The Awakening Beyond Maya

The Awakening Beyond Maya

Human life today is largely submerged in a wave called “material obsession.

”Money, status, fame, comfort, experience  all these have become the goals of life.

In this race, the human being keeps running, forgetting himself.

He believes, “If I get this, I will be happy,” “If I achieve that, my life will be complete.”

But this very thought is the first step of maya.

What is maya?

It is not the external world we see.

It is the way we perceive that world.

To believe that permanent happiness exists in material things  that is maya.

Because that happiness is temporary.When we get a new object, we feel joy for a few days, and then it becomes ordinary.

A new desire arises.This endless cycle is the “sleep of maya.”

Those who live in this state are actually asleep.

They do not even know they are asleep.In that sleep they believe, 

“We are happy.”It is like a man laughing in a dream.In the dream he is a king. but when he wakes up, he realises it was only imagination.

Similarly, the pleasure we experience through material things is temporary.

But when we mistake the temporary for the permanent, it becomes maya.

Yet one day, a question arises for some:

“Is this all there is to life?”

“Where does this race end?”

That question is the beginning of the spiritual journey.

When this question arises, they slowly begin to awaken from the sleep of maya.

With awakening, they see the world differently.What once seemed pleasurable now appears empty.

This awakening is not pleasant at first.

It brings a kind of pain  because everything we believed in turns out to be uncertain.

When we realise that the relationships, possessions, and desires we held on to are not permanent, a restlessness arises.

This is spiritual pain.

Those in this state try to escape maya.

Some take up renunciation, some meditate, some study scriptures.

They struggle with maya.

They search for a way out.This struggle is a necessary stage.

It purifies the mind.Desires slowly diminish.

But here lies a deeper truth.

Even fighting maya is a form of attachment.

Because the one who fights still accepts maya as real.

The very thought “I must escape from this” strengthens maya.

This is where the state of the sage differs.

The sage does not reject maya.

he does not fight it

nor does he drown in it.

He simply observes it  as a witness.

The witness state is the highest spiritual state.

In it, a person does not identify himself with the body or mind, but stands as the one who observes them.

He watches his thoughts, emotions, desires but does not call any of them “me.”

For example, when anger arises, an ordinary person says, “I am angry.”But one in the witness-state says, “Anger is arising within me."

This small shift is the greatest spiritual transformation.

When seen this way, maya is no longer a problem.

It becomes just an event.When it rains, we cannot stop it but we can watch it.

Likewise, maya happens.

But we need not get entangled in it.

The sage’s peace comes from this witness state.

He holds on to nothing so there is no fear of loss.

He rejects nothing  so there is no resistance.

He stands in the middle, calm.How can an ordinary person approach this state?

First, accept the impermanent nature of life.

Everything changes.Second, desires will arise  that is natural.

But do not blindly follow them.

Begin to observe them.

Third, sit quietly for a few minutes every day and watch yourself.

Observing the breath is a simple method.

Thoughts will come do not stop them.

Just watch.

This practice slowly cultivates the witness state.

Fourth, develop the habit of seeing life’s events not as “happening to me” but simply as “this is happening.”

This lightens the mind.

Finally, spirituality is not running away from the world.

It is learning to see it correctly.Maya is not an enemy.

It is an experience to be understood.A person may sleep in maya,

may struggle to escape it,

or may stand as a witness to it.

Of these three, the last is true freedom.

And that freedom is the real happiness 

not found in objects, but in the peace of the inner being.

With love,

Sakthi Sakthithasan