[Advaita-l] Define MAYA ?

[K Kathirasan]

Namaste, 

One of my favourite definitions come from the Pancadashi. Here is the verse: 

tucchānirvacanīyā ca vāstavī cetyasau tridhā ।
jñeyā māyā tribhirbodhaiḥ śrautayauktikalaukikaiḥ ॥ 5.130॥

Maya is looked upon in three ways. From the point of view of knowledge and Shruti it is negligible; for empirical reason it is indefinable and for the ordinary people it is real.

Kathirasan K




> On 8 Jun 2020, at 4:45 PM, 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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