Slips & Maya
Question
hi dhananjay
some questions from the side which you may guide me
1.even though we think of keeping absolute brahmacharya we have either voluntary or involuntary slips, in some posts you said that voluntary slip is rising of past samskaras to surface so it is compulsory to vacate it (2step forward and 1step back) and is some posts you disscussed that a voluntary slip thickens the past samskaras i am confused in this.
2.in one article i read it is said that maya is satisfying our sense pleasures and if we refrain from sense pleasures we overcome maya or is there any broad meaning of maya.
3.in a satsang teachings i came across words nirvanam, parinirvanam, mahaparinirvanam can you please explain about these.
thank you
ganapathi
Answer
1. Past karma (impressions and tendencies) are the cause behind the present existence which might include voluntary/involuntary slips. This does not mean one has to relax or slacken ones present efforts. Ones commitment to attain absolute Brahmacharya should always be maximum. When such effort is genuine, voluntary slips lessen and finally disappear. When a voluntary slip is carried out intentionally with full cognition, desire and awareness of wanting sexual enjoyment, the Samskara-s get thickened. This is the difference between an inadvertent slip and one that is intentional.
2. Maya is the illusive power of creation that makes the non-existent appear existent. An example is the beauty seen in a woman in her prime which disappears as the woman ages and finally vanishes at death when the Jiva has left the body and it has become a dead body. Since the beauty waned and finally disappeared (impermanence) it was not real, for that which is real does not decrease or increase but is ever full & complete. Hence it was non-existent. Though being non-existent, the beauty did appear at one point of time and appeared existent and real. This is called Maya.
It has made that which is unreal appear real. It is an illusion and false just as the mirage of an oasis in a desert is false. The mirage appears to look exactly like a pool of water that is refreshing and promising to the thirsty desert traveler. It has all attributes of a real pool of water. But it does not exist in reality. It is only an illusion, a play of light and nothing else. When the Jiva gets entangled in Maya, this belief in the unreal as being real traps it in bondage and takes it into the realm of suffering. Hence the power of Maya should be consciously fought against and won through the use of Vichara (discrimination of reality arising from the Atman which comes from Yogic practice & Brahmacharya).
3. These are words describing the various stages of liberation attained by the Buddha upon leaving the physical body.
ॐ तत् सत्
(That Supreme being is the absolute truth)