HOLD TIGHTLY TO MY FEET

 
God uses maya to conduct the affairs of the universe. Paramatma never uses maya to make others free from maya. Suppose Arjun is Paramatma and his cane is God. If you wrap a seven-colored string around this cane, that string is maya. What a difference between Arjun and the string — the string has only touched God (the cane) and not Paramatma, Who is aloof.

Suppose you come along and mistake the string for a snake. This mistake creates maya. But, if we see that the string is only a string and nothing else, then where is maya? It is only your false supposition that is really maya. In the end, when it is found that it is only a string, you laugh at your false presupposition because your fears are gone — the illusion is removed. In the same way, when one attains Realization, he laughs at these false notions of maya — the world and all its connections — for they are totally false and not real.

Therefore, the very moment maya (desires, passions and anger) enters your head, thrust it out. Do not let it in at all. If a rabid dog goes after you, you shout to drive it away. If, on the other hand, you give it food, it will follow you and will not go away. Similarly, maya is like a rabid dog. Do not allow it to enter your mind. Drive it away as you would a mad dog. Drive it away with all your strength, for once it sticks to you, it will be quite impossible for you to free yourself.

People say that God created maya, but that is not so. For example, take the hair on the head. The hair is maya and the head is God, the Creator. Although the hair grows on the head, the head does not know how, why and where it comes from. Then how can it be said that the head created hair, or God created maya? But in a way, the very creation of maya itself is dependent on God.

Maya is sheer illusion — the force of imagination. Where there is lust, there is maya. Where there is anger, there is maya. Where there is greed, there is maya. He who renounces maya finds everything! Do not be a slave to maya. Subjugate maya and you will see God in all His perfection.

But it is next to impossible to realize God. One must die to gain this state, not by drowning or committing suicide, but by renouncing maya and freeing oneself from its deluding allurements. And this maya is so tyrannical and powerful that even the best of persons succumb to its lures. The real heroes who eat her up are very rare. So hold tightly to my feet to ease your way or else you will not get even a whiff of Reality and your strenuous efforts to reach the Goal age after age will not bring you any nearer to it.