, this ego, this maya,  you have to stop getting entangled in thoughts. Be like the axle of a wheel. Let the wheel turn around you, but don't move yourself. The axle stays without movement even if the wheels are spinning very fast. If you establish yourself in the utter stillness of the Self you come to understand that it is mental movement that makes maya. When you remain as Self, in complete stillness, no maya is created

Another example: be like a big tree. When the wind comes the branches and leaves are shaken but the trunk remains stationary. If you live in the mind you are always being tossed around like branches and twigs in a strong wind. The less you identify with the mind, the less movement there is. When you are aware of yourself as consciousness alone, with not trace of the mind being present, there is no movement at all, only unbroken peace and absolute stillness. 

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