This world is Maya, its an illusion. What is Maya actually? Is everything actually imaginative, unreal. Is our existence non-real, is there no basis to it. I have been grappling with this concept in Sanatan Dharma for long and have not been able to reconcile it with our physical existence. Recently in one of my several contemplation and meditation, I found a plausible answer. We say that all beings in the world are just mere reflections of the Supreme Consciousness or Brahman wrapped by Prakriti in Avidya. We are not able to realise our true self. So says the great Adi Sankracharya in his Advaita philosophy. Our existence, this life is an illusion. What does this mean ? Does the illusion has the same meaning as in the gross material world i.e. no physical existence, just an imagination. It cannot be that as there is physical reality and material existence of this world. So why Maya ? In my opinion this illusion is best described as a PLAY or a THEATER. We know that the actors in a play are real people, not any hocus pocus, magical creations or sleight of hand or a figment of our imagination. Similarly, the props in the set are also real. The chairs, the bed, the table, the lights do actually exist. In spite of this we know that the play is UNREAL. It is just a sort of activity and has no relation with our real life. The enactment in the play is simply a story, a plot , a pre-written script, not reality. So we can look Maya in that respect, from that perspective. The play is an illusion with respect to our real life not in absolute. The play is just a sort of recreation, perhaps a societal reflection or simply an exercise depending upon the play's theme. It is not reality, Period!
Similarly our material existence is also an illusion, Maya, a grand and divine play. Our individual souls are the actors, our body is the costume, the environment is the Prop of the drama and the script is LIFE. The souls dont end with life in the same way as the actors dont die after the play. They may wear a different costume for a different part but the actor is not dying. Similarly the soul doesnt die, it takes rebirth to take new roles, new bodies as its new costumes. The karma is equivalent to an acting performance. Good acting leads to better roles and vice versa. As an actor gives his or her best in the play, gets into the skin of the character, yet mindful of the fact that its only a play, so we need to perform our own duties devotedly but in a detached manner. As an actor's character in the play may hit upon a fortune, become ecstatic or a tragedy might befall become griefstricken, yet the actor in reality is unmoved, dispassionate, doesnt take the grief or joy home with him or her, similarly we need to take happiness and sorrow as a part of the divine play called life. The only difference,I can think of is that the actor may know the entire script of the play but we dont know the script of Life. It wouldnt be fun if we knew it. Would it? This is what Bhagwad Gita says, the gist of the sermon given by Lord Krishna to Arjun when he refused to fight his relatives in Kurukshetra, he refused to play his character properly but the Lord dispelled his darkness and gave him the nectar, showed him the light.
Similarly our material existence is also an illusion, Maya, a grand and divine play. Our individual souls are the actors, our body is the costume, the environment is the Prop of the drama and the script is LIFE. The souls dont end with life in the same way as the actors dont die after the play. They may wear a different costume for a different part but the actor is not dying. Similarly the soul doesnt die, it takes rebirth to take new roles, new bodies as its new costumes. The karma is equivalent to an acting performance. Good acting leads to better roles and vice versa. As an actor gives his or her best in the play, gets into the skin of the character, yet mindful of the fact that its only a play, so we need to perform our own duties devotedly but in a detached manner. As an actor's character in the play may hit upon a fortune, become ecstatic or a tragedy might befall become griefstricken, yet the actor in reality is unmoved, dispassionate, doesnt take the grief or joy home with him or her, similarly we need to take happiness and sorrow as a part of the divine play called life. The only difference,I can think of is that the actor may know the entire script of the play but we dont know the script of Life. It wouldnt be fun if we knew it. Would it? This is what Bhagwad Gita says, the gist of the sermon given by Lord Krishna to Arjun when he refused to fight his relatives in Kurukshetra, he refused to play his character properly but the Lord dispelled his darkness and gave him the nectar, showed him the light.
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