Ishvara and jiiva

[Anand Hudli]

   Another definition of Ishvara (God) comes from the Shvetaashvatara
   upanishhad, which says "maayaaM tu prakR^itiM vidyaanmaayinaM tu
   maheshvaraM", maayaa is to be understood as Nature, and Maheshvara
   is the controller of maayaa.

   In other words, Ishvara is not deluded by  Maayaa,
   rather He controls Maayaa. But an individual soul (jiiva) is
   subjected to the control of Maayaa and gets deluded by its two
   aspects, aavaraNa, (concealment), and vikshhepa, (projection).
   That is, Maayaa conceals the essential nature of things as Brahman, and
   at the same time projects them as something else. This becomes
   a classic case of illusion. In the illusion of the rope-snake,
   these two things happen. There is a concealment of the rope,
   and also the projection of the snake on the rope.

  Anand