Oh Maya, the elusive 18th elephant!

 

Oh Maya, the Elusive 18^th Elephant!

I am the eternal, incomparable Brahman,

Indivisible, part less, pure consciousness.

In me, the undivided essence resides,

Yet you, Maya, dance ‘as though’ a power.

‘As though’ you delude, without a warning,

‘As though’ you divide, without a question.

‘As though’ you appear as names and forms,

Creating an illusion of duality and plurality.

Indeed, you are very skilled,

In making the impossible seem real,

In concealing and projecting

A wondrous tapestry of gunas

To worship Īśvara in form—

The first step of our worldly school.

Creating a routine from this devotion,

Leads to the leap of self-inquiry.

Śravaṇam is the worship,

Mananam, is the alankaram

Nidhidhyāsanam, is the Ārāti 

I worship, I meditate, I connect.

I see Īśvara in all around me,

Within myself, within others,

In every corner of the vast world-

The divine thread woven through existence.

Oh, Maya, you with no beginning,

Like the elusive 18th elephant,

You come forth mysteriously from nowhere.

Now, it is time for you to depart!

I am the eternal, incomparable Brahman,

Indivisible, part less, pure consciousness.

In me, the undivided essence glows—

May you, Maya, fade into the infinite.

 

P. S.

The Eighteenth Elephant

Once there was a king who had seventeen royal elephants — beautiful elephants, bedecked with jewels, draped in silk, smart and strong. The king died, and left the elephants to his three sons, with instructions that the oldest son should get half of them, the middle son one-third, and the youngest one-ninth. The princes were confused. Half of seventeen? A third? A ninth? What were they supposed to do? Cutting up an elephant was of course unthinkable. The king’s chief minister came upon them, puzzled and sad. “Don’t worry,” he said. “You’re nice kids, and I’ll give you one of my elephants.” And so he brought in one of his, also quite stylish and bejeweled.

The eldest son happily led nine elephants away (half of the bunch). The middle son took six. The youngest one noted that two is one-ninth of the total, and took his two. The princes together had 9+6+2 = 17 elephants, and the chief minister took his own elephant back to its stable, and they all lived happily ever after. Maya is like the mysterious elephant of the chief minister! She arrives from no where but leaves at the light of knowledge!

OM!