This morning, I woke up with a thought, which puts Indian philosophy into a nutshell and please correct me if I get it wrong:

Whatever happens right now, has to happen as it does – in the world and also in private. It is the dream of Brahman, where good and evil battle it out, and it is clearly a thriller.
The different persons seem to have agency, but actually, they have not. A robber in my dream is not an independent actor who can decide what he does, but he is contained in my mind and ultimately unreal. Similarly, we humans, animals or even Devas and rakshasas have no independent agency in this play of Maya which plays out within the pure, infinite Consciousness, called Brahman.

So this gives some comfort. Everything is as it must be. But this is only ONE level.

Now the second level:
The Bhagavad Gita and other texts tell us that we need to do what is dharmic, trying to stop the evil and foster the good, and even fight adharma if need be.

But why should we follow dharma (which means to do the right thing in the given circumstances)? Because there are laws within Maya. One law is the law of Karma: if we do evil, we suffer. Eternal hell does not exist, but time-bound hell does exist within Maya. Even though evil people seem to thrive, they will suffer, or they may even suffer while seemingly thriving.

I am reminded of a podcast where a chapter of Whitney Webb’s book “A nation under blackmail” was mentioned. It is about an interview with Leslie Wexner, the billionaire financier of Jeffrey Epstein. He said in an interview with the New York Magazine in 1985 that he feels possessed by a demon. He even gave the demon’s name: dybbuk, a malicious spirit in Jewish folklore. This demon pushes him to always want more and more and ever more…

This brings me to another level within Maya: we humans are not the only conscious, intelligent beings. There are many others, as the Puranas explain, beneficial and maleficent ones, and some are more powerful than we are. They don’t have bodies like we have, but are nevertheless as real as we are within Maya.

Anandamayi Ma asked her devotees to guard against the influence of maleficent entities by repeating the mantra of one’s Ishta Deva, and talked about such different entities, which she saw.

So the conclusion: what is, has to be as it is. And since we are in Kali Yuga, it’s not a bed of roses. No need to become depressed about it.
But also: live a dharmic life. That’s the way to fulfil your life’s purpose and ultimately realise that our person or ‘avatar’ in this play of Maya is not who we really are.

And when the going gets too tough and in case desperate thoughts intrude, remind yourself that all is Maya and our essence is already one with Sat-Chit-Ananda, blissful Consciousness, even if we can’t feel it yet.
by Maria Wirth

the photo is by Shivansh Sharma, taken from Pixels

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