Moksha and Maya
Liberation is not a place; it does not exist in the heavens, the
earth or the spirit-world. Freedom has no space, no time, no
location; it can only exist in the now, in the present moment.
Moksha (liberation, freedom) is the state of non-ego, where the
“me” vanishes and one stands free from all desires, actions and
consequences in a total state of oneness.
We are bound to this material world through attachment, desire,
and the inability to see or experience the oneness of all life.
Maya (illusion) is both the psychological separation between ego
and the universe and the psychological filter that colors all of
our experience. Maya is our memories, conceptions, judgments, and
biases that present a distorted sense of reality. These
impressions of past experiences become superimposed or projected
on current experiences creating a false reality. Maya reinforces
the ego, strengthens attachment, and defines our individual
“story” that defines who we are and our relationship to the
external world.
To achive moksha, maya must be cast off, anava (ego) must be
dissolved, and both our attachments to pleasure and our aversions
to discomfort must be severed. Moksha arises spontaneously when we
become completely absorbed in the sensation of an experience
without thought. This “taste” of total absorption is common yet
fleeting. Through the practice of yoga, we seek to create the
tools to consciously and willfully "pierce the veil" of maya and
see the transcendent nature of reality. These tools include
selfless work (karma yoga), self-dissolving love (bhakti yoga),
absolute discernment (jnana yoga), and meditative immersion (raja
yoga).
The most fundamental tool yoga gives us to create moksha is
conscious awareness. Through the use of awareness we can slowly
begin to see our projections, desires, attachments and judgments
for what they are. Once these distorting factors become
conscious, they are able to dissolve and unblock the way to a
direct experience of reality. When we become liberated from the
illusionary world of maya we are able to be in yoga: the union of
the inner self (Atman) with the oneness of all life (Brahman).
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