Maya (illusion)
<p>Jul 6, 2008 10:58 PM
 
Maya, is the principal deity who creates, perpetuates and governs the <a href="/wiki/Phantasmagoria" title="Phantasmagoria">phantasmagoria</a>, <a href="/wiki/Illusion" title="Illusion">illusion</a> and <a href="/wiki/Dream" title="Dream">dream</a> of <a href="/wiki/Duality" title="Duality">duality</a> in the phenomenal <a href="/wiki/Universe" title="Universe">Universe</a>. For some <a href="/wiki/Mysticism" title="Mysticism">mystics</a> this manifestation is real, but it is a fleeting reality; it is a mistake, although a natural one, to believe that Maya represents a fundamental reality or Truth. Each person, each physical object, from the perspective of eternity is like a brief, disturbed drop of water from an unbounded ocean. The goal of <a href="/wiki/Enlightenment" title="Enlightenment">enlightenment</a> is to understand this — more precisely, to experience this: to see intuitively that the distinction between the <a href="/wiki/Atman%28Hinduism%29" class="mw-redirect" title="Atman (Hinduism)">self</a> and the Universe is a <a href="/wiki/False" title="False">false</a> <a href="/wiki/Dichotomy" title="Dichotomy">dichotomy</a>. The distinction between <a href="/wiki/Higher_consciousness" title="Higher consciousness">consciousness</a> and physical matter, between <a href="/wiki/Mind" title="Mind">mind</a> and <a href="/wiki/Body" title="Body">body</a> (refer <a href="/wiki/Bodymind" title="Bodymind">bodymind</a>), is the result of an unenlightened <a href="/wiki/Perspective%28cognitive%29" title="Perspective (cognitive)">perspective</a>.
 
In <a href="/wiki/Hinduism" title="Hinduism">Hinduism</a>, Maya is to be seen through, like an <a href="/wiki/Dar%C5%9Bana" title="Darśana">epiphany</a>, in order to achieve <a href="/wiki/Moksha" title="Moksha">moksha</a> (liberation of the soul from the cycle of <a href="/wiki/Samsara" title="Samsara">samsara</a>). <a href="/wiki/Ahamkar" class="mw-redirect" title="Ahamkar">Ahamkar</a> (ego-consciousness) and <a href="/wiki/Karma" title="Karma">karma</a> are seen as part of the binding forces of Maya. Maya may be understood as the phenomenal Universe of perceived duality, a lesser reality-lens superimposed on the unity of <a href="/wiki/Brahman" title="Brahman">Brahman</a>. It is said to be created by the divine by the application of the Lila (creative energy/material cycle, manifested as a veil - the basis of dualism). The <a href="/wiki/Sanskara" title="Sanskara">samskaras</a> of perceived duality perpetuate <a href="/wiki/Samsara" title="Samsara">samsara</a>.
 
In <a href="/wiki/Advaita_Vedanta" title="Advaita Vedanta">Advaita Vedanta</a> philosophy, <b>Maya</b> is the limited, purely physical and mental reality in which our everyday consciousness has become entangled. Maya is held to be an illusion, a veiling of the true, unitary Self — the Cosmic Spirit also known as <a href="/wiki/Brahman" title="Brahman">Brahman</a>. The concept of Maya was expounded in the Hindu scriptures known as the <a href="/wiki/Upanishads" class="mw-redirect" title="Upanishads">Upanishads</a>. Many philosophies or religions seek to "pierce the veil" of Maya 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 <a href="/wiki/Vedanta" title="Vedanta">Vedanta</a>.</p>