
When someone says “life is Maya,” it can feel like a punch in the gut. After all, if everything is an illusion, what’s the point of anything? Why fall in love, why make friendships, why dream big if it’s all just going to disappear? It almost feels cruel, doesn’t it?
But maybe Maya isn’t saying “life is meaningless.” Maybe it’s reminding us that life isn’t what it looks like on the surface. The
Bhagavad Gita, one of the deepest spiritual texts ever written, doesn’t ask us to throw away love or human connection. Instead, it asks us to see love through a clearer lens beyond the illusions that often cloud it.
What Maya Really Means Maya is often misunderstood as “illusion” in the sense of a magic trick. But in the Gita, Maya is more like a filter. It’s the curtain that prevents us from seeing the eternal. It makes us believe that the temporary is permanent, that possessions will last forever, that relationships are ours to control, and that our identities are fixed.
When we cling to people or things under the influence of Maya, we suffer. Because eventually, life changes. Bodies age, loved ones move on, relationships evolve, and circumstances shift. Maya is what convinces us that we can hold on to what was never meant to stay the same.
Then What About Love? If everything is temporary, isn’t love just another illusion? The Gita answers this beautifully: love rooted in possession is Maya, but love rooted in devotion and selflessness is eternal.
Think about it. Much of what we call “love” is mixed with fear—fear of losing the person, fear of not being loved back, fear of being left behind. That’s not pure love; that’s Maya’s illusion wrapping around it. But when love is free from control, when it is about giving, caring, and connecting without fear, then it touches something beyond Maya. It becomes spiritual.
Krishna and Arjuna’s Love as Friends
The Gita itself begins with an act of love —Krishna guiding Arjuna, not as a distant God, but as a friend. Arjuna is broken, unable to face the war, drowning in grief. Krishna doesn’t dismiss his feelings as “just Maya.” Instead, he listens, guides, and loves Arjuna enough to show him the truth: that his sorrow comes from clinging to what is temporary.
Krishna’s love here is not about possession. He doesn’t force Arjuna to do anything. He offers wisdom, holds his hand through the chaos, and reminds him of his higher self. That’s love beyond illusion—a love that sets you free, not ties you down.
The Illusion of Possession Let’s be honest: most heartbreaks don’t come from love itself, but from attachment disguised as love. We think, “This person is mine,” or “They should always behave the way I want.” But when reality shifts, when people change, Maya cracks open, and the illusion shatters.
The Gita’s teaching is not to stop loving, but to stop confusing love with ownership. Love is not “you are mine.” Real love is “I am with you, no matter where life flows.” The first ties you to Maya. The second frees you from it.
Love as a Path Beyond Maya The Gita doesn’t dismiss emotions —it transforms them. Bhakti, or devotion, is seen as one of the highest forms of yoga. Through Bhakti, even worldly love can be elevated. Loving someone without selfishness, caring without demanding, supporting without expecting something back—that kind of love becomes a mirror of divine love.
Krishna says in the Gita, “Offer everything you do to me.” This doesn’t mean abandoning human relationships. It means infusing them with the same spirit of selfless offering. When you cook for your family with love, when you support a friend without expecting repayment, when you forgive someone despite their flaws—that love is no longer bound by Maya.
A Modern Take: Why This Matters Today In our world, love is often packaged with possession. Social media timelines, relationship status updates, constant validation—it all reinforces the Maya of ownership. That’s why heartbreak feels like the end of the world; it’s Maya crashing down.
But if we take the Gita’s wisdom seriously, love becomes lighter. It doesn’t mean you don’t feel pain when people leave. It means you don’t collapse under it, because you know the essence of love doesn’t die with separation. You can still love someone even when they’re far away, even when circumstances change. Love becomes freedom, not a prison.
So, What’s the Point of Love? The point of love, according to the Gita, is not to hold on forever but to learn to let go beautifully. Love shows us the taste of the eternal through fleeting moments. Every smile, every memory, every sacrifice—they are hints of the divine peeking through the illusion of Maya.
Instead of rejecting love because it’s temporary, we can embrace it as a way to practice eternity. To love without fear, to connect without chains, to give without keeping score—that’s how love destroys Maya.
If life is Maya, then love is not the trap—it’s the way out. Because in loving selflessly, we get a glimpse of what is beyond illusion. Krishna, in the Gita, doesn’t tell us to stop loving. He tells us to love without clinging, without fear, without demand. That kind of love doesn’t vanish when circumstances change. It lingers, eternal, like the soul itself.
Maybe that’s the whole point. Love is how we walk through Maya and touch what lies beyond.
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