Maya!!!

Maya they say cannot be searched and found.Under the influence of the three gunas, the soul is (1) misled by matter, and (2) subsequently entangled and entrapped. This tendency is termed maya (illusion).The only way of dealing with this to know and be aware and be in wisdom.
Under maya's influence, the atman, (the soul) mistakenly identifies with the body. He accepts such thoughts as "I am white and I am a man," or "This is my house, my country, and my religion." Thus the illusioned soul identifies with the temporary body and everything connected to it, such as race, gender, family, nation, bank balance, and sectarian religion. Under this sense of false-ego (false-identity) the soul aspires to control and enjoy matter. However, in so doing he continuously serves lust, greed, and anger. In frustration he often redoubles his efforts and, compounding mistake upon mistake, only falls deeper into illusion.
In ignorance (tamas), he is fully convinced that right is wrong and wrong is right. In passion he is unsure, hesitant, sometimes enjoying and at others times repenting. Only in goodness does the soul begin to develop wisdom – to see things in the real light. Thus enlightenment means moving away from tamas towards sattva. By so doing, the soul gradually escapes the clutches of maya and moves towards liberation.
The mother is nursing a child with great care; all her soul, her life, is in that child. The child grows, becomes a man, and perchance becomes a blackguard and a brute, kicks her and beats her every day; and yet the mother clings to the child; and when her reason awakes, she covers it up with the idea of love. She little thinks that it is not love, that it is something which has got hold of her nerves, which she cannot shake off; however she may try, she cannot shake off the bondage she is in. And this is Maya.
We are all after the Golden Fleece. Every one of us thinks that this will be his. Every reasonable man sees that his chance is, perhaps, one in twenty millions, yet everyone struggles for it. And this is Maya.
Death is stalking day and night over this earth of ours, but at the same time we think we shall live eternally. A question was once asked of King Yudhisthira, "What is the most wonderful thing on this earth?" And the king replied, "Every day people are dying around us, and yet men think they will never die." And this is Maya.
There is wonderful lecture by Swami Vivekananda on Maya And Illusion.
Yesterday I was listening to a talk where in Sage Narada asks Sri Krishna to show him Maya.The lord laughs at this and Narada wants to know why he laughed.Lord Krishna smilingly tells Narada "come let us go for a walk and they both go walking and come near a beautiful oasis.After they have walked a while the lord tells Narada that he is thirsty and if he can get some water.Narada leaves with a kamandalu in search of water.Narada finds a lake there and he also sees a beautiful maiden and wishes to marry her, so he marries her and they have 9 children and they live happily,when suddenly one day there is a flood and everything is washed off in the floods.Narada loses his beautiful wife, all his 9 children and he alone is there weeping and in tearsand in deep sorrow.At this moment Sri Krishna calls out to Narada and asks Narada,what happened you went to fetch some water,"......Narada comes to the present and realises that all that he just experienced was Maya.Thus Krishna shows sage Narada what Maya is in a few minutes.
Jai gurudev!!