Let’s explore; What exactly is Maya?

Maya is one of the major powers of the supreme personality of godhead who is Lord Krishna according to me. Maya is “jad” which basically means it does not have power of it’s own and works by gaining the powers of the supreme lord.

Maya is the cosmic counterpart of Kundalini – the spiral energy in the body. 

The energy which manifests as Maya in the universe, the same energy manifests as Kundalini in the body.

~says the Nath Sampradayi Yogis                             

Yet, what exactly is MAYA?

Kabir says:

Is Maya a matter? An energy? Can it be destroyed? All are engaged in great debates. That itself represents the essence of maya.

Maya is also refered as the “illusionary energy” but that is not the only property that Maya holds becoz it has 3 qualities namely satva, tamo and rajo gunas.  

Maya means “that which is not” 

(Literally translates to illusion).

Illusion; the spelling itself caught me in an illusion; can be of two types. The belief in the non-existent and the non-belief in the existent. And where does the illusion reside? When you experience mirage, you don’t call water non-existing as illusion, but your thoughts existing regarding  water as illusion. Maya is Mind. Maya is past and future. Past and future are illusions, they only exist in mind. Reality is now.

Also,  according to Kripaluji Maharaj, the person who walks on the path of Gyan or Self realization, can only overcome the two qualities of maya that is Tamo and Rajo gunas which is also known as Avidya maya but the Satva maya or the Vidya Maya is not overcomed and the experience of self realization is full of pleasure due to which the gyanis mis-declare it as the highest stage of enlightment and claim that nothing is beyond the realization of the self but that’s incorrect and the proof can be seen in Uddhava-geeta where Lord Krishna says to Uddhava that one can cross the final stage of enlightment only by walking on the path of Bhakti maarg and receive the state of “Premanand” of Lord Krishna by completely surrending unto him.

Spirituality is not renunciation. It is neither going to the forest.

What is the point of going to the forest, if you are still thinking about her, and your playstation. Maya resides in your mind. Running from the society indicates fear. Fear of distraction. If you dive in truly, you will know you are not affected by the physical existence; rather the mental existence.   

What do you identify yourself with?

Your home, your race, your gatherings, your assets. That is Maya. Materials are not maya. Your identification and your association is maya.  Your confidence and faith rests on the achievements and materials you gathered. Spirituality is asking a simple question: What are you with and without all your possesions and your relationships? Would your confidence be the same? That personality, is the real you, other was deception. Few prefer to know it by renunciation, but you can know it without going to the forest.

How a Devotee/Bhakt surpasses all qualities of Maya?

Now you might wonder how a bhakt surpasses this Satva maya which even the gyanis who claim themselves to be enlightened cannot overcome. So a devotee surpasses satva maya with the help of swaroop shakti which is the internal power of Lord Krishna. Even Lord Brahma who is the highest in all gyanis says in Brahma-samita that a gyani who has attained even the state of Samadhi also cannot overcome maya and will have a downfall after reaching the state of self realization and have to surrender to the supreme Lord for attaining the highest state of Anand which is Lord krishna’s premanand

Further Lord Brahma states

   ईश्वर: परम: कृष्ण: सच्चिदानंद विग्रह: ।
   अनादिरादिर्गोविंद: सर्वकारणकारणम् ।।

   ishvarah paramah krishna
   sat-chit-anand vigrahaha
   anadir adir govindaha
   sarva-karana-karanam

   Krsna who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all.

   He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.

So, without offering the devotional service to him one cannot surpass maya.

Katha Upanishad states that “By the grace of that which the seekers seek, that self alone reveals its own glory.” If we dive deeper then there are two types of Maya, one is Swaroopa varika Maya and the other is Guna varika Maya so the former makes us forget our real form which is a soul and we consider ourselves as a body. The latter is energized with the Lord’s personal power due to which even gyanis cannot overcome the Guna varika maya as it has energy equal to that of Lord’s so the only one who can surpass guna varika maya is the one to whom Lord gives his power and the one who completely surrenders to the supreme lord with 100% detachment in the world gains this swaroop shakti and surpasses all types of Maya and attains to God

Osho suggests, Mann hi Maya hai

Maya is disconnection from the world; an illusion of Everything and more. It is an illusion that brings sadness in the absence and no joy in the presence. Would you hustle and bustle if you are already fulfilled? Only then you would truly experience anything completely without any fear. Otherwise you will only try to get glimpse of everything.

Spirituality is not isolating oneself. It is filling oneself. One can be lonely in crowd, that is Maya.

It is not asking you to destroy emotions, but asking you to explore your emotions completely.

Maya is not your enemy. It is simply nothing. All that is; is me, you and what you consider god and all that is not; is maya. Ego and fear is nothing. It is emptiness and darkness. What exist is only light. Maya is an illusion that darkness exist. You cannot fight the darkness, you can only cast the light. That casting of the light; is….. ENLIGHTMENT.