What is Maya? Is that real?

[Guest guest]

------------------What

is Maya ?

------------------That

which truly is not, but appears to be, is Maya.

That which causes infatuation or Moha is Maya.

Maya is an appearance.

It is semblance (a situation in which sth seems to exist although this may not,

in fact, be the case).

Maya is the illusory power of God. She (Maya) is the creatrix of this universe.

She projects this world for His Lila (sport). Mind, intellect, body, and senses

are her forms. She is the energy or mother-aspect of the Lord.

Just as heat is inseparable from fire, coldness from ice, Maya is inseparable

from Brahman (God). It is dependent on Brahman.

Maya has countless potencies. Solidity of stone is a power of Maya. Fluidity of

water is another power of Maya. Fire is a third burning power. Air is the

moving power of Maya. Ether (the upper part of the sky) is the void or space

power of Maya.

You know you will die, and yet you think you will live forever. This is Maya.

You know that the world is full of miseries, and yet you take delight in the

perishable objects and will not leave them. This is Maya.

You know that the human body is made up of all sorts of impurities, flesh, bone,

urine and faecal matter, and yet you rejoice in embracing it under the sway of

lust. This is Maya.

Maya causes false glittering and entraps the deluded Jivas (individual souls).

She does a little electroplating work. Man is entrapped. He is caught in the

wheel of birth and death.

Maya is neither true nor false.

It is truly false and falsely true.

It is neither real nor unreal.

It is not real like Brahman, because it disappears when one gets Knowledge.

It is not unreal like a barren woman's son or the horn of hare, because its presence is felt.

This Maya is a sort of jugglery. You are astonished so long as the juggler is

not seen. As soon as the juggler is known, the results are known to be unreal;

the wonder ceases at once.

When you realize Brahman, the wonder of Maya's working vanishes.

When the mesmerist hypnotises the whole audience, all people believe that the

man is ascending the rope in the air. All people see that the mesmerist devours

a big sword and cuts the body of a lad in the box. Even so, you are all

hypnotised by Maya and Avidya (ignorance) and you take this unreal world as a

solid reality.

De-hypnotise yourself by getting Knowledge of Brahman. Then alone you will

understand the grand jugglery of Maya.

(From Swami Sivananda's Book, "May I Answer

That?")------------------

[Guest guest]

[MAYA]: Illusion

Maya is that power of bewilderment which gives the appearance of

reality to that which is unreal, and which hinders the perception of

the real.

Conv:204

Maya does not exist, until you look for it. Do not look for it and it

will not

affect you. e.g. The image of your face is inside the well, only when

you

peep in to discover whether it is there! Sp4:129

The question arises,

What compels the Jiva (individual) to look to the outside world

and accept it as the only reality (Sath)?

What prevents the Jiva from looking inside, into its own self?

 

I According to the Rishis, the answer lies in Maya (illusion). Maya

creates a

I wall that separates the Jiva from the Ultimate Reality or God. One

may well

! ask, if Maya is so powerful what does it look like? What are its

attributes?

Where can it be found? The answer is that, Maya is not a distant

object. In

fact, it is in our mind and it is moulded and shaped by the Trigunas

of Sathwa,

Rajas and Thamas. These Gunas work individually or collectively to

influence

the mind of man. In actual fact, a man's mind is a repository of two

conflicting

elements; one is the Atma (conscience) wMch is animate and the other

is

Maya (illusion) which is inanimate. Now if we can free the mind from

its

inanimate nature or weaken the negative tendencies of the Gunas,

through

Thapas (penance), then what remains will be the Chetan Tanthra or the

Eternal

Animate Form (Atma) This is nothing but our own Real-Self (the

Sathchidananda Swaroopa). The purpose of Thapas then is the

purification of

the mind. Gufa3:4

Maya is Sath-Asath, not Asath (real-unreal, not unreal). The universe

is a

unique phenomenon. It is covered by Maya which hides and reveals at

the

same time. It cannot be dismissed as unreal nor can it be accepted as

real.

Maya and Brahman are intimately interrelated. Brahman is truth. Maya

is not

fundamentally true. That which is learnt by the impact of appearance

is pseudo-

knowledge (Mithya) or non-knowledge (A-vidya). Once this truth (Sath)

is

^ grasped, Mithya and A-vidya will vanish. SaiVa:220

The mind is never still, fixed on any one ideal. It is ever wavering,

flitting

from one object to another, hopping from one satisfaction to another.

To

allow oneself to be led by the mind and bypass the intelligence is the

folly

called Maya. The world is a labyrinth in which man has become

entangled;

he must find a way out. The mind, however is no guide, for it is an

aimless

wanderer. Sp6:94

There are two types of Maya:-

1. VIVARTA: Apparent Truth

That which has the property to make us think there is a change,

though the

substance remains the same all the while.

e.g. The illusion of a rope which looks like a snake at dusk.

2. PARINAMA: Relative Truth

That which has the property of change or evolution within itself.

e.g. Milk has the property to change into curd, refer SATHYA

Ragh:26

MAYAMAYI: Enrapturing by its delusive charm refer LEELA

YOGA MAYA: That which makes you happy when I (Baba) accost

you or talk to you or do something to you Sp7B:5

 

source :

http://www.sairama.com/b/bibliocible/sanscrit.htm