By Abhey Singh (IIT Baba)
Ref: Original Article: 10. Maya – Abhey Singh
Everything is a role. A role within a role. A play within a play.
We observe, we act, we speak, we listen. And yet, do we ever stop to ask—Who is observing? Who is speaking? Who is listening?
Maya—the great illusion—is not just the external world of distractions and desires. It is the illusion that we understand, the illusion that words have meaning beyond the meaning we assign to them.
This article is about breaking the illusion—not by rejecting it, but by seeing through it. By recognizing that everything we take seriously is just another act in an infinite play.
1. Observing the Role as a Role Itself
“Observing the roles, as a role which observes—lol.”
Imagine an actor in a play. He is playing a character, but he is aware that he is acting. Now imagine that within the play, his character is also an actor, playing another role.
At what point does the act end?
- You are reading these words, playing the role of a reader.
- I am writing these words, playing the role of a writer.
- But who are we outside of these roles?
Is there a moment when we stop playing? Or are we always performing, even when we are alone?
Example:
A person meets a friend. They speak differently than they would with their parents. They act differently at work than they do at home. Every interaction is a new role, a new act.
But if everything is an act, who is the real you?
Or is the real you just another role, observing all the other roles?
2. The Theatre Within a Theatre
“Theatre inside a theatre.”
We do not just live in one reality—we live in layers of realities.
A movie scene shows an actor playing a character. But the actor is also a real person outside the movie. And even the real person is shaped by the expectations of society, family, self-image.
Which version is real?
- The one we see?
- The one we don’t see?
- Or the one that exists beyond perception?
Example:
A comedian performs on stage, making people laugh. But backstage, he is lost in sadness. Which one is real? The laughter or the silence?
Or are both just part of the same illusion?
3. The Illusion of Meaning: Words Have No Absolute Truth
“Meaning defined from personal viewpoints.”
Everything we understand is filtered through personal experience. Words mean nothing by themselves. They only mean what we allow them to mean.
- A sentence that is deep for one person is nonsense to another.
- A book that changes one life is forgotten by another.
- A single word can bring joy or pain, depending on who hears it.
Example:
If I say, “You are free,” what does that mean?
- To a prisoner, it means release.
- To a student, it means vacation.
- To a lost person, it means fear.
The word does not change. The meaning does.
So if meaning is always changing, how can we ever claim to know anything with certainty?
4. The Flow of Expression: When Words and Meaning Collide
“No sense in what is said, or what is heard, yet one flows.”
Have you ever had a conversation where the words didn’t matter, but the feeling did?
Where meaning was not in the sentences, but in the pauses, the tone, the silence between the words?
This is because true communication does not happen through logic—it happens through flow. Through shared experience, through presence.
Example:
A poet writes a line: “The wind whispers secrets to the sea.”
Scientifically, this makes no sense. Wind does not whisper. The sea does not listen. But does that mean the sentence is meaningless?
Or does meaning exist beyond logic?
5. Doubt is in Words, Experience is in Existence
“Doubt is in words. It’s in expression of experience. Experience is existence.”
The moment we try to define something, doubt arises.
- Love—The moment you say “I love you,” does the love increase or decrease?
- Happiness—If you ask, “Am I happy?” are you happy or questioning happiness?
- Truth—If something is true, why does it need to be explained?
True experience does not need words. It simply is.
Example:
A person sitting on a mountain, watching the sunset. No thoughts, no words, just being. Is there doubt in that moment? Or is it pure existence?
The more we try to explain, the further we move from truth.
6. The Energy of Resistance: Why We Struggle
“Resistance to anything that comes will require energy. The path lies in the least efforts.”
Think of a river. It does not resist. It flows wherever the land allows it to flow.
Now think of the human mind. It resists constantly.
- We fight emotions instead of feeling them.
- We fight change instead of adapting to it.
- We fight truth instead of accepting it.
But resistance takes energy. And the more we resist, the more we suffer.
Example:
If you hold a rope tightly, your hands hurt. If you let go, the pain disappears.
Life is the same. The more we hold on, the more we suffer.
The path to peace is not in fighting life, but in flowing with it.
7. The Illusion of Making Sense
“Me trying to make sense of the non-sense in me. You trying to make sense of your non-sense by reading mine.”
This is the ultimate game we play—trying to make sense of what has no fixed meaning.
- I write words, thinking they mean something.
- You read them, assigning your own meaning.
- But in the end, are we really saying anything at all?
Example:
A child sees shapes in clouds. One sees a dragon, another sees a boat. The cloud is the same—only perception changes.
Life is the same.
We are all just interpreting illusions, trying to make sense of the senseless.
8. The Shared Illusion of Meaning
“My reason for writing is your reason for reading.”
What I write has no meaning until you read it.
What you read has no meaning until you interpret it.
- A book unread is just paper.
- A song unheard is just vibration.
- A life unlived is just existence without experience.
Meaning is never one-sided. It is shared.
Example:
If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, does it make a sound?
It depends—was there someone there to assign meaning to the event?
Reality is co-created. Meaning exists only when two meet—one to express, one to receive.
Conclusion: Accept the Illusion, Flow with It
Maya is not something to fight. It is something to see.
Theatre within theatre. Role within role. Words that mean everything and nothing at the same time.
Instead of resisting, flow with it.
- Observe, but do not hold on.
- Speak, but do not cling to words.
- Listen, but do not try to understand—just experience.
Because in the end, whether we understand or not does not matter.
What matters is that we lived, that we felt, that we were present in the dance of existence.
