Did you know that Maya, a popular word in Hindu religious, spiritual and philosophical literature, means the powerful force that creates the cosmic illusion that the phenomenal world is real?
Maya (Devanagari: माया) is a popular word in Hindu religious, spiritual and philosophical literature and is used with different connotations in different contexts. The various schools of Hinduism, particularly those based on naturalism (Vaiśeṣika), rationalism (Samkhya) or ritualism (Mimamsa), questioned and debated what is Maya, and the need to understand Maya. It is a fundamental concept in Hindu philosophy, notably in the Advaita (Non-dualist) school of Vedanta. Maya originally denoted the magic power with which a god can make human beings believe in what turns out to be an illusion. With changing times it has come to be known as the powerful force that creates the cosmic illusion that the phenomenal world is real.
The Upanishads refer to the knowledge of Atman as "true knowledge" (Vidya), and the knowledge of Maya as "not true knowledge" (Avidya).
At the individual level Maya is reflected by human ignorance (ajnana) of the real nature of the self, which is mistaken for the empirical ego but which is in reality identical with brahman.
The veil of Maya (“illusion”) in many Indian stories prevents a man from remembering his true origin and goal.
In Puranas and Vaishnava theology, Maya is described as one of the nine Shaktis of Vishnu. Maya became associated with sleep; and Vishnu's maya is sleep which envelopes the world when he awakes to destroy evil. Vishnu, like Indra, is the master of maya; and maya envelopes Vishnu's body.
The Bhagavata Purana narrates that the sage Markandeya requests Vishnu to experience his Maya. Vishnu appears as an infant floating on a fig leaf in a deluge and then swallows the sage, the sole survivor of the cosmic flood.
A practical explanation of Maya given in Yoga Vasishta
states that just as the dirt is removed, the real substance is made manifest; just as when the darkness of the night is dispelled, the objects that were shrouded by the darkness are clearly seen, when ignorance [Maya] is dispelled, truth is realized.
In Hinduism the first creator of Maya in this universe was Indra. The term Indrajala was used instead of Maya in the ancient days. Since Indra represents God and God's creation of this universe can be considered a magical act, this whole world is Indrajala (a net of Indra), an illusion.
Maya is Sanskrit word with its root in ‘Ma’ which means to “measure. Maya is a measuring scale of Brahma, this measuring is done by Brahma, who is a slave to Maya, a delusion. Like Prakiriti or Nature, Maya is an aspect of material reality. While Prakriti is physical, Maya is mental; she is twin power Nature. Prakriti is Brahma’s mother while Maya is his daughter. Or even say wife as Brahma is aware that he created Maya. Maya is essential for Prakriti to survive. Maya creates division between the individual soul and the supreme soul. With Maya’s help Brahma is in a position to measure Prakriti as good or bad, right or wrong beautiful or ugly. Maya recalibrates herself with time . The delusion created by Brahma with the help of Maya is also known as Brahmanda, which is an objective reality.
This can be explained simply by saying that in a Parkriti of forest there is no difference between man and animals. But Maya makes it different with giving the man perception that he is is not an animal but superior being and master of the forest.
A classic allusion to Maya, say a mataphor, is that of seeing a rope as snake. In twilight, a person may see a coiled rope as a snake. While the snake disppears in the bright light of the sun and the rope is seen as it really is. In this metaphor a person seeing the rope as a snake is under illusion because he sees something (a rope) but misinterprets it as something else(snake,) Maya helps man to acquire superior knowledge of the world but he is deceived by creating false notion of himself of his own being. Under the spell of God's Maya, man forgets his true nature.
For Vishnu, when he is an awaken state, Prakriti and Maya are distinguishable but he is unlike Brahma not dependent on Maya to appreciate Prakriti as he is aware of 'what is Brahman'. In fact Vishnu is her master and for him she is Yoga Maya while for Brahma she is Maha Maya.
In Kashmiri Shaivism, it is used to refer to the "concealing, obscuring power of nature, which creates a separation between subject and object". As such, it makes the one Absolute perceived as spirituality and multiplicity.
Maya in Yoga school is the manifested world and implies divine force. Yoga and Maya are two sides of the same coin, because what is referred to as Maya by living beings who are enveloped by it, is Yoga for the Brahman (Universal Principle, Supreme Soul) whose yogic perfection creates the Maya.
In Hinduism, Maya is also an epithet for goddess, and the name of a manifestation of Lakshmi, the goddess of "wealth, prosperity and love". Maya is also a name for girls. In later versions Mohini is also declared as Maya.
Narasipur Char
