Maya Maha Thugni Hum Jaani - Kabir

Translation

I Have Come to Know the Illusory Power to be a Great Thug

Her Hands Sway Holding a Web-like Trap

She Speaks in a Sweet Voice

For Kesava, the Sustainer, She is Seated as the Embodiment of Abundance

For Shiva, the God of Dissolution, She is the Empress of the Worlds

For the Priest She is Seated as the Idol of Worship

And in Places of Pilgrimage She Manifests as the Holy Water

For Yogis She is Seated as the Spiritual Partner

In the King's Palace She is the Queen

For Some She is Seated as a Priceless Diamond

For Some She is a Mere Penny

For Devotees She is Seated in the Object of Devotion

For Brahma She is His Consort

Says Kabir Listen Oh Practicing Aspirant

All this is an Untold Story

Explanation

Maya has been traditionally described as illusion. Often the physical world itself is referred to as being not real or an illusion. However, in my experience, the illusion is really in our perception of the physical reality where we experience the outside world as different from ourselves. We believe that happiness is a function of this outside world, thereby making us put extraordinary effort in changing this external reality. This dynamic experience stimulated by the external world is seductive and change is its inherent property. Even though this changing transient reality is unable to give us lasting joy or happiness, we continue to fervently believe in its capability to give us exactly that. This is Maya or illusion.

Kabir succinctly describes this fact by illustrating how the life's focus, for everybody, is on an external reality. And this continuing externally-directed focus is illusory because of the transient nature of the relationship between the subject and the object. Whether it is a rich man looking for a diamond, a beggar wanting a penny, a devotee seeking the object of her worship, Maalok translating a Kabir song that will be well received by the readers or Rajender monitoring readers' comments and page views on the site - they all are rooted in Maya. Here is an exercise that I recommend (I fail in it more often than not) - Try to find a source of joy that is independent of anything (external) or any person. Doing that may require some effort but it should be possible. Now try to observe (and not act on) your tendency to teach/tell/discuss/write this with others - not that there is anything "wrong" in being motivated by the external world; however this exercise will help you clearly see whether the source of joy is indeed coming from within you. Perhaps this may embark you too on a journey that Kabir describes as the untold story.