Maya versus Reality (Hinduism)

Introduction: A lot of Sadhus tend to reject the realm of the material, stating that it is an illusion. This is not what Hinduism recommends. Rejecting the world is nothing but NIHILISM, a bitter philosophy that is nothing but a failure.

*MAYA VERSUS REALITY*

We are here on this planet for a finite amount of time...

and consequently this world is called maya/illusion, by Hindus.

This does imply we reject this world because our stay in it is temporary.

It only means that this concept stays in our minds as we go about negotiating & dealing with our lives. Or Maya. 

Why it is called "Maya" :

Because only something ETERNAL, something that will last forever - only such a thing is considered real by this outlook. 

All temporary things

their existence is ambiguous

after they cease to exist, after they dissolve, do they exist
except in memory? 

which is arbitrary, illusory, fleeting

As per this perspective something real is something that

will be forever available



Who are/were you?
before your father and mother conceived you?

...and...where do you long to be...?

Yanni believes passion is eternal...


Uriah Heep found his eternal person...


Deep Purple looks for the eternal in the echoes of the past...

The Interplay of Opposites

Consider the following situation: Father throws out his two errant sons because they are useless. One son dies in the harsh environment of the outside world. The other son thrives in the harshness, and becomes a successful man. So the question is.... Was this act of the father Good? or Evil? Perhaps it was BOTH Good and Evil? Perhaps it was neither Good nor Evil?

The fleeting, illusory qualities of MAYA are difficult to classify, separate. Because of their inherent oneness.

Here is a beautiful christian mysticism number that tries to instill that there is a deep relationship between opposing qualities of life.


Lyrics
If you believe in light, it's because of obscurity
If you believe in joy, it's because of sadness
If you believe in God...it's because of the devil





This concept can be found in physics, freudian psychology, buddhism, hinduism too.

So if opposing qualities of life are mere aspects of the same unified whole, mere flavours of the same continuum, it would mean that qualities like cruelty, madness, sadness, hatred, disease, death...all emerge from the deepest level of life itself...
just like their opposite qualities.


In his book the "Tao of Physics", Fritjof Capra writes...

"In our normal state of consciousness, this unity of opposites is extremely hard to accept...

But when mystics transcend this realm of intellectual concepts, they become aware of the relativity and polar relationship of all opposites. They realise that pleasure and pain, life and death, sadness and joy are not absolute experiences belonging to different categories, but are merely two sides of the same reality. Extreme parts of a single whole."

And what is this 'single whole'....the answer to this question does not follow simple logic that our minds are accustomed to.

Because over here, we are dealing with nothing but the infinite....

It moves. It moves not.
It is far. It is near.
It is within all this.
And it is outside of all this.
- The Upnishads.

SUMMARY:

OPPOSING QUALITIES OF LIFE ARE NOT ABSOLUTES. THEY ARE DIFFERENT FLAVOURS OF THE SAME CONTINUUM.