Maya

  • Episode 60
  • 01-12-2022
  • 08 Min Read
Maya

Einstein was once travelling from Princeton on a train. When the conductor came to him and asked for the ticket, Einstein could not find it in his vest pocket or trouser pockets. The conductor told him that they all know him and it does not matter. Still Einstein continued searching for the ticket. The conductor told him again that it’s okay. But what Einstein replied was that he was looking for it to know where he was going. Many times, life may appear to be a mad race. Einstein was not at all living in the present – could have been somewhere in the future. Some others spend their life in the past, brooding over sad or pleasant stories of the past. Even living in memories too are meaningless for they have passed away and are never going to repeat.

I have heard many discourses and profound talks suggesting living in the present to be the best and the only reality. But I think that it is an impossible attempt. The Dalai Lama once said that there is future and past to every millisecond that crosses us. He asked us that if not half this millisecond is the future and the other half is the past. The problem is still not that where there is no ‘present’ how could there be past and future? Sometimes it could be the moment we say that I am in the present or many times even before that the proposed moment becomes past. He concluded saying that we are either in a state beyond time or a timeless span. He also suggested that everything could be referential or relative in some way.

If there is a definition for time it is ‘time is the space between two experiences’. Now you also might have concluded that time is impossible. Is it possible to bring the present into an awareness consciousness? On one side religions talk about a heaven and hell in eternity, on the other side there is Einstein and his team who says that time and space actually do not exist.

Whenever and wherever Indian mythology talks about the universe, there could necessarily be a reference to maya too. Maya has been explained as a mindset, which makes us feel that everything we see around us are true. This, however, does not come under the categories of ‘sath’ or ‘asath’. I have heard that this is inseparable from even Brahma.

During the great Kurukshetra war Lord Krishna was found creating maya too at the most appropriate time. On the 13th day Arjuna vows to kill Jayadratha before sunset, failing which he would immolate himself. Dronar kept Jayadratha, shielded with hundred thousand horses, fourteen thousand elephants and twentyone thousand men. But at the request of Krishna, Yogamaya created an impression of sunset. The fight was stopped and Jayadratha came out armless, only to see the sun shining bright. By the time Arjuna had come close! In actual life too, we are caught in between the maya Gods frequently create and the reality man finds hard to compromise with.

Knowing the most intelligent scientist is fun. Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955), the man of the century, was born in Germany, but moved to Switzerland in 1895, forsaking his German citizenship. His formula, E = Mc 2 was crucial in the introduction of bombs. He is one of the greatest revolutionary scientists, the world has ever known. This genius got the Nobel Prize in 1921 for his contributions to physics and for his discovery of the photoelectric effect.

His noted works in physics has given him the tittle ‘the father of modern physics’. His relativity theory stands out. He is said to have used 18% of his brain power. According to him, time and space do not exist.

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