Maya (; Devanagari: , ; IAST: ), literally "illusion" or "magic", has multiple meanings in Indian philosophies depending on the context. In later Vedic texts, connotes a "magic show, an illusion where things appear to be present but are not what they seem"; the principle which shows "attributeless Absolute" as having "attributes". also connotes that which "is constantly changing and thus is spiritually unreal" (in opposition to an unchanging Absolute, or Brahman), and therefore "conceals the true character of spiritual reality".M Hiriyanna (2000), The Essentials of Indian Philosophy, Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. 25, 160-161Lynn Foulston and Stuart Abbott (2009), Hindu Goddesses: Beliefs and Practices, Sussex Academic Press, , pp. 14-16.
In the Advaita Vedanta school of Hindu philosophy, , "appearance", is "the powerful force that creates the cosmic illusion that the phenomenal world is real". In this nondualist school, at the individual level appears as the lack of knowledge () of the real Self, Atman-Brahman, mistakenly identifying with the body-mind complex and its entanglements.
In Buddhist philosophy, is one of twenty subsidiary unwholesome mental factors, responsible for deceit or concealment about the illusionary nature of things.Guenther (1975), Kindle Locations 900–901.Kunsang (2004), p. 25.
In Hindu pantheon, the goddess Durga is seen as the embodiment of maya, as well as goddess Lakshmi. Māyā was also the name of Gautama Buddha's mother.
Etymology and terminology Māyā (Sanskrit: ), a word with unclear etymology, probably comes from the root māJan Gonda, Four studies in the language of the Veda, Disputationes Rheno-Traiectinae (1959), pages 119-188[a] Tracy Pintchman (1994), The Rise of the Goddess in the Hindu Tradition, State University of New York Press, , pages 3-4;[b] Donald Braue (2006), Maya in Radhakrishnan's Thought: Six Meanings other than Illusion, Motilal Banarsidass, , page 101, Quote: "Etymologically, the term māyā is derived from the Sanskrit verbal root mā (...) Whitney says the primary meaning of √mā is 'to measure'. L Thomas O'Neil agrees in his helpful exposition of the ways and contexts in which māyā is used in the Rigvedic tradition."Bangala Bhasar Abhidhaan (Dictionary of the Bengali Language) Shishu Sahitya Samsad Pvt Ltd. 32A, APC Road, Kolakata – 700009, Volume 2, p.1757 (ed. 1994) which means "to measure".Wilhelm Halbfass (1992), On Being and What There Is: Classical Vaisesika and the History of Indian Ontology, State University of New York Press, , page 42 footnote 40
According to Monier Monier-Williams, māyā meant "wisdom and extraordinary power" in an earlier older language, but from the Vedic period onwards the word came to mean "illusion, unreality, deception, fraud, trick, sorcery, witchcraft and magic".Bhattacharji, Sukumari (1970), The Indian Theogony: A Comparative Study of Indian Mythology from the Vedas to the Puraṇas, pages 35-37, Cambridge University Press Archive However, P. D. Shastri states that Monier-Williams's list is a "loose definition, misleading generalization", and not accurate in interpreting ancient Vedic and medieval era Sanskrit texts; instead, he suggests, a more accurate meaning of māyā is "appearance, not mere illusion".P. D. Shastri, The Doctrine of Maya Luzac & Co, London, page 5 and ix
According to William Mahony, the root of the word may be man- or "to think", implying the role of imagination in the creation of the world. In early Vedic usage, states Mahony, the term implies "the wondrous and mysterious power to turn an idea into a physical reality".William Mahony (1997), The Artful Universe: An Introduction to the Vedic Religious Imagination, State University of New York Press, , pages 32-33Teun Goudriaan (2008), Maya: Divine And Human, Motilal Banarsidass, , pages 1-2
Franklin Southworth states that the word's origin is uncertain, and other possible roots of māyā include may- meaning mystify, confuse, intoxicate, delude, as well as māy- which means "disappear, be lost".Franklin Southworth (2012), Linguistic Archaeology of South Asia, Routledge, , page 92
Jan Gonda considers the word related to mā, which means "mother", as do Tracy PintchmanTracy Pintchman (1994), The Rise of the Goddess in the Hindu Tradition, State University of New York Press, , page 30, Quote: "This material power is thereby readily linked to maternal creativity, a link made evident in the Sanskrit noun mā, meaning both "mother" and "measure". and Adrian Snodgrass, serving as an epithet for goddesses such as Lakshmi and Durga.Monier Williams, A Sanskrit-English Dictionary Etymologically and Philologically Arranged, Oxford University Press, page 764 (Article on "मा"), Quote: 4. mā, f. measure; (...) 4.2 mātā, mātṛi, a mother; (...) a measurer in Nirukta XI, (...) a maker, former, creator, arranger, preparer (Ved.); a knower, one who infers correctly or has true knowledge; (...) the maker (of the child in the womb, jā-mātṛi); a mother (...) mother earth (Rigveda V.42.16); (...) epithet of Lakshmi, (...) epithet of Durga (...)
A similar word is also found in the Avestan māyā, with the meaning of "magic power".Mary Boyce (1996), A History of Zoroastrianism: The Early Period, Brill Academic, , page 38-40
Maya can refer to one or more types of illusion: Illusion of the permanence of this world. Everything, including cells, humans, and stars, follow their own cycle of death and rebirth. Illusion that each individual is independent from the world/ecosystem. Reality as a living being is a facet of God experiencing other facets (living beings). This ecosystem includes farmers, bus/train drivers, shopkeepers, software engineers, etc. who are all inter-dependent. Illusion that our ever-evolving desires can be satisfied. We desire something and feel that we will be happy if that desire is fulfilled. But, when it is fulfilled, we desire something else.
Hinduism Literature The Vedas Words related to and containing Māyā, such as Mayava, occur many times in the Vedas. These words have various meanings, with interpretations that are contested, and some are names of deities that do not appear in texts of 1st millennium BCE and later. The use of word Māyā in Rig Veda, in the later era context of "magic, illusion, power", occurs in many hymns. One titled Māyā-bheda (मायाभेद:, Discerning Illusion) includes hymns 10.177.1 through 10.177.3, and the battle which unfolds between good and evil is as follows:
The above Maya-bheda hymn discerns, using symbolic language, a contrast between mind influenced by light (sun) and magic (illusion of Asura). The hymn is a call to discern one's enemies, perceive artifice, and distinguish, using one's mind, between that which is perceived and that which is unperceived. Rig Veda does not connote the word Māyā as always good or always bad, it is simply a form of technique, mental power and means.Ben-Ami Scharfstein (1998), A Comparative History of World Philosophy: From the Upanishads to Kant, State University of New York Press, , page 376 Rig Veda uses the word in two contexts, implying that there are two kinds of Māyā: divine Māyā and undivine Māyā, the former being the foundation of truth, the latter of falsehood.Sri Aurobindo (1917, Reprinted 1998), The Secret of the Veda, Volume 15, Sri Aurobindo Ashram Press, page 399, also see pages 225, 76, 89, 97, 512
Elsewhere in Vedic mythology, Indra uses maya to conquer Vritra.Williams, George M., (2008). Handbook of Hindu Mythology, p.214. Oxford University Press. Varuna's supernatural power is called maya. Māyā, in such examples, connotes powerful magic, which both devas (gods) and asuras (demons) use against each other. In the Yajurveda, māyā is an unfathomable plan.Desai, Gandabhai Girijashanker (1967). Thinking with the Yajurveda, p.16. Asia Publishing House. In the Aitareya Brahmana Maya is also referred to as Dirghajihvi, hostile to gods and sacrifices.Agrawala, Prithvi Kumar (1984). Goddessess in Ancient India, p.121-123. Abhinav Publications, The hymns in Book 8, Chapter 10 of Atharvaveda describe the primordial woman Virāj (, chief queen) and how she willingly gave the knowledge of food, plants, agriculture, husbandry, water, prayer, knowledge, strength, inspiration, concealment, charm, virtue, vice to gods, demons, men and living creatures, despite all of them making her life miserable. In hymns of 8.10.22, Virāj is used by Asuras (demons) who call her as Māyā, as follows,
The contextual meaning of Maya in Atharva Veda is "power of creation", not illusion. Gonda suggests the central meaning of Maya in Vedic literature is, "wisdom and power enabling its possessor, or being able itself, to create, devise, contrive, effect, or do something".Teun Goudriaan (2008), Maya: Divine And Human, Motilal Banarsidass, , page 1, and 2-17J. Gonda (1952), Maya , Tijdschrift voor Philosophie, 14de Jaarg., Nr. 1 (MAART 1952), pages 3-62;English excerpted version: J. Gonda (1962), Some Notes on the Study of Ancient-Indian Religious Terminology , History of Religions, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Winter, 1962), pages 243-273; Gonda's interpretation of Maya in Vedic texts is on page 248 Maya stands for anything that has real, material form, human or non-human, but that does not reveal the hidden principles and implicit knowledge that creates it. An illustrative example of this in Rig Veda VII.104.24 and Atharva Veda VIII.4.24 where Indra is invoked against the Maya of sorcerers appearing in the illusory form – like a fata morgana – of animals to trick a person.Teun Goudriaan (2008), Maya: Divine And Human, Motilal Banarsidass, , page 4
The Upanishads
The Upanishads describe the universe, and the human experience, as an interplay of Purusha (the eternal, unchanging principles, consciousness) and Prakṛti (the temporary, changing material world, nature).Paul Deussen, , pages 161, 240-254 The former manifests itself as Ātman (Soul, Self), and the latter as Māyā. The Upanishads refer to the knowledge of Atman as "true knowledge" (Vidya), and the knowledge of Maya as "not true knowledge" (Avidya, Nescience, lack of awareness, lack of true knowledge). Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, states Ben-Ami Scharfstein, describes Maya as "the tendency to imagine something where it does not exist, for example, atman with the body".
Scholars Hendrick Vroom, Lynn Foulston, and Wendy Doniger explain that while maya has been translated as illusion, it does not mean that the world is unreal. Rather it signifies that the world is not how it seems. Maya limits knowledge of the world's true nature.H.M. Vroom (1996), No Other Gods, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, , page 57Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (1986), Dreams, Illusion, and Other Realities, University of Chicago Press, , page 119
Māyā pre-exists and co-exists with Brahman – the Ultimate Principle, Consciousness.Archibald Edward Gough (2001), The Philosophy of the Upanishads and Ancient Indian Metaphysics, Routledge, , pages 47-48 Maya is perceived reality, one that does not reveal the hidden principles, the true reality. Maya is unconscious, Atman is conscious. Maya is the literal, Brahman is the figurative Upādāna – the principle, the cause. Maya is born, changes, evolves, dies with time, from circumstances, due to invisible principles of nature, state the Upanishads. Atman-Brahman is eternal, unchanging, invisible principle, unaffected absolute and resplendent consciousness. Maya concept in the Upanishads, states Archibald Gough, is "the indifferent aggregate of all the possibilities of emanatory or derived existences, pre-existing with Brahman", just like the possibility of a future tree pre-exists in the seed of the tree.