Māyā
Māyā (माया) — From the root mā — "to measure, to create, to build." In early Vedic usage, māyā is the creative, magical power of the gods. In Advaita Vedānta, Śaṅkara redefines it as the cosmic power of veiling (āvaraṇa) and projection (vikṣepa) — the force by which the infinite appears as the finite, by which Brahman appears as the multiplicity of the world. Māyā is not illusion in the sense of non-existence: the world is real as experience; what is false is the belief that it is independently real, self-sufficient, and permanent.
In Brief
- From the root mā — "to measure, to create, to build." In early Vedic usage, māyā is the creative, magical power of the gods. In Advaita Vedānta, Śaṅkara redefines it as the cosmic power of veiling (āvaraṇa) and projection (vikṣepa) — the force by which the infinite appears as the finite, by which Brahman appears as the multiplicity of the world. Māyā is not illusion in the sense of non-existence: the world is real as experience; what is false is the belief that it is independently real, self-sufficient, and permanent.
From the root mā — "to measure, to create, to build." In early Vedic usage, māyā is the creative, magical power of the gods. In Advaita Vedānta, Śaṅkara redefines it as the cosmic power of veiling (āvaraṇa) and projection (vikṣepa) — the force by which the infinite appears as the finite, by which Brahman appears as the multiplicity of the world. Māyā is not illusion in the sense of non-existence: the world is real as experience; what is false is the belief that it is independently real, self-sufficient, and permanent.