31 October 2015 - QA4

I sometimes wonder, is there anything without Maya. Everything I see, feel or experience sounds like Maya in one form or the other. It makes me feel that there is nothing worth running after in this world and yet I run after you! Please help me differentiate between Maya and no Maya.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar:

Just follow your heart! Maya means that which can be measured. The word ‘measure’ comes from the word Maya. All that can be measured on this planet is Maya.

What you see can be measured. If you go to a doctor for an eye check-up, he will say that your eyesight is 0.5 or something like that. So vision can be measured. Similarly, sound can be measured, taste can be measured, touch can be measured, as the world is made up of the five elements – which are measurable.

What cannot be measured is your compassion. You cannot say that I have 10 liters of compassion, or 2 degrees of compassion, or 5 degrees of love! Love cannot be measured, truth cannot be measured, compassion cannot be measured, and bliss cannot be measured. So these are a part of the Brahman. They are part of consciousness; the nature of consciousness and they are beyond measurement, and so they are beyond Maya.

It is natural for consciousness to move towards higher state of consciousness. It is like the small mind moving towards the bigger mind. Just like a baby runs towards the mother, like that the small consciousness or the small mind runs towards the big consciousness or the big mind.