What is Maya? by Gurudev Swamiji Sivananda Maharaj

Maya is the illusory inscrutable power of Ishvara. Just as heat is inseparable from fire, so also Maya is inseparable from Ishvara. Maya is Ishvara’s Upadhi. Ishvara has Maya under his control. Maya is neither Sat nor Asat. So Maya is Anirvachaniya. This universe is all a display of Maya. All worldly experience is the effect of Maya. A sage who has realised his Self has transcended Maya.

Maya is Abhinna Sakti of Brahman. Abhinna means inseparable. Maya cannot be separated from Brahman. Just as heat is inseparable from fire, so also Maya is inseparable from Brahman.

You conclude by looking at the effect pot that there should be the cause for this pot. Even so, you will have to conclude by looking at the world that there should be a cause for this world. That cause is Maya, the illusory power of Brahman.

What is beyond explanation, what is incapable of being explained by its very nature is Maya. Maya is Anirvachaniya i.e., indescribable. It is an inscrutable illusory power of Brahman through which this world is projected.

Maya is cunning and deceptive. She is the illusory power of Ishvara. It is the finitising principle that creates finite forms in Infinite Brahman. She has got 2 powers, Avarna Sakti and Vikshepa Sakti. She hides the Truth through Avarana Sakti (veiling power). She projects this universe, creates false names and forms through Vikshepa Sakti (projecting power).

Avarana Sakti conceals the Atman and veils the Jiva. Through the force of this Sakti, he is not able to separate himself from the five sheaths. This Avarana Sakti is divided into Asat Avarana and Abhana Avarana. The former is the cause for the notion that there is no Brahman. People say: “If there is Brahman, will it not shine?” This idea is generated by Abhana Avarana. Asat Avarana is removed by indirect knowledge of Brahman, Paroksha Jnana, obtained through Sravana or hearing of the Srutis. Abhana Avarana is destroyed by direct knowledge of Brahman through meditation (Aparoksha Jnana).

Avyaktam, Maya, Mula-Prakriti, Pradhana (the chief or first), Gunasamya are synonymous terms. Avyaktam is the unmanifested state of Maya. Just as the tree exists in the seed in a subtle state, so also this world exists in a seed state in Avyaktam during Pralaya. Avyaktam and Pradhana are terms of the Sankhya philosophy. Mula Prakriti is a compound of Sattva, Rajas and Tamas like a three-stranded rope of white, red and black colours. In the Gunasamya Avastha or state, the three Gunas are in a state of equilibrium. This is the state of Pralaya or Sushupti. Just as men go everyday into the state of deep sleep, so also the world goes into its Sushupti state during Pralaya. In Pralaya countless Jivas get absorbed in Mula Prakriti with Samskaras like particles of gold that adhere to a ball of wax. The Karmas of the Jivas ripen at the end of Pralaya. Ishvara has to give the fruits of their Karmas. So He again projects this universe by mere willing.

There is excess of pure Sattva in Maya. The reflection of Para Brahman in Maya is Ishvara. Maya is the Upadhi of Ishvara. It is the causal body of Ishvara. Ishvara has the Maya under his control. Ishvara is also called by the names of Avyakrita and Antaryamin. Ishvara is the instrumental cause of the universe (Nimitta Karana). He becomes the material cause by commingling Himself with the Tamas, just as the spider produces the web out of itself. Avidya is impure Sattva. More Rajas is mixed with Sattva. This is the causal body of the Jiva. This is the Anandamaya Kosha. Jiva and Ishvara experience the Sushupti or deep sleep state through this Karana Sarira or causal body. This is the causal evolution.

This world is quite illusory and unreal and Atman alone is real and everlasting. A close study of Nature will induce Vairagya and Viveka and inspiration for realising Atman, the Lord of Nature.

Even if the sun becomes cool and the moon hot, even if the fire burns downwards and ice becomes hot, even if the faecal matter emanates the scent of Otto de Rose, a Jnani never gets astonished. He knows that this is all the fantastic work of Maya.

Unlike Maya, which is subject to change, transforming itself into universe, Brahman never changes. He is quite immutable, great and firm and unborn.

Because you cannot see the fire as it is covered by the ash, you cannot say that there is no fire. Even so, you cannot say that there is no Atman because it is concealed by body, mind, Prana and the senses.

Self-Knowledge by Swami Sivananda

(May 7,2013) Superimposition of the Consciousness

Superimposition of the Consciousness

Divine Life Society Publication: Tattva Viveka – Discrimination of Reality  

Commentary on the Panchadasi by Swami Krishnananda

Annam prano mano buddhir ananda are the five sheaths or koshas. That is to say, the physical, vital, mental, intellectual, and causal are the sheaths. We cross several corridors in a temple to go into the innermost, where the deity of the temple is. Likewise, the deity of the Atman is located inside within the darkness of the ignorance of the causal body. The science of it is that from the feet we gradually move inward, and then through the koshas, one after the other, just as we enter the corridors of a temple. These koshas are covering the Atman, and on account of identification of the consciousness with these koshas –the Self-consciousness of the Atman is obliterated.

The identification takes place by a process called tadatmya adhyasa, mutual superimposition or the visualization of the character of one in the existence of the other.  The character of the iron rod is superimposed on the fire which heats the rod; and the character of the fire which heats the rod is identified with the rod, so that the fire looks long when the rod is long. And the rod looks hot while actually the fire is hot. The heat of the fire is identified with the rod and we say the iron rod is very hot. It is not the iron rod that is hot; it is the fire that is hot. And conversely, we see a long beam of fire. The long beam is not actually a fire. It is the rod. This is called mutual superimposition of factors. The character of the consciousness is superimposed on the sheaths and the character of the sheaths is superimposed on the consciousness. We feel that we are existing because of the consciousness that is true existence. We feel that we are finite because of the consciousness getting identified with the finite sheaths. The hunger and thirst, heat and cold problems in life, etc., are objects of our awareness. The awareness does not actually become the object, as the rod does not become the fire. But in the same way as the rod is identified with the fire, consciousness is identified with the conditions of the sheaths.

When the consciousness of the Atman is identified with the causal body, it looks like it is asleep. When it is identified with the intellect, it looks as if it is arguing, understanding, studying, etc. When it is identified with the mind, it is thinking. When it is identified with the vital body, it is breathing and living. When it is identified with the physical body, it is having all the problems of the outer world. Because the body is going to die, consciousness also feels that it is dying, so we all feel one day that we will die. This happens due to the mutual superimposition of qualities. The samsara, worldly existence of suffering and sorrow, is the effect of the Atman getting identified with these five koshas.

The Atman consciousness is not any of these bodies. None of these five sheaths is to be identified with Pure Consciousness, which is Universal. Consciousness is everywhere and is not located in one place only. It has no divisions or fractions. It is infinite by itself. But each of the five bodies is limited and is the opposite or the contrary of the consciousness, which is all-pervading. We have to lift this Atman out, free this Atman from involvement in the five sheaths, and attain to that infinity of ourselves which is the same as attainment of Brahman. Brahman sakshatkara takes place.

An analysis can be carried on for the purpose of separating the Pure Consciousness from material involvements in the form of this body. Even when the physical body is not there in dream, there is consciousness in dream. That means to say, consciousness exists even independent of the physical body. In the deep sleep state, consciousness exists, but the dream world does not exist. That is to say, as the physical body was not necessary in dream, the subtle body is not necessary in sleep. So we can exist not only without the physical body, but we can also exist without the subtle body. This is seen in our sleep condition. The consciousness in the state of sleep has no consciousness of the subtle body or the physical body.

When we have separated consciousness from the physical and the subtle bodies, we have automatically separated consciousness from the pranamaya kosha, the manomaya kosha, and the vijnanamaya kosha also, because they are included in the subtle body. Only Consciousness is there in the state of  samadhi, and even the causal body does not exist then. So we have now proof that consciousness, which is our real nature, can exist minus the physical body, minus the subtle body and the causal body also.

Consciousness, which is our real nature, is not the physical body, not the vital body, not the mental body, not the intellectual body, not the causal body. Foolishly we identify ourselves with all these, and cry every day, "This is like this, this is like that." We are not really connected with any of these bodies. It is foolishness, a kind of internal adhyasa, a superimposition that has taken place by some internal error. This nature of error has to be analysed while we have now actually come to the conclusion that we are Pure Consciousness independent of all the sheaths.

The moment this is achieved – when we are successful in the elimination of consciousness by dissociating it from all the five koshas – we will realise that our consciousness inside is Universal Existence, Brahman Itself. This will lead us to the realisation of the Absolute Brahman.

Continue to read:

Tattva Viveka – Discrimination of Reality Discourse 4: Commentary on the Panchadasi by Swami Krishnananda

Commentary on the BhagavadGita by Swami Krishnananda

Universal Superimposition Chapter 6: The Philosophy of Panchadasi by Swami Krishnananda

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(March 19,2013)“Man’s separation from God” by Swami Krishnananda

Man's Separation from God

from Chapter 2 -“Yoga as a universal science” by Swami Krishnananda

The stages of Yoga, as a practice, are actually in direct correspondence with the stages marked by the descent of the soul from God, which now become, in the reverse direction, the stages of the ascent of the soul to God or the Supreme Reality.

The whole of our experience in this universe is made up of two aspects, namely, Purusha and Prakriti, consciousness and matter, the seer and what is seen. The Adhyatma is the inward perceiving, seeing consciousness; lodged with the individuality of the seer. The Adhibhuta is the universe of objects, or what appears as the material expanse before us.

So, beyond the Adhyatma and the Adhibhuta, there is the Adhidaiva. The one infinite Being or the Adhidaiva appears as the two, namely, Purusha and Prakriti, or the Adhyatma and the Adhibhuta, the subject and the object. But it remains yet as a unity. There is only one God and this superintending Principle is the Adhi Devata, the very, very essential Reality without which no experience can be accounted for.

Now, normally, when a member of a family is away from home, he does not cease to be a human being. He is still the same, though he is not in the family. But, here, we have ceased to be, in quality, the thing that we were originally. Otherwise, we would be thinking like God in our little fractional bodies.

So, on the one hand, there is a total forgetfulness of our relationship to the Whole. This is Avarana. On the other hand, there is what is called Vikshepa or the distractedness of consciousness, which projects itself vehemently outward in space and time, and sees Reality as if it is outside consciousness. This reversal can be described as something similar to the reversal that we see in the reflection of our own body in a mirror. There, our right appears as the left, and our left appears as the right. Similarly, because of the reversal that has taken place on our separation from the Supreme, what is inside appears as being outside. The universe, the world, is not outside us; it is impossible that the nature of things can be external to consciousness.

Any consciousness of one's being separate from what one sees is called the individual sense or Asmita or self-sense. Grossly put, it is what we know as Ahamkara or egoism. The isolation from the Supreme is accompanied simultaneously with the reversal of perception, which means to say, that the universe appears as an outside object; and the universe appears as an object which is material, that is, bereft of consciousness. The truth is that the world is not outside us. This circumstance of the universe being outside us, or our being outside the universe, is a false situation. The desire to possess is a desire to unite. But, because of the reversal that has taken place, this union is not possible. The reflection cannot unite itself with the original, because the two are basically, qualitatively, different.

Yoga tells us that to know a thing, one has to be the thing, and not merely look at the thing. Yoga is not a contact physically with anything. It is a union of being with Being.

We rotate through the three experiences of sleeping, dreaming and waking. These three states are the modified conditions of the individual consciousness. They are capable of a further division into what are usually known as the sheaths, or the Koshas.

This is the descent that has taken place. We have come to the body. We look at the body as a very hard and solid substance. We have come down lower and lower; firstly separating ourselves, then looking outside, then manufacturing the three states of consciousness, then the five sheaths or the Koshas. Down further still, is the urge to connect with the other individuals (social life).

Yoga does not require one to renounce realities, but to transcend lower realities for the purpose of gaining the higher. It is attachment to things that is to be renounced, and not the things as such. But, basically, it is an absence of taste for things, which is called renunciation, and not an absence of the physical proximity of objects. If taste remains, true renunciation has not taken place, even if the objects are left physically far behind. Here, the problem is a problem of consciousness. The whole of Yoga or philosophy is a study of consciousness ultimately.

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Continue to read

“Man’s separation from God” by Swami Krishnananda

“20 Spiritual Instructions” by Swami Sivananda from DLSUSA.blogspot.com

“Freeing ourselves from entanglements” by Swami Krishnananda