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Shri Mahavir Jain Aradhana Kendra
The Vaisnava Saints of
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1 Sayings of Sri Ramakrishna, 10.. 2 Ibid. 100.
3 Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, 828.
Acharya Shri Kailashsagarsuri Gyanmandir
Man's bondage of the world is caused by the operation of Maya which makes him forget his own real nature and shows him to be something else. Maya is the deceptive power that distorts the real nature of Him. And this Maya consists in Man's ego itself.1 Egotism is like a cloud which keeps God hidden from our sight. It vanishes by the mercy of the Guru; God is perceived in all His glory.2 Māyā acts as an impediment in the way of realisation of God by creating the false sense of egoism which is produced by the false identification of the Self with the body, with mind and the other external adjuncts by which the Self is encircled. Ramakṛṣṇa says that until one sees God, one cannot help believing that the soul is the same as the body. The idea clings to the ignorant man- to him who has not seen God, but not to the knowing one; to him it is plain that the soul stands apart from the body.3 This sense of being separate from God continues as long as one feels that he is one with the body and that he is the agent (Karta) of actions. But Ramakṛṣṇa holds that God alone is the real agent or doer of actions, and so the actions along with their results should be dedicated to Him. Men are only instruments in His hands, and He is the real inspirer, promotor, and doer of the actions. He saysThe true devotee says-Lord, I am the Yantra (machine), Thou art the Yantri (engineer); I am the room, Thou art the tenant; I am the chariot, Thou art the charioteer; I speak just as thou makest
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