The Tricks of Maya (Page 1 of 3)

All human beings – whether they are conscious of it or not – want to realize the ultimate Truth; but Truth cannot be known and realized as Truth, unless ignorance is known and realized as ignorance; it is therefore of vital importance that man understand Maya – the principle of ignorance in Creation. To understand Maya is to know half the Truth of the universe. It is necessary for man to know that which is false – for unless he knows it, he cannot get rid of it; and rid himself of it he must if he is to achieve spiritual redemption.

The apparent existence of the duality of a God Infinite and a world finite is illusory; for in Infinitehood there is in truth no room for anything else or anyone else. How then does the false world of finite phenomena come into existence? It is created by Maya.
Maya eludes the comprehension of the finite mind; its very existence depends on eluding it. For if the finite mind of man could readily grasp the meaning of Maya, the whole intricate scheme of deception, which is Maya’s stock-in-trade, and with which it has held all of man-kind in its grip from time immemorial, would instantly disintegrate; it would in fact have been unable to hoodwink man in the first place. So it is innate in the very nature of Maya to have placed itself beyond the pale of the human mind. In whatever manner the limited intellect tries to understand or explain Maya, it falls short of the truth. Maya is as unfathomable as God; Maya is God’s shadow. While both God and Maya are beyond the comprehension of the limited intellect functioning in the world of duality, they come to be thoroughly understood in the clear light of spiritual realization. Not until then is the enigma of Maya completely and finally solved for man.

Meher Baba washing the feet of lepers in November, 1955 at Meherabad.

Maya itself is not illusion; it is the creator of illusion. Maya is not false; it is that which creates false impressions. Maya is not unreal; it is that which makes the real appear unreal, the unreal appear real. Maya is not duality; it is that which causes duality.
Maya becomes irresistible by taking possession of the very seat of knowledge - the human intellect. Maya is difficult to surmount, because under its sway the intellect - so dear to man - creates and upholds false beliefs and illusions with insidious logic that on the surface seems the last word in wisdom. The intellect which functions in freedom, prepares the way and assists the aspirant in the realization of the divine Truth; but the intellect that is slave to Maya, concentrates all its vast capacity and cunning on preventing true understanding.

Falsehood consists of taking the true as being false, or the false as being true; in other words considering anything to be other than what it intrinsically is. Mistakes in valuation can be committed in three ways Taking as important that which is unimportant; taking as unimportant that which is important; attributing to something as importance which is other than its true significance. All these falsehoods are creations of Maya.

The value of sense-objects is great or small according to the intensity or urgency of the lust and longing of the individual. They have potential value when the lust or longing are latent; they assume actual value when they become active. But every one of these values is false; for when ultimately all lust and longing disappear, these pseudo-values are stripped of their borrowed importance; they stand naked in their true light : empty, unreal deceptions.