Maya

From New World Encyclopedia

Maya (Sanskrit māyā, from "not" and "this"), in Hinduism, is a multifarious term describing three things: 1) power which enables those in its possession, most often gods, to produce forms in the physical word 2) the reality produced by this process, and 3) the illusion that the phenomenal world of separate objects and people is the only reality. In early Vedic mythology, maya was the power by which the gods produced the physical universe. With the onset of the Upanishads and the Advaita Vedanta schools, maya came to refer to the illusion of the physical realm as it related to the higher power of Brahman. Each person, each physical object, from the perspective of eternity is like a brief, disturbed drop of water from an unbounded ocean. The distinction between consciousness and physical matter, between mind and body, is the result of an unenlightened perspective. For the mystics this manifestation of the material world is real, but it is a fleeting reality; it is a mistake, although a natural one, to believe that maya represents a fundamental reality. The goal of enlightenment is to understand this—more precisely, to experience this: to see intuitively that the distinction between the self and the universe is a false dichotomy.

In Hinduism, Maya must be seen through in order to achieve moksha (liberation of the soul from the cycle of death and rebirth)—ahamkar (ego-consciousness) and karma are seen as part of the binding forces of Maya. Maya is seen as the phenomenal universe, a lesser reality-lens superimposed on the one Brahman that leads us to think of the phenomenal cosmos as real.

Maya in Hinduism

Vedas

Maya is introduced in the Rg Veda, referring to the ability of divine beings to assume various material forms and to the power of these beings to create natural phenomena. For instance, Varuna, the god who represents the moral unity of the universe is closely related to maya:

This great magic-work (maya) of renowned spiritual Varuna will I proclaim loudly; of Varuna, who standings in the mid-region has measured the earth and the sun as with a measuring rod. No one, indeed, dare impugn this great magic-work of the wisest god, namely that the many glistening streams pouring forth, do not fill up one ocean with water (Rg Veda 5:85).

Here, Varuna's creative ability is attributed to the power of maya he beholds, as is his ability to keep all natural processes contained and orderly. Similar passages claim that it is the warrior-god Indra's maya that keeps the firmament from falling from its fixtures in the heavens. Rg Veda 5:85 also illustrates another aspect of maya, that is its more specific meaning as artifice or trickery. That is, maya becomes associated with the sorts of deception and trickery that a magician employs in order to create an illusion. For example, the ability of the various gods to appear in alternate forms is attributed to their skillful use of maya.

Maya is not limited to the gods, however, as their evil opponents, the Asuras, also have the ability to call upon maya. Indra's primary adversaries, the serpent Vrtra and Susna, call upon maya in order to gain their malevolent powers. As could be expected, the Asura's maya often involves the aforementioned trickery. Later passages such as Atharva Veda 8.10.2 and Satapa Brahmana 2.4.2.5 portray maya as the esoteric power or knowledge which characterizies the asuras. In these later verses, maya is power rooted in wisdom and intellectual pursuits, and exists idependent of morality, since it can both benefit or degrade human welfare. Some early texts also attribute maya to human kings, and on some occassions the power of sacrifice is referred to as maya.

Upanishads

The view of maya put forth in the Upanishads, early commentaries on the Vedas, serves as an important segue between the Vedic conception of maya and that which would come to dominate Hindu philosophy and mythology. The Svetsara Upanishad in particular focuses upon reformulating the older Vedic conceptions of maya, presenting it as the means by which the phenomenal world is emanated from Brahman. Here it is claimed that the mahesvara (or "Great Lord", who is identified in this text as Shiva) projects the physical world out of the ineffable, pantheistic substrate known as Brahman. Maya is the power which brings all reality into being as it is perceived by human consciousness. Therefore, all the particular things contained within this material world are products of maya. These particulars detract from the perception of pure, unadulterated Brahman, and therefore maya comes to be perceived as a negative entity. The soul itself (or atman), which is conceived of as divine in its own right within the Upanishads, is confined by maya's multiplicity of forms. However, the Svetsara Upanishad also prescribes a remedy for the souls entrapment within maya: through meditation upon mahesvara, one can acheive union with him and enter into his being. This suggestion would have considerable effect on many later schools, particularly those of Vedanta.

Devotional Hinduism

Later movements in devotional Hinduism came to conceive of particular deities as the sole object of their monotheistic worship, primarily the gods Shiva and Vishnu. Mythologies describing the mythical history of each god tends to conceive of their actions as examples of the operation of maya. One of the most famous accounts of the action of Maya comes from the Matsya Purana, where Vishnu illustrates the significance of maya for the great sage Narada as a reward for his asceticism. Vishnu commands that Narada dive into a river, which he does, descending to the bottom where he transforms into a young girl. This girl grows into a princess and marries a young prince, living happily for many years. They eventually become king and queen, and rule peacefully until enemies invade her kingdom. In the subsequent battle, her husbands, father, son and grandsons fall to their deaths. In accordance with tradition, the queen agreed to be suttee and threw herself upon her husband's funeral pyre to be burned alive. Her soul ascended from her body, until it passed through the surface of the river and came again into the form of Narada.

This story provides insight into the undergirding philosophy of theistic Hindu doctrine: that is, the phenomenal world is simply an emanation of divine energy which has been filtered through maya. Vishnu, as it were, simply puts on maya like a garment for purposes of taking shape for the eyes of mortals. Maya is both all-consuming and attractive, representing the ability of the supreme divinity to create multifarious material forms.

This creative ability is commonly related to God's feminine aspect, and has been called Sakti, or energy. Maya, then, is commonly considered by theistic Hindus to be an indispensible part of God's feminine aspect. For example, Saiva Siddhanta conceives of maya-shakti as exemplary of Shiva's concern for humans that they should exit the cycle of samsara. That is, without such energy, god would remain pure and rarified such that the physical world never would be created. Maya has been personified as Mahamaya, a great goddess responsible for the creation of the physical world. This aspect of Maya is also visualized as the illusory form of Divine Mother (Devi) concept of Hinduism. She is smiling, fickle, and seductive, having dominion over physical reality. Essentially, Mahamaya (great Maya) blinds humans in delusion (moha) and also possesses the power to free us from it. In the Hindu scripture 'Devi Mahatmyam,' Mahamaya (Great Maya) is said to cover Vishnu's eyes in Yoganidra (Divine Sleep) during cycles of existence when all is resolved into one. By exhorting Mahamaya to release Her illusory hold on Vishnu, Brahma is able to bring Vishnu to aid him in killing two demons, Madhu and Kaitabh, who have manifested from Vishnu's sleeping form. In later times she is often considered a form of Kali or Durga, the consort of Shiva who presides over magic and spells.

Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita is a famous poetic account of a chariot-ride shared by Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu and Arjuna, a reluctant warrior. In the text, Krishna explains that although he is actually the transcendent god Vishnu in reality, he is able to become immanent in the physical world through the power of maya. The Bhagavad Gita reiterates the Svetsara Upanishad when it stats that maya, in its production of the physical world, deprives human beings of insights into the true nature of the universe. The text suggest that those who put their faith in god can transcend maya and realize god's essential nature. This prescription for salvation would come to have great effect on the devotional bhakti movement which arose in midieval India and has persisted until today.

Advaita Vedanta

Shankara (788-820 C.E.), founder of the Advaita Vedanta ("non-dualist") philosophy, elaborated the notion of maya introduced in the Upanishads. For Advaitans, maya is believed to be an illusion, a veiling of the true, unitary Self Atman, which is absolutely equivalent with the Cosmic Spirit also known as Brahman. Since Brahman is one and indivisible, then any perception of plurality is erroneous. For Shankara, the entirety of the universe except for the highest, indescribable form of Brahman, is an illusion (or maya). Perceived differences between Brahman and the individual soul are created by the erroneous perception of particulars in the physical world engendered by maya. Since Brahman is the only truth, Maya cannot be true; however, since maya causes the material world to be perceived, it cannot itself be fully untrue.

Shankara identified two polar aspects which compose maya, first avidya, or ignorance, and secondly vidya, or knowledge. Avidya leads human beings away from god and toward imprisonment by material objects and the egoistic assertion of individuality. Meanwhile vidya leads to the realization of god and can be cultivated through virtuous spirituality. Both of these realms, however, are relative, including the realization of God. Shankara and the Advaitans claimed that when maya combines with Brahman, Ishvara, the supreme personal god who creates, maintains and destroys the universe, appears. Although this personal god with characteristics is still divine, Shankara claimed it paled in comparison Brahman without qualities. Once an individual eschews all distinctions of the illusory particular things created by maya, including that between humanity and Ishvara, Shankara believed they could then come to realize that atman is Brahman. Only then can they escape maya and merge into oneness with Brahman.

Many philosphies or religions seek to "pierce the veil" in order to glimpse the transcendent truth, from which the illusion of a physical reality springs, drawing from the idea that first came to life in the Hindu stream of Advaita. Closely related is Visistadvaita Vedanta ("qualified non-dualist") founded by mystic saint Ramanuja (1017-1137 C.E.). The Visistadvaitan position holds that individual souls are only partly and not wholly identical with Brahman, that is, they are but a small part of Brahman, and are subordinate to and dependent upon the supreme spirit. Ramanuja stressed that the soul, then, could only be liberated through complete surrender to Ishvara by way of bhakti. Thus, Ramanuja emphasized the reality of maya and its transformations as opposed to its illusory quality. Ishvara, he claimed, was by no means invalidated by the fact it was created through contact of Brahman with maya.

Maya in Buddhism

While Hinduism mostly conceives of the illusory maya as an identification of plurality within the absolute, Mahayana Buddhism conceives of the physical world as a sort of sustitute for the true nature of reality. Here maya refers to the deceptice and continually changing impermanent world of appearances and forms, which an unenlightened individual accepts as the only reality. This world exists in contrast to the immutable and ineffable absolute, the dharmakaya. All world processes hide the void nothingness that permeates the whole of reality. However, this illusion does not mark the world as an utterly meaningless of petty illusions, as is explained my philosopher Nagarjuna in his differentiation between two levels of reality: first paramarthika, the true and ultimate realm, and secondly vyavabarika, or the everyday world in which were persist and must find salvation. The zen tradition also notes that it is not a self-deception to acknowledge the physical world as real; however, the deception is caused by assuming it to be the only reality and to assert its permanence. In this tradition, as well as in Mahayana, nirvana and the world of maya are simply intellectual distinctions, and actually are one and the same entity. The realization of nirvana is based upon recognition of the impermanent nature of the form world. Through realization of the singular identity of maya and bodhi (enlightenment), one can escape the bondage of the material world.

Maya in Sikhism

In Sikhism, maya (the world as you normally perceive it) is said to be no more manifest than a dream. The Sikh concept is in line with Vedanta. Sikhism, as well as many other paths of spirituality, state that the world is like a dream, and there is nothing in it which is yours. (This last sentence has been translated right from the Guru Granth Sahib). An example of this is when our dreams feel so solid and real, but how will we know if we're dreaming if we do not wake up the next morning? What can a person actually call "MINE" in the temporary existence of a life spanning three-quarters of a century?

However, maya is not said to be an unimportant aspect of life. Both 'miri' (temporal) and 'piri' (spiritual) are said to be of equal importance to human beings. The key to a happy life, according to Sikhism, is knowing how to live the right balance between these two realms of existence.

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