This poem in Sanskrit has a beautiful expression that stands out in Vivekachudamani, the crown jewel of Adi shankara's work on Vedanta. The meaning of this poem is said to be one of the best efforts to describe Maaya, the indescribable.
Saanapya Sannapya Ubhayatmi Kano
Binnapya Binnapya Ubayatmi Kano
Sangapya Sangapya Ubayatmi Kano
Maha Adbhuta Anirvachar niya Rupa
Maaya is delusion, it is the wonderful world around that gets us engrossed in Arishadvarga — the six passions of mind or enemies of desire, kama (lust), krodha (anger), lobha (greed), moha (delusion), mada (pride) and matsarya (jealousy), the negative characteristics which prevent human from realizing the Atman (Reality).
Maaya literally means (maa=not, ya=that, “Ya ma samaaya” – that which is not there, that is Maaya.
Maaya is described as most beautiful, indescribable (anirvacharniya), wonderful (maha adbutha) entity.
A funny story to explain the complicated subject - there was a wealthy king who was a terrible miser. Once when walking with his courtiers, he accidently slipped and fell into water. He started drowning and the people around him tried to save him. "Give me your hand", the courtiers shouted. He refused. His clever minister said "Take my hand". He immediately took the minister's hand and was saved. The minister then explained to the courtiers "don't you know our king does not like to give, he only takes? "
The story continues ... and ends with the saying that the moral is " An ignorant man hoards beyond his needs, a good man understands his true needs and shares the rest even when living".
The ignorant King in the above story was affected Maaya. Other people such as Gandhiji and mother Theresa understood the truth beyond the obvious and they offered their lives to the upliftment of others.
Others such as Bill Gates and Narayanmurthy who called it a day and set out to do something more meaningful, probably have also self-reaslised.
Unfortunate that we do not have time or willingness to self-reflect.
Maaya is the grand illusion that can be explained based one of the Mahavaakyas in Upanishads - Brahma satyam jagan mithya.
Will explain about this in my next blog,
The key message from the upanishads and Advaita is that of Brahman. Brahman is the word given to express "Oneness" - which is the universal and eternal. It is often mis-quoted as the name of an entity or God or some such thing, but Brahmam is a word that is used to define "oneness" of masnifestations, nothing beyond that.
So If Brahman is One only, without a second, how do we experience the manifold world? The answer from the literature reference is Maaya that "covers" the One and "projects" the Many. These are spoken of as the veiling power (avarnasakti) and the projecting power (vikshepasakti) of Maaya. The ignorant (ignorance here which is used in a different context, the most intelligent and most learned is ignorant if not self-realised) gets affected and live entwined with it.
This blog is dedicated to a friend who asked What was Maaya. He was going through "how did I believe this for so many years" syndrome. The short answer was that he was affected by Maaya like the rest of us.
So If Brahman is One only, without a second, how do we experience the manifold world? The answer from the literature reference is Maaya that "covers" the One and "projects" the Many. These are spoken of as the veiling power (avarnasakti) and the projecting power (vikshepasakti) of Maaya. The ignorant (ignorance here which is used in a different context, the most intelligent and most learned is ignorant if not self-realised) gets affected and live entwined with it.
This blog is dedicated to a friend who asked What was Maaya. He was going through "how did I believe this for so many years" syndrome. The short answer was that he was affected by Maaya like the rest of us.
