Maya

For maya-constituted beings, there are two maya gates: The appetite for sex and the appetite of the tongue. These two have to be conquered by every man. So long as they persist, they cause sorrow. These two comprehend all worldly desires. So, only those who have mastered these two can be said to have successfully waded through the world. These are the causes of all sins, and sin is the manure on which maya thrives. Really speaking, this mayaprapancha or world has to serve only the purpose of just sustaining the body. Those aspiring for liberation have to subdue the senses. “Food for guarding the body, dress to ward off the cold” says the Uttara Gita [a scripture]. If Man, however, gets immersed in these pursuits, he will forget the purpose for which he has come and the goal of all activity and holy endeavor. Instead, whatever activity a person may be engaged in, he must, as automatically as he takes in breath, be contemplating on these lines and should always be aware of this; “I am born to serve God and to realize my true Self.” All acts; wearing, eating, walking, studying, serving, moving, should be performed in the belief that they take one into the presence. Everything should be done in a spirit of dedication to the Lord.

A farmer clears and levels the land, removes the stones and thorns, plows and prepares the field, manures and strengthens the soil, waters and fertilizes it, and sowing, transplanting, weeding, spraying, and waiting, he reaps the crop. After winnowing and threshing, he stacks the corn. All these various processes are for the sake of the stomach, So too, one must feel that all the hunger, thirst, joy and sorrow, grief and loss, suffering and anger, food and appetite are but impulses helping us toward attaining the presence of the Lord. When one has this attitude, sin will never tarnish these activities. The appetites too will vanish, without a vestige of name or form.

Prema Vahini, Pg 72-73

Bhaktas [devotees] should consider the body as the field, good deeds as seeds, and cultivate the name of the Lord, with the help of the heart as the ryot (farmer), in order to get the harvest, the Lord Himself… how can one get the crop without the cultivation? Like cream in milk, like fire in fuel, the Lord is in everything, more or less. Have full faith in this. As the milk, so the cream, as the fuel, so the fire, so also, as the sadhana, so the sakshatkara (Self-realization.)

Prema Vahini, Pg 79-80