Maya

[Vivekananda Centre]

>The illustration of 'snake in the rope' does not reflect the
>relationship between  'maya and brahman'.

At the outset let me warn the readers that I'm not very knowledgeable in
Advaitam. The regular posters - Jaladhar, Rama, Giri, Vidya - are much
more knowledgeable than me. If I make any mistake I hope they would
correct me.

AFAIK, the illustration of snake in the rope DOES reflect the
relationship between mAyA and brahman.

We have a rope. It's confused to be a snake. But that does not mean that
the snake has any existence of its own, because in truth there's no
snake. The rope is the truth.

The same way we have brahman. Brahman is confused to be the world. So in
truth brahman alone is real.

The world is the superimposition on the brahman. This superimposition is
an illusion (mAyA). Only brahman, the changeless eternal, is real.

The natural question which would arise is who's it who's having this
illusion?

We can view it from both the ParamArtika and the VyavahArika angles :

VyavahArika angle :
The shruti says brahman is beyond the senses and the intellect. To link
the vyavahArika and the paramArtika, is logically impossible as the
subject in question by definition is beyond all relative thought. And
any answer would contradict the shruti.

ParamArtika angle :
The above question implies an entity apart from brahman who^Òs having an
illusion of brahman being the world. In the BrihadAranyaka Upanishad,
YAgnavalkya says : "When you^Òre all there is, what else is there to see,
feel, hear ^Å ?" So there^Òs nothing other than brahman. Brahman alone is.
So the question itself  is invalid.


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Nanadaji your humility is refreshing. Shashtras say humility is the sign of
mature intellect (Alankar of Buddhi is Vivek). Let us see if the learned
members you mentioned in your posting can add to your comments.

pranams
jay
Vivekananda Centre London

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