Maya’s power veils the Spirit-soul and projects the illusion that we are beings (jivatma) separate from the One Soul (Paramatam). Maya created the five great elements (Pancha Mahabhuta) and the three qualities or gunas as they are called.
The mixing of the elements in the three natures form the material world. Because we accept the body as real and do not know the truth, thus we are tied up in the web of Maya.
The five great elements are Space (Ether), Air, Fire, Water and Earth. The three qualities are Sattva, Rajas and Tamas; they are goodness, action and inertia respectively. From the mixing of the elements in the three gunas come all the forms in the universe.
The body is born of the Lord’s creative power. There are three bodies: the gross body, subtle body, causal or happy body and five sheaths: Food Sheath (Annamaya Kosha), Vital Airs Sheath (Pranamaya Kosha), Mind Sheath (Manomaya Kosha), Intellect Sheath (Vijnanamaya Kosha) and the Blissful Sheath (Anandamaya Kosha).
The gross body is that one which you see, the food sheath, the outer shell. The subtle body includes the vital airs (pranas) sheath, the mind (mental) sheath and the intellectual sheath. Finally, the innermost causal body, the bliss sheath which is the ignorant one. The cause of the other two bodies.
All these constitute the human body and in this human body, through our limiting beliefs, we live our constrained lives.
Now learn–most emphatically Shree KrsnaGuruji teaches us, “You are not the body. NOT THE BODY!” What happens in this world happens to the body. The birth, the death, the joy and the pain all happen to the body.
When you know that you are not the body, you understand that you are beyond the body and you know there is nothing to fear and nothing to hold on to.
It is essential that you know what is real and unreal. In one sense, all that is created is unreal. The only reality in this manifestation is the One Soul, the Self.
If you could know the Truth, you would know that the life you suffer or enjoy is unreal. In the entire material domain, only a few can grasp this profundity. Maya is that powerful.
Our Spiritual Master is quick to remind us that knowing the whys and wherefores of how creation comes about will not liberate us.
