Understanding Maya and its power

Spirituality in Practice – Example 2

Kishore C.S. (July 2001)

Is it possible to understand Maya? Is our mind capable of understanding mind and revealing God? We think we are intelligent and can understand the ‘infinite’ god through reasoning and contemplation. As I read more books I realized the easiest way to understand God is to seek guidance of God realized souls. We are under ‘maya’ and our belief that we would be able to ‘understand’ God by reading necessary books and by individual search is not as easy as it sounds.

I have read of the famous examples where our so-called ‘intelligence’ misleads us in the physical plane then how can we be sure that it will lead us to the ultimate TRUTH.

One of the examples is where we mistake a rope for snake in darkness.

Another example: There was a tree stump in middle of a forest. A thief came and thought the stump is ‘police’. The police thought it is ‘thief’. A lover who came in search of his loved one, thought it is his ‘lover’. Every one is ‘biased’ in their thinking by what predominates their thought process.

A personal experience

Besides these examples I had a very personal experience which shook me. I prided myself in reasoning and ability to reach correct judgment based on experience.

This happened a few years back. I was walking past our apartment garage when I saw my neighbour cleaning his car using a vacuum cleaner. After couple of days when I passed the Garage I found a new object (within 10 ft distance). My mind worked like this

This new object has appeared after my neighbour used the garage to clean his car

The object appears like an attachment used with a vacuum cleaner.

My neighbor has forgotten to take it and may not be aware of that

I concluded based on the circumstances and my mental experience that my neighbor forgot an attachment of his vacuum cleaner. I thought of telling him the next time I meet him.

I saw it everyday but I did not get a chance to meet my neighbor.

After two months, I met him and immediately told him that he forgot something in the garage. He told me: “I did not forget anything. In fact the object does not belong to the car, but is a plastic case of side mirror”.

But I believed that he is mistaken and I was right. To prove that he is wrong and my intelligence is right, I went near the object after two months of my first observation. I was shocked to notice that I WAS WRONG.

Summary

This simple experience taught me a very strong lesson that I should not judge based on my mental capacity. And there are many things which we cannot comprehend just by using our mind. We have to use our intuition to expand our horizon, be willing to BELIVE and develop FAITH and TRUST in what others say. Given this experience I also realized that I can never conclude on Existence of God unless I have FAITH. No book in the world can teach and make us believe in higher truths but a practical experience and guidance of a Guru. Hope my opinion helps.