Ananda: The people of India have a lot of different religious beliefs and practices developed over the past thousands of years. Our ancestors grappled with the problem of diversity, and came out with a marvelous solution. Just as you did, they distinguished what is essential from what is not. When they sang "Loka samastha sukhino bhavanthu," they expressed their wish for the well-being of the whole world. A person in the stage of Maya may wish for his own well being, or that of his own family, community or nation. To wish for the well being of the entire world, one must have passed the stage of Maya and attained the stage of Moksha. In the stage of Maya, one doesn't see the reality, but only an illusory world. In dim light, someone could be frightened by a piece of rope, for it appears to be a snake to him. In the stage of Maya, the world appears a frightening place, and people earnestly wish to escape from there. The appearance of the world as alien to us is called Dwaita or duality. In the stage of Moksha, we see the reality of the world as Adwaita, that it is not alien to us, but that we are one with it. Just as my own body is one with me, we are one with the world. Just as I accept and love my own body unconditionally, we accept the world with all people and everything in it unconditionally.
The world depends for its existence on an invisible ocean of energy, which we call Brahman. The world begins and ends in Brahman. Though the world changes subjected to the limits of time, Brahman remains changeless beyond any time limits. In the stage of Maya, Brahman and the world appear to us as two different things, that is Dwaita. In the stage of Moksha, we gain the perspective of Brahman, and realize the reality of Adwaita, that the world is one with Brahman.
As Brahman exists beyond time limits, we can’t relate Brahman to anything we know, and so, Brahman is utterly incomprehensible to our intelligence. We know only Brahman’s activities related to the world. Whatever happens beyond human knowledge and control is treated as an activity of Brahman. For example, as human beings have no control over rain or wind, they are considered as the activities of Brahman. Symbols are always an aid to our process of thinking. The aspect of Brahman which causes a particular activity is symbolized as a Deva, that is a divine being, for convenience of thinking. Thus, there is a Deva who controls rain, and another who controls wind. In India, people have thousands of Devas. A Deva is nothing but a symbol of an aspect of Brahman which knows and controls something which humans have no knowledge of, and no control on.
As the world begins and ends in Brahman, the major activates of Brahman related to the world are classified into three groups: Everything in the world begins because Brahman creates it, everything exists because Brahman sustains it, and everything ends because Brahman destroys it. The three aspects of Brahman that control these activities are symbolized as three Devas: Brahma, Vishnu, and Maheswar. When someone attains the stage of Moksha, exhibits oneness with the world and Brahman by the attitude, words and deeds, and becomes an influential person, s/he will be considered an Avatar, that is an incarnation, of Vishnu, the Deva who sustains the world. Rama and Krishna are the two most influential Avatars of Vishnu.
If we are really one with the world, and the world is one with Brahma, why do we remain in Maya and think that we are aliens? It is in darkness that even a piece of rope frightens us. The darkness of Avidya, that is ignorance, prevents people from seeing the reality. The light of Vidya, that is wisdom, gives us Mukti, that is freedom. How do we gain Vidya, and get rid of Avidya? Gaining of Vidya is the same as the development of consciousness. It happens in us by itself effortlessly if we keep our mind clear and pure.
There are basically four ways to keep our minds clear of all diverting feelings and stray thoughts. They are Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, and Raja Yoga. The word "Yoga" means integration, which is the same as being one with the world and Brahman. One can attain Yoga by following one of the four ways. Jnana is intelligence, Bhakti is devotion, and Karma is activity. The first involves thinking, the second, feeling, and the third, doing. Involving in any of these with concentration helps one to keep the mind clear and to grow to a higher level of awareness. The fourth is considered the most effective; hence, it is called Raja Yoga, which means the king of Yogas. It involves doing physical exercises in order to activate the nervous system, relaxing the entire body, and concentrating the mind, with the aid of slow, deep breathing, in an object, which is real or imaginary, or in a thought. As a result of practicing it regularly, our consciousness develops further. Slowly, we get rid of our sense of alienation, and begin to feel integrated to the whole world and Brahman.
John: I am dumbfounded to hear how precisely and systematically your ancestors have set the ways to attain Moksha! Here, in our culture, the methods we use to keep the mind clear and pure are prayer and meditation. Meditation involves concentrating the mind in a sublime thought, in a symbol, or in a divine object or person. Prayer has the form of communication with God. It involves concentration of the mind and expression of noble feelings of devotion. It is done individually or in a group.
It seems that I can learn a lot of things from you. I sincerely wish if I could come to India so that I could see by myself your way of life, and read your literature. Now, tell me something about your literature.
Ananda: The most ancient and revered literature are the Vedas. The content of Vedas is Vidya, which is wisdom, clothed in beautiful symbols of poetry. In Upanishads, the same wisdom is presented in the form of philosophical discourse. But, the most widely known and loved literature is the epics: Ramayana, and Mahabharata, in which the same wisdom of Vedas takes visible form in the life of people.
The single most loved and influential literary work in India is Bhagavat Gita, which means the song of Lord Krishna. It is a philosophical discourse placed within a dramatic, historical setting. The setting is from Mahabharata, the epic. It is the story of the rivalry within a royal family, which ends in a massive warfare. Arjuna, the great archer, was the commander-in-chief on one side, and his charioteer was Lord Krishna, the king of the neighboring kingdom. The sight of his cousins and other close relatives at the other side of the battleground made him terribly upset. The thought that his arrows would pierce their hearts was awful to him. Overcome by emotions, he fainted on the battle ground. Being the friend and charioteer of Arjuna, Lord Krishna helped him to look at the scene from a different perspective, and to perform his duty. Arjuna was worried because what he saw was Maya, an illusory world. He thought that he would really kill his relatives, and they would really die. However, Lord Krishna, being a person who has attained oneness with Brahman, explains to him what the reality is. As our life begins in Brahma and ends in Brahma, really we have neither birth nor death.
John, my dear brother, I use this occasion to present to you the most precious thing I have got-- the good news of Moksha. It is open to any human being. One can obtain salvation from Maya and attain Moksha simply by opening one’s eyes and seeing the truth.
John: I accept it with utmost joy and gratitude. It is exciting to me that both of us have got a good news for mankind, that it is possible for humans to develop to a higher level of awareness, and a more meaningful life. It is true that we use different symbols to speak about it, but the interaction of symbols and thought patterns will prove fruitful. May I request you to stay with us for some time so that we will have a chance to be familiar with your patterns of thought and your symbols?
Ananda: This is very exciting indeed. In fact, I love to share the good news of Moksha with as many people as possible. As you said, the interaction of thought patterns and symbols of two different cultures will benefit both cultures. We meet on the common ground of having a good news to the human race. As long as we stress what is common for us, we can be together, and try to learn from each other.
John: I wish I could visit India and spread the good news of Jesus Christ!
We watch them making plans to meet again. Finally, they rise and bow their heads to each other. Ananda slowly walks away, and John looks around for the little bird.
We leave with a renewed understanding our ourselves, and, the time machine brings us back into the twenty-first century.
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Transformation from maya to moksha is well described with respect to the Indian context. I think this might be an another symbol for the transformation from self righteousness to God's righteousness with respect to the principle given by Jesus. Author of this book is succeded in uniting the concepts of two different religions. A special congrats to the author's effort.
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