Maya and Illusion

[Guest guest]

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. But the theory of Maya forms one of the pillars upon which the

Vedanta rests; it is, therefore, necessary that it should be properly

understood. I ask a little patience of you, for there is a great

danger of its being misunderstood. The oldest idea of Maya that we

find in the Vedic literature is the sense of delusion; but then the

real theory had not been reached. We find such passages as, " Indra

through his Maya assumed various forms. " Here it is true the word

Maya means something like magic, and we find various other passages,

always taking the same meaning. The word Maya then dropped out of

sight altogether. But in the meantime the idea was developing. Later,

the question was raised: " Why can't we know this secret of the

universe? " And the answer given was very significant: " Because we

talk in vain, and because we are satisfied with the things of the

senses, and because we are running after desires; therefore, we, as

it were, cover the Reality with a mist. " Here the word Maya is not

used at all, but we get the idea that the cause of our ignorance is a

kind of mist that has come between us and the Truth. Much later on,

in one of the latest Upanishads, we find the word Maya reappearing,

but this time, a transformation has taken place in it, and a mass of

new meaning has attached itself to the word. Theories had been

propounded and repeated, others had been taken up, until at last the

idea of Maya became fixed. We read in the Shvetashvatara

Upanishad, " Know nature to be Maya and the Ruler of this Maya is the

Lord Himself. " Coming to our philosophers, we find that this word

Maya has been manipulated in various fashions, until we come to the

great Shankaracharya. The theory of Maya was manipulated a little by

the Buddhists too, but in the hands of the Buddhists it became very

much like what is called Idealism, and that is the meaning that is

now generally given to the word Maya. 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 its last developed form, is neither Idealism nor Realism,

nor is it a theory. It is a simple statement of facts--what we are

and what we see around us.

 

As I have told you before, the minds of the people from whom the

Vedas came were intent upon following principles, discovering

principles. They had no time to work upon details or to wait for

them; they wanted to go deep into the heart of things. Something

beyond was calling them, as it were, and they could not wait.

Scattered through the Upanishads, we find that the details of

subjects which we now call modern sciences are often very erroneous,

but, at the same time, their principles are correct. For instance,

the idea of ether, which is one of the latest theories of modern

science, is to be found in our ancient literature in forms much more

developed than is the modern scientific theory of ether today, but it

was in principle. When they tried to demonstrate the workings of that

principle, they made many mistakes. The theory of the all-pervading

life principle, of which all life in this universe is but a differing

manifestation was understood in Vedic times; it is found in the

Brahmanas. There is a long hymn in the Samhitas in praise of Prana of

which all life is but a manifestation.

 

By the by, it may interest some of you to know that there are

theories in the Vedic philosophy about the origin of life on this

earth very similar to those which have been advanced by some modern

European scientists. You, of course, all know that there is a theory

that life came from other planets. It is a settled doctrine with some

Vedic philosophers that life comes in this way from the moon.

 

- Swami Vivekananda

 

.... to be continued