Clutches of Maya

“Veiled as I am by My inscrutable power of illusion, My maya, the world does not recognize Me. Although they do not know Me, Arjuna, I know them all…past, present, and future. Not understanding My transcendental nature, the ignorant regard Me, who am ever unmanifest and imperishable, as being a mere mortal. Knowing nothing of My reality, they ignore Me and become occupied in the world with vain hopes, vain works, and vain knowledge. Lost in the maze of maya, they are spun around like puppets-dolls on a merry-go-round.

This divine illusion of Mine is most difficult to overcome. Among thousands of men, one perchance struggles to know My truth; even amongst these that struggle, only one perchance comes to know Me in reality. He is the yogi [one who practices yoga] of steady wisdom. Therefore, Arjuna you be a yogi! With all your being take refuge in Me alone, and by My grace you will obtain supreme peace. From this moment on, fix your mind steadily on Me dwelling in your heart. Be devoted to Me, bow down to Me, worship Me who is always within you, and soon you will become one with Me. Yes, truly do I promise this to you, Arjuna, for you are very dear to Me.”

Digest 2, p. 199

When you wish to overcome a powerful enemy, you have to get the help of someone more powerful than your enemy. To overcome the power of maya (the delusion that subjects man to the physical and the sensuous), man has to seek the grace of the Divine. Only the Divine (Madhava) is more powerful than maya.

Digest 2, p. 247

Maya is inescapable for anyone, however great; it will turn one upside down in a moment; it will not loosen its grasp so long as the victim is engrossed in the belief that he is the body. It will not be frightened by the name of fame, the skill or intelligence of the person it seeks to possess. Only when the individual discards name and form, releases himself from body-consciousness and establishes himself in the atma, can he escape from the misconceptions that maya inflicts.

Digest, p. 187

The you who was present as pure consciousness in both the dream state and in the waking state—that you who witnessed both these states, is the true reality. Life during the daytime is a daydream; during the night it is a night-dream. They are both illusions. They are filled with defects and flaws because they constantly change from one thing to another; so they cannot be real. Only you who remain unchanged in all these states are real, free of all change and illusion.

Digest 2, p. 163