The Moksha Gita : Swami Sivananda // Commentary : Chapter 3 -4. Swami Krishnananda.

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Friday, February 17, 2023. 12:30.

The Moksha Gita : Swami Sivananda

Chapter 3: The Nature of Maya - 4.

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7. The five elements, the five Tanmatras (subtle or root elements) and the various objects of the world are all products or modifications of Maya.

The five rudimentary principles of sound, touch, colour, taste and smell and the five gross elements of sky, air, fire, water and earth are born Of the Vikshepa-Shakti or the distracting power of Maya, which projects thereby the world of objective existence. Constant change within itself is the natural tendency of the force of Maya. Maya does not rest in itself. It is a vigorous active agent whose sole purpose is to transform itself into the phenomenon and Noumenon through evolution and involution of diverse bodies. Disintegration and integration are the two aspects of the destructive and constructive powers of Maya. Individuals are thrown into Being or Becoming by this gigantic Power according to the extent of the process of development undergone by each individual.

The fivefold functioning of breath, the five sense-organs and the five organs of action are again the further modifications of the subtle root-elements. Mind, intellect, sub-conscious and ego are the fourfold functions of the psychic mechanism which is the product of the Sattwa-portion of the subtle elements. The macrocosm and the microcosm are thus closely related as the original and the duplicate. The physical sheath or the body is the materialised effect of the psychic being and thus the entire universe with its individuals is a modification of Maya.

8. Just as you can infer the existence of fire through smoke, so also you can infer the existence of Maya through Her various manifestations.

The existence of Maya is inferable through the universal workings of nature. The main action of Maya is diversification and Unification. The existence of Maya is felt by the perception of something which cannot belong to the Eternal Reality. Birth, growth, change, decay and death are the common phenomena which are seen in the daily life of every individual. These fivefold modifications are the essence of egoistic life. Creation, preservation, destruction, love, hatred, exhilaration, pain, are certain factors in the evolution of the universe. Such activities as these cannot belong to what is absolutely permanent. Activity is a struggle to overcome the existing defect. An untainted being which has no reason to wish for anything else, which is in itself full and perfect, changes not and acts not, for there is no purpose whatsoever in modifying itself into something else. It is ever satisfied in itself and is eternally in joyous repose. Therefore, the bustle of universal life and the daily cry and strife of individuals must be Maya.

Moreover the existence of individuality itself proves the existence of Maya. Individuality is not permanent, for it is limited and finite. A finite being cannot be everlasting. Therefore, individuality is a negation of Absoluteness. Hence, individual existence must be Maya.

The people of the world struggle to obtain external objects, because their egoistic personalities are not allowed their existence independent of the other objects of the universe. They strive hard and feel the necessity to relate themselves to the manifold entities that exist apart from themselves, thus proving the unreality of their individual independence. Therefore life as different personalities in the world is Maya. Thought, speech and action are non-eternal and are mere expulsions of consciousness-rays, and therefore, the multitudinous appearance of degrees of reality also is a phase of Maya.

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To be continued

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