Tattva Bodha - Post 25

MAYA AND CREATION

Athah Chatur vimshati Tattva

Utpatti prakaranam

Vakshyaamah

Now then, the twenty four principles

And how they evolved from the beginning

shall be explained

All the studies that we did till now, whether Sharira Trayam or Avastha Trayam are all associated with the individual or microcosm. In Sanskrit we use the word Vyashti. 

Today we are going to the next topic through which we are entering Samashti or macrocosm. The topic is Srishtihi or creation or cosmology. 

We begin with the 24 factors that are going to be enumerated hereunder, and whose evolution is going to be explained. 

The 24 Factors are (from grossest to subtlest): 

i) The five gross elements;

ii) The five Pranas;

iii) The five Karmendriyas; 

iv) The five Jnanendriyas; 

v) The fourfold Antahkarana, namely, mind, memory, intellect and the ego. 

These add up to 24 Factors. There is a 25th factor we speak of and it is called Maya. However, we do not count it here because it is not an evolute of creation. It is causeless and so has no beginning. Thus it is not part of the “evolution” of the universe, it is the primary factor from which all the 24 Factors have arisen. 

MAYA 

The term Maya appears in the Svetasvatara Upanishad and in the Gita, chapter VII-14, Mama Maya - the divine illusion of Mine. Svetasvatara Upanishad IV-10 declares that Maya is the material cause of the world and the possessor of Maya is the great Lord. 

Maya is that portion of the primitive non-intelligent principle in which pure Sattva is not subordinated to Rajas and Tamas. In other words, that portion in which pure Sattva is predominant is called Maya. The world is regarded as Maya, as it cannot be accepted as real. 

Does Maya really exist or not? The Advaitin gives a reply: This inscrutable, indescribable Maya cannot be said either to exist or not to exist. It is a strange phenomenon which cannot be accounted by any law of nature. 

Maya is Anirvachaniya i.e., incapable of being described. It is neither Sat (real) like Brahman nor Asat (unreal) like a barren woman's son or horn of a hare or a lotus flower in the sky. 

The phenomena produced by a magician do not really exist, because they vanish soon. The magician himself is fully aware that it is mere illusion. But we cannot say that they do not exist at all, because we are conscious of the phenomena, though only for a short time. 

We are never conscious of a thing which is altogether non-existent like the lotus flower in the sky. Similar is the phenomenon called the universe which is imagined to be distinct from Brahman. 

It is like the silver for which the mother-of-pearl is mistaken. It is difficult to conceive how the infinite comes out of itself into the finite. The magician brings out a mango tree before us from out of nothing. The tree is there, though we cannot explain it. So we call it Maya or illusion. 

If we know the nature of the Brahman, all names and forms and limitations will melt away. The world is Maya as it is not the essential truth of the infinite reality of the Brahman. 

The world somehow exists and its relation to the Brahman is indescribable. The illusion vanishes by attainment of knowledge of the Brahman. Sages, Rishis and Srutis emphatically declare that the Maya vanishes entirely as soon as the knowledge of the Supreme Self dawns.

Maya in Vedanta and in general in Hindu philosophy is seen as the great illusory power behind creation. It is a projection of illusion upon the substratum of Brahman, using the three primary qualities called the Gunas, namely, Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas, as the building blocks of this entire creation. 

The word Maya literally stands for “ya ma sa maya” – meaning that which is not but which appears to be. From the standpoint of Truth there is no world. As far as the rope is concerned, there never was a snake. Yet we experience the world, illusory or unreal though it be, and we cannot simply deny its existence. 

Maya has two major powers: 

i) Avaharana Shakti: This is the “Veiling Power” by which the Truth or nature of Brahman is kept hidden from our knowledge. Due to it, there arises the non-apprehension of the Truth. 

ii) Vikshepa Shakti: This is the “Projecting Power” by which the world is ‘projected’ rather than created. The Indian philosophers do not give this world the status of reality and hence the term ‘projection’ is more appropriate to it. Due to it, there arises the mis-apprehension of the Truth; the unreal is taken to be the Real. 

The veiling power has to precede the projection. If that were not so, then the snake would not be seen for the rope in the first place. Everything that is created by Maya has these two powers. The veiling is built-in, as it were, and each living being has some power to extend creation within the limitations imposed upon it by its particular body. 

Differences between Maya and Brahman 

And what is the common feature of Brahman and Maya? Both are beginning-less. They have no origin. And what are their differences? Differences are more to be noted: 

- Brahman is the non-material consciousness whereas Maya is material principle.  

- Brahman the consciousness being beyond time and space, is never subject to change. Therefore, it is changeless. Whereas Maya the matter principle can never remain the same. 

- The consciousness principle is Nirvikalpa not subject to spatial division – here one consciousness, there one consciousness : this can never arise. It is division-less and beyond time and space. 

Whereas Maya the material is subject to multiplication and division. Maya is like an amoeba where it multiples by division. Maya can multiply into the cosmos by division. 

These are the basic differences between Brahman and Maya and out of this mixture alone this universe manifests out of the seed which is Maya. In our scriptures the word Creation is always replaced by the word Manifestation. 

Love.