Around 25 years back, the Russians conducted a psychological experiment. An astronaut was asked to go for an extremely important space mission, and was also informed that he will not be able to return to earth after the mission, due to technological limitations at that time. Upon hearing this, the astronaut enquired, “Who will look after my family?” The mission head reassured the astronaut that they would make all the necessary arrangements for the family. The astronaut then went on to list the details of housing, education, social security, etc. for his family. When all of it was settled, he sat in the space-shuttle to commence the mission. Before take-off he was asked, “Are you ready? Do you fear death or any other thing?” He replied, “No. What more do I need? Everything is taken care of, my family is secure, I will be remembered as a martyr who gave up his life for the country.” So the shuttle took off. He was once again asked the same question after take-off, and his reply was the same. Sometime later, once again they checked with the astronaut. This time he said, “I forgot about my younger brother, I want him secured as well.” The details of the brother were taken and assurance given. The shuttle kept moving further into space and once again he was asked the same question. The reply came “But what will happen to my next generation?” The mission-head assured to take care of his next 7 generations. The astronaut had no other worries. By this time, the spaceship neared the point of no return. The astronaut was informed that 20 seconds from that moment, they will reach the point of no return and after that the mission could not be recalled. His only answer was, “Please call me back!” And this psychological experiment was actually carried out successfully.

The conclusion: Ultimately no matter what, your body is of prime importance for you.

You might have heard many a times that atma is indestructible and immortal, but as soon as one faces death, fear takes over and he/she forgets everything he/she is close to and runs to save the body.

The body is the dearest thing to a human being and it is a fact, that whatever a person thinks of in his end time, that is the place where he (his/her soul) goes after death of the body. People, on hearing this, tell me that they will get over their attachments now and think of moksha in their end times. But if a person has strong material desires all through life or if his/her karmas are negative, it is impossible that he/she will think of higher loks or dimensions in his/her end-time. If you have led a life collecting physical/material for yourself, then the thought of leaving the physical body/dimension will never come to you in your end time. Rishi Patanjali has said that even the biggest of gyanis forget all their gyan at the time of death. At that time you simply move in the direction of what you actually are.

Often one gets to read about how the body does not exist, that everything around is maya, an illusion. But then what is it that you see in the mirror or touch or smell or hear? All this knowledge is pointless till one has the experience or gyan of it. When the body is there, it can be seen, and so maya is there. The basis of entire creation is maya. The creation rests on maya, it is the primary shakti of Lord Vishnu, the preserver. If there was no maya, there would be no creation. But what is maya?

Simply put, attraction - that is maya. You go towards something because you are attracted to it. If you are driving and you see some attractive site, then your eyes turn towards it automatically. There might be a hundred things on the road, but your sight will be fixed on that one thing for a few moments. Similarly, there might be twenty dishes laid in front of you, you will first reach out for the one you find most attractive. The body that you have is based on this attraction only. Your desires, which we call iccha shakti, can only be fulfilled through the body. In fact, a being takes up a body for the purpose of fulfillment of specific experiences that the soul desires. And once you come into the body you get tied by it because of attraction which does not let you leave the body.

For instance, if you tell an insect that you are going to kill it so that its yoni is elevated to a higher one, say that of a dog, it will not listen to you. It will run to save its life. This is maya or attraction. Apply this to your own self, if someone tells you ‘Let me kill you and you will become a Dev after being killed,’ will you let him kill you? No. Because the attraction to the body is extremely high. This attraction is the basis of whole creation. It is often called a mithya because it will keep you engaged in the senses till the body perishes. Even when the time to leave the body comes, you will still be wanting for one more breath, so that you could accomplish one more thing, just like the Russian astronaut.

Your attractions have kept you tied. The sun has so much attraction. This attraction is maya for the planets, which keeps them revolving around the sun. In fact, in creation, every small shakti is revolving around a bigger shakti. It is maya or attraction that keeps the creation in its place. If this attraction finishes, then this creation will be left with nothing. If your attraction towards your body finishes then how will this creation run? If your attraction for eating sweets ends, then how will the sweet shop run? All these different forms of attractions are keeping this creation together.

The philosophy of maya is simple. The more you chase it, the more it will make you run after it. And the day you turn your face from it, maya will start walking behind you. You can do this experiment – whichever thing troubles/attracts you most, just turn your face away from it, it will automatically start following you.

Look at your face in the mirror and compare it with what it used to look 10 years back and then 20 years back and then visualise how it will look 10 years from now. What was the state of your health 20 years back, what is it right now and what will it be 10 years down the line? You are constantly changing. The word shareer means that which is moving towards destruction constantly. So you are trying to save that which is getting destroyed with every passing moment, and those ‘near and dear’ ones who are destroying it, you are holding on to them. Why? Because of maya.

Yog opens the bondages of maya, that’s all. The day you get Guru sanidhya, the first time Guru drishti falls on you, that day itself you get the feeling of detachment. You rise above something physical. That is your gyan, that is freedom from one bondage of maya. That is yog. As the bondages of maya keep opening, the truth of the entire creation starts unfolding in front of you, you see every shakti of this creation in front of you without going anywhere.