Māyā

Māyā, “the power that veils”

Grammar: feminine noun, from the root mā (to measure, to form): the power that forms and veils; also craft, stratagem.

Meaning: the word has several meanings in the scriptures: the divine Māyā of Śrī Kṛshṇa, made of the three guṇas, which is hard to overcome; the tattva that binds the jīva and is removed by dīkshā; a śakti placed in nyāsa; Māyā as a being in the line of Adharma; and, in rāja-nīti, a stratagem used against an enemy. It is not Maya, the dānava.

In the scriptures: the Agni Purāṇa uses the word in each of these senses.

  • The Māyā of Śrī Kṛshṇa: in the Gītā-sāra, the essence of the teaching Śrī Kṛshṇa gave Arjuna, which Agnideva tells, Śrī Kṛshṇa says: “My Māyā, made of the guṇas and divine, is impossible to overcome.” He then names the four kinds of men who serve him: the one in distress, the seeker of knowledge, the one who desires some gain, and the jñānī (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 381).
  • The tattva that binds: Bhagavān Śiva teaches that dīkshā destroys all pāpas, removes mala, māyā and the rest, and gives jñāna to the śishya; it gives bhoga and moksha (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 81). In the saṃskāra-dīkshā, which he teaches Kumārasvāmī, each saṃskāra has an inner meaning, and the sīmantonnayana is the arising of the knowledge “māyā is one thing, the ātmā another” (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 82). In the nirvāṇa-dīkshā, for the removal of the bonds (pāśa) born of māyā, of mala and of karma, the guru offers a hundred homas with the hṛdaya-mantra (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 84). In the purifying of the Vidyā kalā, the seven tattvas within it are rāga, śuddha-vidyā, niyati, kalā, kāla, māyā and avidyā (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 86). In the pratishṭhā of a liṅga, the ācārya establishes the thirty-six tattvas, from Śakti down to Bhūmi, with their lords, and divides them with garlands into three parts, one of them from Māyā up to Śakti (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 96).
  • In the pīṭha: in the pavitrāropaṇa, in the middle of the pīṭha, the three guṇas beginning with sattva, the lotus, Māyā, Avidyā, the Kāla-tattva, the maṇḍalas of Sūrya and the others, and Garuḍa are worshipped (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 33).
  • A śakti in nyāsa: in the pratishṭhā of a liṅga, among the śānti-mūrtis, the nyāsa is made of Tamā, Mohā, Kshudhā, Nidrā, Mṛtyu, Māyā, Jarā and Bhayā (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 96). In the Mālinī nyāsa that Parameśvara teaches, the letter ī, the emblem of Māyā, is placed on the tongue (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 145). In the pūjā for victory in battle, Ushā, Prathā, Sandhyā, Sāyā, Māyā, Aila, Bindu and Vishṇu are worshipped, with the eight door-guardians (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 148).
  • Māyā in the line of Adharma: the wife of Adharma was Hiṃsā; to them were born Anṛta (falsehood) and a daughter, Nikṛti (deceit). From Anṛta and Nikṛti were born Bhaya (fear) and Naraka, whose wives were Māyā and Vedanā. Māyā bore Mṛtyu, who destroys beings, and Vedanā bore Duḥkha (sorrow) (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 20).
  • A stratagem in rāja-nīti: Pushkara tells Paraśurāma the seven upāyas (means): sāma (conciliation), dāna (giving), bheda (division), daṇḍa (force), māyā (deception), upekshā (disregard) and indrajāla (illusion) (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 226). Of māyā he says: the king shows false portents to frighten and agitate the enemy. He ties a long burning firebrand to the tail of a large bird and flies it toward the enemy’s tents, so that they take it for a falling meteor, and he stirs up the enemy through men who show many kinds of māyā. He has tapasvīs and astrologers tell the enemy, “Danger is coming to you.” He lets it be known that the devatās favour him and have granted him varas. When battle begins he roars to his soldiers, “Heroes! Fight without fear; our allies have come; the enemies are fleeing,” and says, “My enemy is slain.” Strengthened by the command of the devatās, he enters the field in armour (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 234). Śrī Rāma, teaching rāja-nīti, names the same seven upāyas and gives the two kinds of māyā. Mānusha-māyā (human māyā) is what is done by people hiding in the hollows of pillars carved with images of devatās, by those wearing women’s dress, by those who show wondrous forms at night, and by those who take forms like vetālas, like piśācas spitting fire, or like devatās. Amānusha-māyā (more than human māyā) is taking form at will, raining weapons, fire, stones and water, and creating darkness, a great wind, mountains and clouds. In the Dvāpara yuga that has gone by, Bhīmasena of the Pāṇḍava line, wearing a woman’s dress, killed his enemy Kīcaka (Agni Purāṇa, Chapter 241).

In the Bhāgavata Purāṇa: māyā is above all the māyā-śakti of Bhagavān Śrī Hari, made of the three guṇas, by which he creates, sustains and withdraws the worlds and by which the jīvas are bewildered, while he himself is never touched by it.

  • The power of creation: Parīkshit asks Śuka how the all-pervading Bhagavān Śrī Hari, by his māyā-śakti, creates, protects and withdraws the universe in ways the lokapālas cannot imagine (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 4). Dhṛtarāshṭra, hearing Akrūra, bows to Parameśvara: the way of his māyā-śakti is beyond thought; with it he creates the world, enters it as the antaryāmī and by the mixing of sattva, rajas and tamas brings about its variety, and his līlā turns the wheel of saṃsāra (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 49). Vṛtra teaches that Parabrahma reflected in the māyā-śakti is Īśvara, the cause of the world, and that sattva, rajas and tamas belong to the māyā-śakti alone, not to the consciousness that is its ground (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 12).
  • Māyā Devī cannot bewilder him: Brahmā tells Nārada that those bewildered by the unconquerable māyā of Parameśvara mistake Brahmā for the father of the world. “This Māyā Devī cannot even stand before the eyes of Bhagavān Śrī Hari; she cannot bewilder him at all. But people bewildered by her, their buddhi covered by ajñāna, boast: ‘this is mine’, ‘this is I'” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapter 5).
  • The world as indrajāla: Indra, praising Śrī Kṛshṇa after the lifting of Govardhana, says that saṃsāra, the flowing stream of the three guṇas, is indrajāla, a magic show, the work of the māyā-śakti, experienced only through ignorance of the ātmā, and that it does not bind him (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 27). Akrūra tells Dhṛtarāshṭra to know this world as a dream, an indrajāla, a play of the mind, and to master the mind and be at peace (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 49).
  • The māyā that deludes: Devahūti, after the birth of Kapila, says to Kardama: “The māyā of Bhagavān Śrī Hari has surely deceived me. For though by your grace I had the chance to gain jñāna and through it moksha, I could not gain release from this bondage of saṃsāra” (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 3, Chapter 23). Ajāmila, freed from the messengers of Yama, says that the māyā of Śrī Hari in the form of a woman caught him and made him dance like a monkey, and resolves to free himself from it (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 2). Indra tells Vṛtra that he has surely crossed the Vaishṇava māyā that deludes people, for he has given up the marks of the asuras and taken on the marks of the great (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 6, Chapter 12).
  • The forest of saṃsāra: Jaḍabharata tells King Rahūgaṇa of a band of merchants who, held under the māyā of Bhagavān Śrī Hari, have entered a forest path, their eyes fixed on sāttvika, rājasa and tāmasa karmas and on wealth, finding no happiness; of the jīvas put on that path by his māyā, not one to this day knows the way out (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 13). By the māyā that stays under the control of Bhagavān Vishṇu, the six senses push the jīva into saṃsāra; embraced by Devamāyā, glossed avidyā, as by a woman with creeper-like arms, the merchant loses the viveka that knows what is to be done and not done, hurries to build her a pleasure-house, delights in son, daughter and daughter-in-law, and himself causes his fall into the naraka of ajñāna (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 5, Chapter 14).
  • Yaśodā and the Vaishṇava māyā: when Yaśodā saw the whole universe in the mouth of the child Kṛshṇa, she wondered: “Is this a dream? Or is it Vaishṇava māyā? Or is my own mind deluded? Or does this child of mine have some yoga-siddhi of his own?” She bowed to the Paramātmā and took refuge in Śrī Hari, by whose māyā she held the notions “I am Nanda‘s wife, this is my son”. Then Vishṇu, the inner controller of all, spread in her his own māyā in the form of attachment to her son; the knowledge vanished, and she took her son on her lap (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 10, Chapter 8).
  • Seeing the world as Hari’s māyā: the Yogīndra Kavi teaches Nimi, the Videha king, that for one who has turned away from Īśvara, his māyā takes away the knowledge of his own svarūpa; from it come identification with the body, the insistence that enemy and friend are real, and fear. The Yogīndra Hari teaches that one who perceives sound and the other objects without hating or rejoicing, seeing this world only as the māyā of Śrī Hari, is the best among bhaktas (Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 11, Chapter 2).

In the Brahma Purāṇa: māyā is the śakti of Bhagavān Vishṇu by which creation first stirs, the power of Bhagavān Śiva, the veil that binds the jīva in saṃsāra, and also the art of the asuras.

  • The Vishṇu-śakti: around the brahmāṇḍa and its coverings lies pradhāna, the parā-prakṛti, pervaded by the purusha, the Parabrahma. Pradhāna and purusha are borne by the Vishṇu-śakti and depend on each other, and that śakti alone is the cause of their separation and union. At the time of creation the Vishṇu-śakti, which is māyā (prakṛti), stirs the causal tattva: that is the first stirring (prathama spandana). As the wind carries the coolness in drops of water, this śakti, as pradhāna and purusha, bears the world. As root, stalk, leaf, flower, grain, rice, husk and bran lie in a grain of paddy and then come forth, so the seeds of karma, the upādhis of the devas and others, and the bodies of beings lie in the Paramātmā and come forth from him by the Vishṇu-śakti (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 23).
  • Daksha‘s words to Bhagavān Śiva: seeing the power of Śambhu, Daksha Prajāpati praises Maheśvara and says: “The subtle māyā is you. By it I too was deluded; for this reason too I could not invite you” (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 40).
  • In the palace of Śrī Hari: the presiding devatās of the śaktis, from Kīrti to Māyā, serve in the palace of Bhagavān Vishṇu (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 68).
  • Akrūra’s salutation: on the road to Gokula, Akrūra bows to Mādhava, “by whose māyā the world, entwined in the bonds of father, kinsman, friend, younger brother and elder brother, cannot be crossed”, and to him by whose entering the heart mortals cross the vast avidyā, the yoga-māyā (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 191).
  • Yoganidrā: at the naimittika pralaya, when the three worlds are one ocean, Bhagavān Vishṇu lies on the bed of Śesha; contemplating his own form as Vāsudeva, Parameśvara rests in yoganidrā, which is the form of his own māyā (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 233).
  • The teaching of Vasishṭha to Janaka: through the abhimāna born of māyā, “the body is I, the body is mine”, the jīva takes the pains of the body as his own, and all his activities come about through māyā (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 242). The ātma-tattva is without guṇas, senses and body, yet, covered by the ahaṅkāra and mamakāra made by māyā, it becomes one with guṇas, senses and body; this visible prakṛti too is made by māyā (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 243). The twenty-fifth tattva becomes avyakta and then, through māyā, transforms from the mahat down to the bhūtas, entering at creation and withdrawing at pralaya; the apratibuddha, the unawakened, is the māyā tattva, the root of aparā prakṛti (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 244). The Paramātmā, though unattached, wanders in saṃsāra through the attachment made by māyā; when māyā goes, he attains mukti (Brahma Purāṇa, Chapter 245).
  • Gautama‘s stotra: praising Bhagavān Śiva and Devī Umā on Kailāsa, Gautama says to the Devī: whenever Śambhu takes the forms of the immeasurable Māyā for the welfare of the universe, you too take forms fit for union with him; “O Mother, that is your pātivratya” (Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 6).
  • Indra’s stotra: Indra praises the bearer of the Pināka, who creates, protects and devours the whole universe of moving and unmoving beings by his own māyā, yet is not entangled in it; who is one, independent, of the nature of non-dual knowledge and bliss (Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 59).
  • The māyā of the asuras: the asura Tamas, once defeated by King Dhanvantari, came out of the ocean while the king performed tapas where the Gaṅgā joins the sea, and by māyā took the form of a young maiden of excellent eyebrows and fascinating appearance to break his tapas (Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 52). After Indra slew Namuci, his younger brother Maya performed great tapas and gained many kinds of māyā, terrifying to the devas. Later Maya became Indra’s friend, and out of love he gave his māyā to Indra (Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 54).

Related terms: Guṇa · Avidyā · Pāśa · Tattva · Indrajāla · Upāya

Other meanings

Māyā has more than one meaning in the Purāṇas and Itihāsas. Besides the meaning above, it names those listed here, each with where it is told.

  • Māyā (Muktakeśī): the maiden whom Brahmā brought forth by the power of Māyā to guard the satra of the seven ṛshis on the Gautamī, present in bodily form even today as Muktakeśī. Brahma Purāṇa, Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapter 64

See also

Sources

  • Agni Purāṇa, Chapters 20, 33, 81, 82, 84, 86, 96, 145, 148, 226, 234, 241, 381
  • Bhāgavata Purāṇa, Skandha 2, Chapters 4–5; Skandha 3, Chapter 23; Skandha 5, Chapters 13–14; Skandha 6, Chapters 2, 12; Skandha 10, Chapters 8, 27, 49; Skandha 11, Chapter 2
  • Brahma Purāṇa, Chapters 23, 40, 68, 191, 233, 242–245; Gautamī Māhātmya, Chapters 6, 52, 54, 59