Maya

Subject: SOME THOUGHTS ON MAYA

We have come a long way since we started this journey to understand the Universe and ourselves. We have now understood that there is an invisible, unseen and unmanifest principle called Brahman that is permanent, auspicious and blissful that has manifested Itself as the Universe of which we are only a part.

Brahman transformed itself into the Manifest Universe at three levels of manifestation. The first is the Super-subtle state called Iswara. The second stage is the Mental level called Hiranyagarbha. The third stage is the Physical level called Virat or Viswa. All of us, humans, animals, plants and rocks are part of this structure and so the same three levels are present in all of us. In the human, at the Super-subtle level we call it the Jiva or Jeevatma or Soul, at the Mental level we call it the Mind and at the Physical level we call it the Body. These levels in the human being are also called Pragna, Taijasa and Vaiswanara respectively in Vedanta. They correspond to the Deep sleep, the Dreaming and the Waking states in humans. These are called Sushupti, Swapna and Jagruta in Vedanta. They also correspond to the Suvaha, the Bhuvar and Bhu Lokas and to the ‘M’, ‘U’ and ‘A’ sounds of the Omkara respectively. 

The question that arises is ‘How did this transformation occur?’ This is an important question and a subject worth studying and is truly the key to spirituality.

One of the earliest answers to this question is given by a great sage called Kapila Maharishi in His description of the concept of ‘Purusha and Prakriti’.

It is remarkable that the Maharishi is said to be the grandson of the very first sage Manu called Swayambu Manu who appeared as the first human manifestation in the very first Manvantara of this Kalpa. We have already seen that we are currently in the seventh Manvantara and some 1970 million years have passed since the Kalpa commenced. Kapila Maharishi lived then. What is remarkable is that when one travels from Mumbai to a place called Nasik one crosses the mountains of the Western Ghats and the highest point is a place called Igatpuri. A few miles away from there, in the lush forest area is a place said to be the site of Kapila Maharishi’s Ashram. It is awe inspiring to say the least.

Kapila Maharishi taught a stream of philosophy called ‘Sankhya’ in which He posited the concept of ‘Purusha’ and ‘Prakriti’. The concept of Purusha was identical to Brahman and the concept of Prakriti was the Manifest Universe. He stated that both these concepts were real. However, Prakriti was ‘powerless’ and incapable of any action without the infusion of the energy of Purusha. They had to both work together and in tandem to create the Manifest Universe and make it perform. From this concept arose the idea of Purusha or Brahman as a masculine principle and Prakriti as a feminine principle. In essence, all of us, and the whole of the Manifest Universe is feminine. Thus arose the concept of the Divine Father and Divine Mother. Through the energisation by the Father the Mother could produce the Universe. Thus all of us and all creation are children of the Divine Couple. 

In later times Purusha came to be called ‘Shiva’ and Prakriti came to be called ‘Shakti’. The term Shiva means ‘auspicious’ and the term Shakti means ‘energy’. Shiva continued to be an unmanifest concept and Shakti became the energetic manifest principle. 

In the Bhagawad Gita, Sri Krishna describes these concepts as ‘Kshetra’ and ‘Kshetragna’. The term ‘Kshetra’ means ‘arena or field of activity’ and corresponds to Prakriti and the Manifest Universe at the global level and to the Human Body at the individual level. The term ‘Kshetragna’ refers to the ‘Indweller or the Knower of that Field’, the motivating principle and refers to Purusha or Brahman. 

Vedanta talks a slightly different language. It describes the process of transformation or energisation as ‘Maya’. The term ‘Maya’ can be translated as ‘Illusion’. Vedanta describes the creation of the Universe as a kind of superimposition of the Manifest World on Brahman. To elaborate this concept, Vedanta gives the typical example of the ‘rope and snake’. When a person is going out in the dark, he comes across an object lying on the ground. In the darkness, he thinks it to be a snake. He is horrified and fearful. Emotions based on his ‘conditioning’ race through his mind. Then, controlling himself, he takes out a torch and flashes the light on the object and realizes that it is only a rope which he then picks up and throws away. All the fear has vanished. Knowledge of the reality or truth (the rope) banishes the emotions of fear etc. and he realizes that he has been mistaken. His emergence from ignorance (snake) of the truth to knowledge (rope) is likened to his waking from a dream. The concept of the snake was ‘superimposed’ on the truth of rope. 

Vedanta describes Maya as having two characteristics, ‘Avarana’ or ‘Veiling of the truth’ and ‘Vikshepa’ or ‘The tendency to create confusion’. Knowledge or Jnana is the answer to removing the illusion and realizing the truth.

At some time in history, in one of the Manvantaras, the concept of the ‘Gunas’ or ‘Qualities’ arose. The Manifest Universe is called ‘Gunamayi’ that is full of Gunas. In this concept the Manifest Universe is said to have three Gunas or Qualities. They are called ‘Satva’, ‘Rajas’ and ‘Tamas’. Satva means ‘calm, peaceful, balanced, tranquil and knowledgeable’. Obviously this tranquility comes from deep knowledge. 

‘Rajas’ means ‘active, aggressive, dynamic, passionate, and emotional’. The Rajasic condition is based on part knowledge. 

‘Tamas’ means ‘inert, inactive, ignorant, and lazy’. The Tamasic condition arises from ignoranceandlassitude.

Everything in the Manifest Universe is a mixture of these three Gunas. In some people the Tamasic will be predominant. In some, the Rajasic will be dominant. In some Satva will prevail. It is not necessary that the satvic person will not be Tamasic at all. He may at times tend to be Tamasic but that will be for a short time and all the 3 gunas will be present in all individuals. This gives a clue to the concept of living and non-living manifestation. The rock is predominantly Tamasic. The animal is predominantly Rajasic. And the human has the ability to be Satvic. Life is the progression from the Tamasic to the Rajasic to the Satvic states. The Guna concept explains a lot of what we see in the world around us. While all other forms of manifestation are programmed according to their species and cannot change their Guna-mix, so to speak, the human being alone is gifted with the means, through his intellect, to transform, to change, and to develop and from an understanding of what his/her Gunas are like, move from Tamas to Rajas to Satva.

The second pertinent question that arises is ‘Why have these Gunas come to exist in us? What is their source or cause?’ Vedanta describes the Gunas as the result of past actions or ‘Karmas’. The term ‘Karma’ means both ‘Action’ and ‘The result of Action’. Every time I perform an action I embed a karma in my soul. ‘Every action has an equal and opposite reaction’ was the famous statement of Sir Isaac Newton. He was of course talking of the physical world. It is remarkable that this same theorem applies to our Mind and Soul, not just to our Body. It may be noted that physical level is the body. Subtle level is the Atman or soul.

Actions can be physical or mental or spiritual in nature. Every such action produces a reaction. Good actions produce good Karma and bad actions produce bad Karma. Thus came to be propounded the ‘Law of Karma’. These Karmas are embedded in the Mind as Vasanas. They drive and create the human personality. A predominantly Tamasic karma content in the soul brings about a Tamasic personality. Similarly, a predominantly Rajasic karma content brings about a Rajasic personality. And of course, a predominantly Satvic karma content will bring about a Satvic personality.

In India we tend to personify and symbolize these concepts to aid understanding and retention. As we have seen, the human mind tends to think in pictures and images. The ancient psychologists thought it a prudent approach to personify the Gunas and work out methodologies to move a person from Tamasic to Rajasic to Satvic karmas. For this purpose they conceived of the concept of the three Gunas as offshoots of Maya, the Divine Mother, Ambika. They called the Tamasic Guna as Kali, the Rajasic Guna as Mahalakshmi and the Satvic Guna as Saraswathi. Kali is displayed as a fiery lady who dances on a prostrate Shiva. She wears a garland of skulls around her neck and is shown as killing a fierce demon. The message is ‘Destroy ignorance for salvation!’ The Karma that is embedded in the mental sphere is known as Vasanas. It is this Vasanas that take the body in the next birth and perform all actions according to the vasanas.