132. Such Indeed Is Maya!

Once the great sage Narada sought out Lord Vishnu and asked, "O Lord, please show me your Maya, which makes the impossible possible." Vishnu acquiesced. Soon after, they set out on a trip, and after a time, Vishnu became thirsty and fatigued. "Narada, a great thirst has come over me," he said, sitting down on the ground, "Please fetch me some water." At once, Narada ran off in search of water. Finding none nearby, he ventured far from the place and saw a river in the distance. As he approached, he saw a beautiful woman collecting water from the stream and was instantly captivated by her charms. He hailed her, and she replied in sweet words. He began to woo her, and soon they fell in love and were married, and settled down near the river. In time, she bore him a great many children, who were devout and strong. While Narada was happily living with his family, a terrible pestilence visited the country, and Yama, God of Death, came to nigh every village to collect his toll. Narada suggested they leave their town before Yama made his appearance, and his family agreed. He and his wife came out of the house, leading the children by the hand, and no sooner had they begun to cross the bridge than there came a terrible flood, and in the rush of water, Narada's wife and children were swept away. Overwhelmed with grief, Narada sat on the riverbank and wept piteously. Just then, Lord Vishnu appeared before him, saying, "O Narada, why do you cry? And where is the water you went to fetch me?" The sight of Vishnu startled Narada, and then he understood everything, exclaiming, "My Lord, my obeisance to you, and also to your wonderful Maya!" (Sri Ramakrishna, 1947, pp. 111-112)

Neither real nor unreal, maya consists of the illusions that give us the experience of the material world. Chronic pain with no origin but itself is the sword that cleaves that which is not. The delusion that you are one point in space, for chronic pain disperses being into air and appears at the merest touch. The delusion of linear time, for chronic pain crips the flux of bodily time such that nondisabled, linear temporalities yield to co-constitutive time of kāla and kairos, which is cyclical, eternal, simultaneous, occupying multiple frequencies. The delusion that you are unknowing and uncreative, for chronic pain generates both embodied knowledge and creative, cunning invention. The delusion of fear, for chronic pain teaches that panic is fruitless and meditative inquiry is the only succor.

As I've applied it to my life, maya does not deny the existence or reality of pain but questions its primacy, unsettling its significance just enough to permit the entry of new meanings. Like Narada, in clinics and classrooms, I go for water and return with much more, but also much less.