Maya or say the illusion is one of the undefeatable power of the supreme God. We can say that this world is running properly just only because of maya. When someone very close to you dies we feel sad for sometime and think it is not possible for us to live without them but subsequently we forget everything and laugh again. Why it happens? Because of maya only.
We all know that there is an end to our life and we all will die one day but still we don’t want to think about it and involve ourselves in our day to day life and it happens again because of maya. We feel very much attached to this body which is full of blood, flesh, bones, urine and stool etc. which happens again due to maya. In Srimad Bhagvadgita also lord sri krishna says that “mam maya durtaya” means it is difficult to cross over my maya but a pure devotee can easily sail over it.
Actually what is maya ? maya is an illusion which makes the things seem real which actually do not exist. For example, we think that this world is real but it is real as long as our mind conceives it in that way, the moment we sleep that world is not existing. It is like the dreams we see in our sleep and in those dreams everything seems to be real but when we woke up we realize the truth. Similarly, this world is also an illusion and when we leave this body we realize this truth. Here we can also say that mind only continuously creates everything, it only says to you this is real or unreal but that cannot happen without the help of maya. Further, we have heard many times that all human relationships which took place in this earth happens due to the previous karmas or deeds done in our previous births that means we have taken many births and in each and every birth we had many parents/wife/children etc. then why we don’t remember them and why we feel so much attached to all those relationships in every birth, the answer is again due to maya.
In this regard, there is an very interesting story in our puranas/epics. Once devrishi narad wanted to see or know maya and he used to continuously pester Lord for it. Firstly, lord tried to avoid the request as it would only give him problem but narad was adamant. So one fine day lord and narad were going somewhere when lord feel thirsty and he asked for some water. Narad immediately came into action and he ran in search of water and while searching he found a very big and beautiful house. He knocked at the door and a very beautiful young girl came out of it and the moment narad saw her, it was love at first sight. The lady asked him what he want but narad was so spellbound that he could not utter a single word. The lady went inside the house and closed the door but narad didn’t go from there and sat there to see her again. That house belonged to one big zamindar who was very rich and had lots of land and properties and that girl was his only child and he was searching for some better groom for her who will stay here as his son. When two days passed and narad didn’t move from there the girl told her father about it and that she also like him. The father was also happy and he gave marraige of his daughter with narad. After the father died narad became the sole owner of all the properties and after sometime narad had three children from that lady and it was a happy family life and like this thirty years passed. Then one day severe flood came in his village and everything including his properties, house drowned and narad ran outside his house alongwith his children and wife but subsequently everybody drowned and only he survived. Narad sat with his hands on his head and crying alas everything gone my house/family/properties when suddenly a hand came from behind and tapped him. Narad looked back and saw lord standing in front of him, the lord asked him, “narad what happened ? I was waiting for you for half an hour ?” half an hour ! narad shouted thirty years have gone lord ! the lord smiled and said this is maya ! you wanted to see, so I showed it you. Narad immediately fall at the lotus fee of Lord Sri Krishna and requested the Lord to save him from his maya and give pure devotion at his lotus feet.
So the moral of the story is that pure devotion can only save us from the dangerous power of maya.
Jai Sri Krishna !
