We have heard it often that life is nothing but a play of Maya.
But what is this Maya? – Maya is everything we see, smell, feel, taste, and hear. Basically everything.
Life is not possible without Maya. It provides the basic necessities of life like oxygen, water, food, shelter, reproduction, etc. Without it, there is no life.
Our body and its senses are designed to feel or sense maya. These senses makes our likes and dislikes. We develop a craving for what we like and aversion for what we dislike. All our life is spent in arranging for what we crave and protecting from what we dislike.
As long as we limit the importance of Maya in our life to meet the basic necessities, we do just fine. But, the problem starts when we get too greedy.
Relationships
And where this greed comes from? It comes from our nature or sanskara stored in chitta and relationships we get by birth (as per our destiny) and relations we develop later in life like spouse, friends, and other living beings we meet regularly (as per our karma & nature).
This includes relation between
- You & Your Parents
- You & Your Siblings
- You & Your Relatives
- You & Your Neighbours
- You & Your Classmates/Friends
- You & Your Colleagues/Co-workers
- You & Your Spouse
- You & Your Children
- You & Your Ideal Person ( A Celebrity or Business Tycoon or a Guru)
- You & Society Around You
If you have none of the relations stated above, what will you do with your big multi story house? Why would you build it at first place? What will you need the jewelry for? What will you need the luxury car for? Why would you need to work two jobs? Why would you, as a govt officer accept a bribe?
What would you do with accumulated wealth if you are not in contact with any human and have absolutely no relation with any other human being?
It’s not much use then.
So, basically we do all the hard work, starting from school, to corporate jobs or business, working long hours (some people even do 2 jobs), compromising todays peace for future’s lavish and maybe secure life. Deep within, we just compete with others and want to show them or help our family show their friends and relatives and neighbors that we are doing better than them. It gives us Pride. Its a crazy competition and showoff in which we destroy our health and mental peace and get a short term orgasamic pleasure of pride.
For this greed for Maya and Pride to disappear, you will need to cut yourself off from the society. There is no other way. The more relations your cut yourself off from, the more easy it becomes to lead a peaceful life. Because society will always showoff, it will always be in competition with the one more wealthier.
What I have written is not something new. Ancient sages have been advising people to take sanyasa after middle age as that’s the only way you can try and leave tamoguna and rajoguna and increase sattva guna in your chitta. And ultimately become nirguna and attain liberation.
Even if you fail to completely liberate yourself of gunas of nature, if you increase sattva guna in your chitta, then next birth you get and next job (dharma) you get, will be that of a sattvaguni person. And then you can continue your journey.
When to take Sanyasa (solitude) or when to start on the path of Moksha/Liberation, is entirely your choice. However, it usually happens after you have achieved the other three purusharthas of life; Dharma (Task you were chosen for), Artha, and Kama.
Read more about them here: The 4 Purusharthas of life