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Maya From Esamskriti
Maya From Esamskriti
The doctrine of Maya forms one of the pillars of the Vedanta philosophy.
It is often interpreted as to mean illusion. Although such interpretations
might have some relevance in the course of the development of its
principle, in Vedanta its meaning goes much beyond illusion. The
historical process of evolution of the meaning of the word “Maya” starts
from the Rig Vedic period down to the times of Sankara, when it acquired
a rigid and technical sense, which survives even to-day.
Vedas
In the Rig-Veda the chief meanings assigned to the word “Maya” are
“power" (Prajna, knowledge) and "deception" (Kapata). It is noticed that
wherever it means “power” the idea of “mystery” necessarily goes with it
i.e., it does not mean any "physical" power, but "a mysterious power of
the will" which would translate into such Sanskrit expressions as
Sankalpa Sakti or Iccha Sakti.
Upanishads
The view of Maya put forth in the philosophical Upanishads serves as an
important transitional phase between its Vedic and Mythological
conceptions. Isha tells us that the veil which covers the truth is golden,
so rich, gaudy and dazzling that it takes away the mind of the observer
from the inner contents. Katha says how people live in ignorance and
thinking themselves wise, move about wandering, like blind men leading
the blind. Chhandogya tells us that the Atman is the only Reality;
everything else is merely a word, a mode and a name. Brhadaranyaka
Upanishad says ‘The Lord on account of Maya is perceived as manifold.’
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Hindu Tradition
Later devotional Hinduism came to conceive of particular deities as the
sole object of their worship, primarily the gods Shiva and Vishnu and
recount their actions as examples of the operation of Maya. We have
already seen such power in the story of Narada and Krishna narrated in
the beginning. Maya is considered by Hindu theism to be an
indispensable part of God's feminine aspect, and has been called his
Shakti, or energy. The feminine aspect of Maya has been personified as
Maha Maya (great Maya), a great goddess responsible for the creation of
the physical world. This aspect of Maya is also visualized as the form of
Divine Mother (Devi).
Gaudapada
With the advance in thought, the principle of unity attracted more and
more attention, so much so that as early as in the Rig-Veda we find
statements such as “ekam sad vipra bahudha vadanti " i.e., the wise
speak of the One Being under various names, the multiplicity was felt to
be due to a mode of speech only, not real in itself which subsequently
came to be expressed by Sankara as "brahma satyam jagan mithya Jivo
brahmaiva naparah." i.e. Brahman is the only Reality ; the world is
ultimately false ; and the individual soul (Atman) is non-different from
Brahman .
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While Sankara synthesized all these forms of thought into a single whole
with the help of the Sruti as well as reason. Before him was another
great Advaitist, Gaudapada who was honored as the teacher of
Govindayogindra who himself was the teacher of Sankara. He has left to
us one of the most wonderful expositions of the fundamentals of
Advaitism, called "Karikas on the Mandukya Upanisad."
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Just as semi-darkness hides the real nature of a rope lying on the road
as a rope and instead projects it as a snake which is not there so also
Maya conceals the true nature of Brahman as Sat-Chit-Ananda (by its
avarana sakti) and projects on that base, this manifold universe (by its
viksepa sakti). The creation and multiplicity are due to Maya. Through its
influence names and forms are falsely superimposed upon Brahman. As
long as one sees the duality, one is dwelling in the realm of ignorance or
avidya or Maya.
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