Shri Nathji added in a vein of humour that Maayaa was not an ineffective thing after all–it could do untold harm despite being non-existent. He told the following humorous story, using the rope and the snake again as an example.
A man went to the railway station and purchased a ticket for the night train. By the time he returned home to pack up his baggage, it was already evening. He went inside his bedroom and saw to his great apprehension that there was a snake lying next to his bedding. He was frightened out of his wits, and ran out of the house screaming with terror. As the neighbours gathered around him to find out what the matter was, he related to them the presence of the snake in his bedroom. The neighbours urged him to get a professional snake-catcher –a saperaa– and the man went out to find the snake-catcher. After finding him with great difficulty, he brought him back to his house. The two of them went towards the bedroom. The snake-catcher entered the bedroom and looked around. As it was already night, the lights inside the bedroom had to be switched on. The snake-catcher searched the room carefully, and then said to the man:
There is no snake here! What are you talking about!
The man insisted, and said, Look! There it is next to my bedding! Can’t you see it?
The snake-catcher went to the spot and said: There is no snake here–it is only a piece of rope!
The man came into the room and rubbed his eyes. Now that the lights were on, he could see the rope clearly. He realised then that it was this rope which had appeared as a snake to him.
He laughed with relief, but his happiness was short-lived, for the snake-catcher began demanding his money for the trouble he had taken to come all the way to the man’s house. The man searched for his purse. He had lost it in his unholy flight out of the house. The snake-catcher lost his temper and began a vicious fight with the man. The man could not get away–and the net result was that he missed his train that night and suffered a heavy loss! That was the effect of Maayaa–the illusion that produced a snake out of a rope! Thus it is that the Maayaa of the world deludes man and places him in a rigmarole of worries and fears from which he cannot free himself. By the time he frees himself, a great deal of damage is already done.