maya/illusion

[Guest guest]

here are some excerpts from swami.vivekananda's jnana-yoga lecture --maya

and illusion ,which bring out the meaning of maya:

 

"Almost all of you have heard of the word Maya.Generally it is used,though

incorrectly,to denote illusion,or delusion,or some such thing. ........

When the Hindu says the world is Maya,at once people get the idea that the

world is an illusion.This interpretation has some basis,as coming through

the Buddhistic philosophers,because there was one section of philosophers

who did not believe in the external world at all.But the Maya of the

Vedanta,in it's last developed form,is neither Idealism nor Realism,nor is

it a theory.It is a statement of facts--what we are and what we see around

us."