Analysing Maya

There are serious problems in perception, conception, articulation and communication. All these problems are derived naturally from the inbuilt limitations of our sense organs, Psychic apparatus, language and communication respectively. For ex. Our perception of light is limited to a medium range of violet to red. The innumerable rays that go beyond the visible range of our eyes still remain as unobservable. Similarly, our psychic apparatus has been limited by the inborn tendency which can be classified into two categories namely likes and dislikes. Hence there are omissions and commissions in understanding. Our language has been limited by too many factors. The semantic and syntactic ribles create confusion both in articulation and communication. Hence, the general complaint is that I’m not properly understood. The spiritual enquiry begins from the human efforts to cross over the limitations inborn to sense organs, psychic apparatus, and language. Therefore every spiritual leader says of a world that is different from what we have perceived, as like a physicist who says that a modern table is not really a plane surface but it is a communion of innumerable particles and space in between them. So there are two different worlds, the world that has been perceived and the world that has s to be perceived. In Indian Systems, this phenomenon has been termed as ‘Maya’. That is, the world that has not been perceived by you or not exactly revealed to you. But something that has been concealed has to be revealed through constant practice of self-regulation. Every religion in its’ spiritual sphere advises us to find out the world that has been covered by our sense organs, psychic apparatus, and language. All these instruments can be used as ladders to experience the world that has been concealed by our sense organs etc. The one who makes a success in that attempt attains sainthood. There are differences between the world as it has been presented before us and the world as it has been seen. The seen world has been changing from person to person. Therefore, the world as it has been seen by a poet, prophet and the physicist may be different from the world as it has been seen by a layman. The poetic world need not be in conformity with the prophetic world and the world of the physicist need not be the world of the layman. Similarly, the world can be perceived differently by differently abled and interested persons from place to place and time to time. Hence, we have got many worlds on the basis of the experiences of the one and the same person. That is, the same world can be experienced differently in accordance with ‘will’, ‘whims’ and ‘fancies’ of the persons concerned. Therefore, which world is the best among the many worlds has been the result of the experiences and expressions of one and the same person. The prophetic world and the poetic world are equally the best to the prophet and the poet respectively. This belief is the basis of pluralism. Pluralism provides equal opportunity to one and all, to experience and express the world. It gives everyone the right to create one’s own world and to lead a peaceful life in that world. The only condition to be observed is that the life of a person in one’s own world should never be a hindrance to others. If one creates hindrance to others, then such an act amounts to negation of pluralism. This attitude towards life and world has been prophetically termed as ‘to live and let live’. This aphorism transforms our existence into a peaceful co-existence. Co-existence does not mean the peaceful co-existence of uniform objects together. Uniformity does not need equality because there cannot be any sort of diversity in uniformity. Equality is the concern of a pluralistic society and no sane society can ignore the idea of equality. Even in times of slavery, the slaves had been dreaming of a free world that provides equality with their masters. But the nuances of the term equality have been interpreted and reinterpreted by philosophers and laymen alike. Equality presupposes identity. It is the identity that constitutes foundation for multiformity. Multiformity projects differences rather than identity between one and the other. Every object of the same species keeps uniqueness in appearance. It is the uniqueness of an object that has often been misconceived as differences. The uniqueness that appears as differences has been identified as the features which make an object different from the other. Therefore, every object is identical of having uniqueness. The uniqueness and identity kept by every object are the basis of pluralism. Hence, pluralism believes that every object keeps identity with the rest. Something which remains identical in every object, in spite of the differences, has been termed as ‘sat’ (truth) by Indian Advaitha Philosophy. All the diversified features, of the objects we experience with the help of our sense organs and mind constitutes to Maya.