The Great Illusion

Mother of the World by Nicholas Roerich

The Sanskrit word Maya literally means "illusion" or "magic". It implies the ability to manipulate  perceptions. It refers to the fact that our knowledge of the universe is dependent upon our limited perceptions, and that a greater truth lies beyond our senses. Maya can be understood as "appearance", that which we are able to perceive. We are able to perceive things with our eyes thanks to light. This is why light is used as a metaphor for knowledge or awareness. Light is a particle which bounces off of objects in the dark. When the light particle bounces off an object and into our eyes, that's when we are able to see it. Light means the ability to perceive something which would otherwise be uknown to us. Light is radiation which is created by the movement of particles. The Universe is in constant movement, creating heat, emmitting light. At the centre of every particle, there is the void, the stillness, the dark. What is darkness? It is simply the absense of light. In terms of physics, an object is said to be dark when it absorbs photons. Dark objects are things which do not allow the light to bounce off of the surface. The light is absorbed into the darkness. What happens to that energy when it is absorbed? It does not cease to exist, it just becomes invisible to our perception. Darkness means that which is not visible to our perception. As feeble humans who are dependent upon light to see, we become afraid of the dark, and so the dark is used as a metaphor for everything that scares us. Darkness is not evil, it is simply the unknown, the unperceived. If we take our human perception out of the equation, there is no dichotomy of light and dark. Beyond duality lies reality.

Hendrick Vroom explains, "The term Maya has been translated as 'illusion,' but then it does not concern normal illusion. Here 'illusion' does not mean that the world is not real and simply a figment of the human imagination. Maya means that the world is not as it seems; the world that one experiences is misleading as far as its true nature is concerned." in his book No Other Gods, 1996.

The beautiful green earth, the waves of the sea, the starry sky, they are the clothing of the divine being, the Universe. This clothing or veil is called Maya because we know that there is more to understand beneath the surface, beneath our first impressions. We attempt to lift the veil by studying Nature through the scientific method. We learn that we cannot always trust our senses. We learn that sometimes the mind plays tricks on us. One of the greatest illusions is that of the Ego, our sense of self as an autonomous individual. We cling on to our sense of individuality, as something which we want to preserve, as something which we want to improve and grow. The Ego is not something that actually exists, it is just an idea, an illusion, created by our experiences growing up. Likewise our autonomy or freedom is also an illusion. We are always bound by outside influences, we are never truly free to make our own decisions, because nothing is ever truly our own, as a seperate individual. We have a sense of will, a sense of wanting to do something, but where does that come from? Where do our thoughts and feelings come from? If the Ego is an illusion, then we cannot say that they are our own. They come to us like waves of the sea. Sometimes the waves wash over us and engulf us. At other times, the foam of the wave barely touches us. Lifting the veil of illusion means recognising that we are not our thoughts, we are not seperate from anything, we are one with the all. That's what it means to me.

In Sihkism, the word "Sat-Nam" is an affirmation of one's true identity. "Sat" means truth, the underlying reality, and "Nam" means identity, your being or essence. "It meant both an application and a symbol of the All-pervading Supreme Reality that sustained the universe. Guru Nanak in his teachings emphasized the need of repeating Sat-Nam to realize the All-pervading Supreme Reality." Singh Dhillon, Dalbir (1988) Sikhism Origin and Development, p 226. The simple word, satnam, is used as both a greeting and a farewell. Satnam.