[Advaita-l] Define MAYA ?

[Kuntimaddi Sadananda]

PraNAms

 

Swetaswartara Up. defines maayaa as prakruti and Iswara asthe wielder of maaya. maaynantu prakrutim vidyaata maayinantu maheswaram. Krishnaalso says that under his control prakruti projects multiplicity – mayaadhyakshenaprakrutiH suuyate sa charaacharam. 

Krishna also says – maayaa is of divine origin, and only bysurrendering to Me one can cross this maayaa of mine. Daiveem eshaa guna mayimama maayaa duratyayaa, maam evaye prapadyante maayaam etaam taranti te.

Vivekacudamani defines maayaa as Parameswara shakti and causesfor creation. 

Locus of maayaa vs. avidya here has been some discussionsin the past. The vivarana school and Bhamati school differ to some extent. Withoutconfusing further, I will stop here.

Hari Om!

Sadananda 



 

    On Monday, 8 June, 2020, 08:03:15 pm IST, Sudhakar Kabra via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:  
 
  Shri Mahadevan Iyer ji,

You yourself have already given all different definitions of Maya.

There cannot be any best definition of Maya. 
Depending on the context the definition is used. 
One such is "That which is Not"
Regards
S.Kabra



    On Monday, June 8, 2020, 02:16:49 PM GMT+5:30, Mahadevan Iyer via Advaita-l <advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:  
 
 Pranams Atman,
I came across many definitions & descriptions of Maya.

1. As per Wikipedia (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_(religion)#Advaita_Vedanta)

> *Māyā is the empirical reality that entangles consciousness.* *Māyā has
> the power to create a bondage to the empirical world, preventing the
> unveiling of the true, unitary Self—the Cosmic Spirit also known as
> Brahman.*


 2. *MAYA – The seed-state as POTENTIAL ENERGY. *

> Due to the connection between the PURE CONSCIOUSNESS (BRAHMAN) and MAYA,
> the phenomenon called ISHWARA as CREATOR naturally transpires.

( *Brahman with Maya = Ishwara* )



> Due to the connection between the PURE CONSCIOUSNESS (BRAHMAN) and AVIDYA
> (IGNORANCE), the phenomenon called the individual (JIVA) naturally
> transpires.

( *Brahman with Avidya = Jiva* )


3. MAYA - That which is *wielded by ( attribute of ) Ishwara to create Jiva
& Jagat*.
4. Maya is *Brahman with apparent Avidya*, which causes Ishwara.
6. Maya is the *Cosmic dream of Brahman.* ( but brahman is nirguna )
7. Maya is *Ignorance from Ishwara perspective* ( like avidya is ignorance
from Jeeva perspective )
8. *Maya is Anadi*, hence it has no inception. But *has an end through
Moksham*.

  - Is Maya a noun or a verb ?


  - Avidya is clearly understood as the ignorance of Jiva. The locus of
  avidya is in the jiva's mind. But what about Maya ? Could we say that the
  Maya is the ignorance of Ishwara ?


  - Kindly convey the best definition for MAYA ?

*Hari Om,*
Mahadevan Iyer
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