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Maya is not such a simplistic word as the English illusion.
Illusion means a wrong perception of the senses.
Maya means that ‘perception through senses’ in entirety is unreal in itself.
Truth is only realised as awareness and not through perceptions, according to Vedanta.
That is infinitely different from the word ‘illusion’.
Now, to your question….
What is the value of a Lily flower?
20 Rupees?
Or is it the magnificent nature of that Lily flower that is inconceivable to our trading minds?
Imagine the flower’s million ancestors, the billion bees involved, the tremendous resilience in surviving all the Earth’s disasters for ages, and so on.
How to value this Lily now?
The moment you observe beyond the apparent, the Maya, value becomes silly.
The greens sold in the market have value.
The deep dense jungles have no value. Because they rejoice within, and do not trade themselves.
The meaning of human life and actions is to live a good life in relation to one another, and to simultaneously strive to realise the truth beyond the apparent.
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Sapta Bhumika is the seven stages in the process of liberation in the Yoga system. Bhumika means ‘a stage in a process’.
- The first stage is shubhechha (auspicious desire).
- The second is vicharana (discussion with learned and the adept).
- The third is tanumanasi (suppression of physical sensual passions).
- The next stage is sattva patti (attainment of sattva quality).
- The fifth stage is named asamsakti (non attachment of the mind to sensuous objects).
- The sixth is padartha bhavini (introspection of the truth).
- The final stage is turiya (fourth stage of Absolute or negation of diversity and experience of unity).
These seven stages are inter-related and form a chain. First, there is a desire to know something nobler than the ordinary life. Naturally, one seeks the guidance of learned and experienced seniors. Their guidance leads to the weakening of passions. As a result, the sattva quality (purity as against passion and passivity) becomes strong. The natural consequence is non-attachment to sensual objects. The mind is not forcibly diverted, but of its own accord it ceases to harbor carnal thoughts. The mind, blocked from external objects, becomes introspective and realizes the truth. In the final stage, turiya, the individual self becomes one with the supreme self or realizes its own self, bereft of all other existence. Through long, continuous and sincere practice, one normally advances and realizes the final goal.
Varaha Upanishad of Krishna Yajurveda sets out the same stages of explanations in IV.1-10. Annapurna Upanishad of Atharva Veda narrates seven stages in its V.9-89, but with different names – Mumukshutavapradayaini, Vicarana, Sangabhavana, Vilapini, Panchami, Asamvedanarupa and Turiya.
1) SUKHECHA OR SHUBHECHHA (WISH FOR SPIRITUAL HAPPINESS)
2) ATHMA VICHARA(ENQUIRY ABOUT SOUL)
3) NISANGA(NON-ATTACHMENT TO MAYA, REMAINING AS
ATHMA)
4) VASANAKSHAYA(REMOVAL OF IMPEDIMENTS)
5) MUKTHI-ANANDA(LIBERATION-HAPPINESS)
6) THURIYA(FOURTH STATE OF BLISS)
7) THURIYATHITA(HIGHEST STATE-NO THOUGHTS)
Yoga Vasistha and Laghu Yoga Vasistha also mention the seven stages. But strangely enough Maha Upanishad mentions and explains the seven stages of ajnana (ignorance) also in V.8.
These are Bijajagrta, Jagra, Mahajagra, Jagrtasvapna, Svapna, Svapnajagrta and Susupti.
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A child is aware of its existence, but its ego is in seed-form. In the second, the ego gets awakened but ownership is absent. The fully awakened ego is the third stage. It has daydreams in the fourth and dreams in the fifth. The stage of confusion and disgust after the incomplete dreams is the sixth, and the final stage of deep sleep when the person is totally unconscious about existence.
The seven stages of knowledge and of delusion are not restricted to the field of Yoga only, but they are the experience of every individual in daily life
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I do not fear DTH I fear that nothing will come after
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“Without a mind to perceive it, does the universe really exist?”
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Death is nothing to us…it does not concern the living of the dead, since for the former it is not, and the latter are no more.” - Epicurus
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Sleep is the cousin of death - Thomas sackville
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The only difference between going to sleep and dying is waking up….
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Death is the bitter cure and sweet relief of all mortal ailments.
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Death can have me when it earns me
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Death is fine - we've all had 13billion years' experience at it. What people really fear is dying ... that's something to be scared of.
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Life is an illusion caused by death. When I die, I disappear. From my perspective, so do all of you.
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1)SUKHECHA(WISH FOR SPIRITUAL HAPPINESS) --
-- Doing service to GURU,trying to find answer to the
question 'Who am I ?', 'Why I am born here ?' How
ATHMA which is bliss, is enveloped by mind which is
full of ignorance ?Thinking this way to find answer is
ATMA VICHARA.
-- Due what reason I am born here? Why am I ignorant?,
Why am I entraped in Samsara?,Why I am unhappy,
Why I don't KNOW answer for all these questions ?
-- What is EGO ?Due to ignorance,why I have got false
prestige? Due to what bad deed,I am unable to find
answer to questions regarding ATHMA ?
-- After knowing from GURU, meaning of veda vakya,
'Tatvam Asi', deeply analysing & thinking about
TATVAS(Truths),coming to know there is no difference
between Jeeva & Ishwara is ATHMA VICHARA.
-- Understanding MAYA created by mind which in turn
depends on ATHMA ie,BRAHMAN only,which is inside
body,yet beyond body.
-- Knowledge of body made of PANCHIKARANA -
combination of five elements,having pancha koshas,
various body parts-karmendriyas, all these are
KSHETHRA & knowing ATHMA is KSHETHRAJNA.
-- Gaining knowledge of tatva(truth) through GURU,trying
to find ways & means of attaining ATHMA
SAKSHATHKARA.
-- Observing Shishya to be of good conduct & character
with a kind heart when Guru blesses,Shishya gets Jnana
is ATHMA VICHARA.
-- Due to previous birth good deeds ,doing YOGA under
GURU & understanding 'who am I' is ATMA VICHARA
3) NISANGA(NON-ATTACHMENT TO MAYA ,
REMAINING AS ATHMA) --
-- In hridayakasha seeing JYOTHI-DIVINE LIGHT, all
karmas come to a stop & under standing I am that
JYOTHI is NISANGA.
-- Athma has no shape,no characteristics,all you see is
that only, full of bliss,no directions,& of the nature
SAT-CHIT- ANANDA is NISANGA.
-- Just as rays of sun's light merges in itself, Athma being
BRAHMAN many tatvas are born & merges in it,
understanding how I am connected with it is NISANGA.
-- Just as mirage is seen & then merges in itself,in my
DIVINE LIGHT world is seen & then merges in itself is
NISANGA.
-- Just like lightening is seen in clouds & then merges in
them,so also many universes being born & merging,
MAYA is seen then merging in itself,many other things
projected by mind then merging in mind & knowing how
they are connected is NISANGA.
-- Body,mind,money,fate,sleep,blame,show-off,hope,
prestige,defect,prohibition-I have no connection with all
these,such an understanding is NISANGA.
-- Forgetting argument about body ,soul,understanding
dream like MAYA,blaming birth/death, knowledge born
in hridayakasha is NISANGA.
-- When all vasanas get eliminated by the knowledge what
is real & unreal,only one ATHMA seen in different names
& forms in this world,knowledge 'I am BRAHMAN' is
VASANAKSHAYA.
-- Character,intellect.right,wrong, childish play,behavior
boldness,etc,which wavering mind believes its making
should be killed & merging in YOGA is VASANAKSHAYA.
-- VASANAS got attached to mind from previous many births
get destroyed as told above(first point) & remaining as
ATHMA is VASANAKSHAYA.
-- When all Vasanas are removed through Yoga & in
hridayakasha seeing Athma as LIGHT is
VASANAKSHAYA.
-- This world what you see is unreal like dream,seeing GOD
in anything & everything,knowledge that ATHMA is
BRAHMAN is VASANAKSHAYA.
5) MUKTHI-ANANDA(LIBERATION-HAPPINESS)--
-- Merging mind in ATHMA,free of any thought,full of bliss and
moving about as if in sleep is ANANDA & when not
moving about is called YOGA NIDRA is also ANANDA.
-- Food, sleep,fear,sexual urge having vanished due to
mindless state,being as if without body,immersed in the
bliss of ATHMA is ANANDA.
-- Everything you see in MAYA is BRAHMAN only so thinking
being happy is ANANDA.
6)THURIYA(FOURTH STATE OF BLISS) --
-- When the mind merges in ATHMA,sees BRAHMAN in all
that yogi is JEEVANMUKTHA not having the three states
of jagrath,swapna,sushupti,getting rid of ignorance,
eliminating vasanas,mind is free of sex,lust is THURIYA.
-- State without any comparison,having achieved liberation,
the Sadaka joining that status by spiritual advancement is
THURIYA.
-- Without knowing anything other than ATHMA,being only a
witness to happenings around him,thinking I am ATHMA,
which is BRAHMAN is THURIYA.
7) THURIYATHITA(HIGHEST STATE-NO THOUGHTS) --
-- This state is also called as 'VIDEHA MUKTHA'
(Please refer our posting 'VIDEHA MUKTHA')
-- SADAKA having achieved MANO NASHA,the thought
'I AM ATHMA' also being not there,the thought 'I am in a
BODY' also is not there,
-- He is living GOD only.This state cannot be understood
by others nor it can be explained to others.You have to
achieve it to understand it.He is verily living as 'AHAM
BRAHMASMI' & 'TATVAM ASI'. There is no higher state
than this.
THESE ARE THE SEVEN STEPPING STONES TO SIT IN
THE THRONE CALLED 'AVADHOOTHA'.
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NDE- When dying, your brain is probably using all its powers left, looking into your memories, trying to find a way to survive. Thats why people say "life flashes before your eyes".
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We talk a lot about birth, but usually not about death.”
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The master I practice Zen meditation with (Zazen) says this about death: "Imagine a wave that lives under the illusion that it is separate from the ocean. it believes it can decide it's own height, it's speed, it's direction. It asks itself whether it will live on, one way or another, after it crashes on the shore, or if it will return to the ocean. And you could say it returns to the water, BUT it already was the water! It was never something separate, from the ocean, from the water, from the other waves. when it was born, it was not born. when it crashed, nothing was lost." I thought this might be interesting to some.
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It‘s the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more.“ ~ Dumbledore
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Death can have me, when it earns me." - Kratos
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Life isn’t fair, but death is. There’s delaying it but never escaping it
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All humans are equal in death.” -Johan Liebert, Monster
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"Clouds never die" - No death, no fear of Thich Nhat Hanh
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I do not fear death, I fear dying. The journey of life has been filled with wonder, joy, pain, love, sadness; Life has been one hell of a trip. I am in no hurry for my path through this world to end, but I do hope when the door opens for me to exit I will walk through it quickly, without regret, with the least amount of struggle and that my last experience not be anguish.
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Life is just a walk from the labor ward to the mortuary.
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Alan Watts said how we are not prepared for death anymore, when you are dying in hospital family come to see you and say "don't worry you'll be ok, you'll pull through" but you know you won't. We should never of made death some unspeakable saddness never to be mentioned until you are forced to, we should hold it with the respect of life because it is the same thing.
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