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Maya - Illusion - Page 2

© Kalyani Subramanyan

Apparent reality as viewed by the human being is the result of five outer sheaths masking or veiling the truth. These sheaths - annamayakosha (physical body), pranamayakosha (breath or life energy), manomayakosha (mind), vijnanamayakosha (intelligence), anandamayakosha (awareness of bliss) - have to be progressively transcended in order to attain ultimate realization. It is not that what is perceived does not exist but that erroneous perception sees it for what it is not. There is attachment to the world of forms, for example, unless one retains sight of the void behind it.

The sky appears blue at a distance; but look at it closely and you will find that it has no colour. The water of the ocean looks blue at a distance, but when you go near and take it in your hand, you find that it is colourless. Men are deluded through her maya and have become attached to the world. Bondage and liberation are of the mind alone. It is all a question of the mind. The mind will take the colour you dye it with.

Maya is the illusory power of God. She is the creatrix of this universe. She projects this world for His Lila (sport). Mind, intellect, body, and senses are her forms. She is the energy or mother-aspect of the Lord. Just as heat is inseparable from fire, coldness from ice, Maya is inseparable from Brahman (God). It is dependent on Brahman.

There is no duality in Reality. All modification is illusory. Multiplicity is an illusion. Maya projects multiplicity. Maya creates division, division between the individual soul and the Supreme Soul.

Brahman alone is. It is Brahman alone that shines as the world of variegated objects, like waves differentiating the water into many kinds of foam, bubbles, etc. Brahman appears as the world when cognised through the mind and the senses. The Lord on account of Maya is perceived as manifold

The finite human mind cannot comprehend the exact relationship between the One and the many, Reality and appearance, the Absolute and the relative. From the standpoint of the relative, there is no Absolute. The Absolute is a mystical experience characterised by the absence of duality.

That is why Vedanta calls this apparent identification of the Absolute with the relative by the name of MAYA. It is an inscrutable power that inheres in Brahman, or the Godhead. Under the influence of this cosmic ignorance, the all pervading, eternal, and infinite spirit forgets its real nature. It is something like a man going to sleep, which first makes him oblivious of himself and then creates the fantastic dream world. It is also a well known fact that on account of ignorance one sees water in the desert, as in the case of a mirage. As long as the sleep and the illusion last, the experience of the dream and the mirage appear to be real. On account of maya, the infinite soul, or the Godhead, identifies itself with the finite, material forms and becomes individualised.

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