6

Delusion

(moha)

Moha in Sanskrit means attachment. This attachment is the real cause of bondage, bringing the player time and again to the phenomenal world through a series of births and rebirths. It is said in scriptures that four obsessions lead the individual consciousness into a downward flow of energy; they are obstacles in spiritual growth. These four are called

• Kama: desires, sensuality
• Krodh: anger, aggression, violence
• Lobh: greed, dissatisfaction
• Moha: attachment, delusion

While illusion, maya, is the phenomenal world itself, delusion is attachment to the phenomenal as the only possible manifestation of reality. Delusion beclouds the mind, rendering it unfit to perceive truth. Delusion is the product of irreligiosity —   religion meaning here not a code of conduct and morals (ethics) but a life lived in harmony with the laws of the universe.

“Whatever should be adopted, that is dharma," advises an old Sanskrit saying. Dharma is the nature, the essence, the truth of phenomenal existence. When a player does not follow the law of his own nature, which is beyond all illusion and delusion, he becomes mired in delusion. One has but to understand that existence is a game. With thisrealization, the delusion of being a self-directed player vanishes. And with the disappearance of the delusion, bad karma too vanishes.

Delusion is the first square on which the player lands after throwing the six he needs to enter the game. In entering play, the player accepts temporary bondage to the material realm. After the player is born, he is conditioned to accept the particular circumstances of time and place as binding. The reality of the moment is perceived as the reality of all moments. Change is inconceivable. He has fallen into delusion.

However he gets here, by taking birth or by falling prey to the snake of irreligiosity (the use of bad means, selfish measures), the player inevitably passes through delusion. Once he sees his dharma and recognizes that change is not only possible but necessary, he is ready to move on. But as long as he sees his own way of perceiving the world as closed and complete, he is destined to return here again and again. 

Because of its nature as a combination of two odd numbers and two even numbers (two 3s and three 2s, or five combinations of pairs), 6 is a perfectly balanced number. Related to inventiveness, creativity, and the fine arts, six is a moon-family member and is associated with the planet Venus. Venus is the most shining and brilliant of all the planets and can be seen by the naked eye as the morning star. In Hindu mythology, Venus is the teacher of demons. Those who dwell in delusion love sensual pleasures, spend their energy in the fulfillment of desires, arc victims of anger and greed, act against the law of dharma, and are irreligious and extremely  selfish.