The Moksha Gita: by Swami Sivananda: Commentary by Swami Krishnananda: 3.1.

 

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Sunday 20, April 2025, 10:50.

The Moksha Gita: by Swami Sivananda: Commentary: 3.1.

Chapter 3: The Nature of Maya-1.

Swami Krishnananda.

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Chapter 3: The Nature of Maya 

03_01

1. The Guru said: Maya is the Upadhi (limiting adjunct) of Ishwara. She is an illusory power of Brahman. She keeps up the Lila of Iswara through Her three Gunas, viz. Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas (Purity, passion and darkness).

Maya is the cosmic aspect of the power that hides Reality's essence. It is the limiting adjunct of Ishwara or the highest manifestation of the Absolute. The cosmic force of mentation limits the Infinitude of Brahman and makes it appear as the Cosmic person or Ishwara. Brahma, Vishnu and Siva are the three aspects of this Ishwara even as the same Mr. Jackson may be a Collector, a Magistrate and a Minister all at once. The differences in the Person are due to his different functions and powers, but the being is one. The power of veiling the Reality particularises its being by a special mode of objectification and makes it hail as the Ishwara or the God of the universe. The absolute nature of non-duality is split up into the quality of relativity the reason for which is not known. Even Ishwara, therefore, has an element of non-being in him, because he is limited to relative existence by Maya. But Ishwara is the Lord of Maya and not its slave as the Jiva is. He puts on the cloak of Maya, and yet is conscious of the Absolute Condition of Existence. This is the difference between the Omniscient Ishwara and the ignorant Jiva or the earthly individual.

The qualities of Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas, light, activity and darkness, form the essence of Maya and it is these qualities that play the havoc of the world-phenomenon. Sattwa illumines, Rajas distracts and Tamas clouds the understanding of the individual. The appearances of Ishwara and Maya correspond to all further miniatures of the same in the planes of greater ignorance where they get more and more separated until in the earthly plane they are totally cut off as the physical entities which constitute the diverse nature of the world. In logical language, Ishwara is a degeneration of Brahman caused by the self-limiting power of objectification or the force of Maya the reason for the appearance of which is an eternal enigma.

03_02

2, 3. Maya is not non-existent because it appears; neither is it existent because it is destroyed by the dawn of knowledge. Maya is not That. It is an indescribable appearance.

The root-meaning of the word "Maya" indicates its non-existent nature. But we cannot account for the existence of a non-existent appearance. Even appearance is after all not non-existent, for a non-existent thing never is, and an appearance is something which is. Otherwise one could not talk of and speculate over appearances. Maya is therefore not non-existent because it appears to us, and it is not even existent for it is non-enduring. This mystery eludes all reason and logic and cannot be determined its nature by any metaphysics. The greatest philosophers began to hide themselves within the conviction that the human mind is not all-knowing and therefore it cannot answer trans-empirical questions. Somehow Maya exists. Why it cannot be said. And somehow Maya disappears. Why it cannot again be said. It is an illusion that has deceived even the wisest of men and has led astray even the ablest of geniuses. Only Self-Knowledge or intuitive illumination can solve the why and how of Maya.

Maya is not that. It is not Brahman and yet, it is the Power of Brahman. It is a deceptive and indescribable appearance which not only makes the individual forget the Unity of Brahman but in addition to it presents an unreal distractive phenomenon of diversity. Intellect which is rooted in egoism is the distracting factor in the individual and the Anandamaya-Kosha or the sheath of ignorance is the veiling factor. Maya is, therefore, a beginningless play of cosmic imaginative force which apparently divests the Eternal Nature of its Indivisibility and makes it put on a variety of forms in its own being and further gives way to the descension into strong attachment of such egoistic centres of consciousness to their particular forms and experiences. Maya is termed in many ways, appearance, power, force, phenomenon, and the like, which all go to point to its unreal character and its untrustworthy behaviour. Every thought, therefore, is an activity in the realm of Maya, for all thoughts spring from individual consciousness which is itself the effect of the diversifying nature of Maya. All individuals, right from the supreme Ishwara, down to the insignificant creature of the netherlands are within the boundaries of Maya, differing only in the degree or the extent to which each is influenced by it.

03_03

4, 5. Maya is Indescribable (Sat-Asat-Vilakshana Anadi Bhava Rupa Anirvachaniya Maya). She is neither Sat nor Asat. Maya is Anadi Santam. She is beginningless but has an end only for the sage who has realised the Self. Maya is Suddha Sattwa or pure Sattwa.

Maya is neither Sat nor Asat, neither real nor unreal, neither is, nor is not. It transcends human comprehension, it stands above all ratiocination, it controls even the reasoning capacity of the individual. The degree of intelligence of a person is proportional to what extent he is freed from the stupefying influence of Maya. It is hard to withdraw oneself from its clutches for it originates from and is based on the Eternal Brahman Itself. That which is based on the Infinite Reality must therefore be a hideous power difficult to win victory over. To extricate oneself from the hypnotic effect of this Divine Illusion the individual has to dehypnotise himself into the consciousness of Self-Illumination and absoluteness.

The nature of Maya is Anadi-Bhava or beginningless existence and is Anirvachaniya or inexpressible by speech. It is Sat-Asat-Vilakshana, distinct from existence and non-existence. It is Anadi-Santam, without beginning, but with an end. It is ended by Brahmajnana or Absolute Wisdom arrived at through intense meditation or Nididhyasana. Maya differs from Brahman in that Brahman is Anadi-Anantam, beginningless and endless, whereas Maya is Santam or removable. The origin of ignorance cannot be found out, but it is well known that sages who have realised the Eternal Brahman free themselves from the effects of Maya. One can only tell how to free oneself from Maya, but one cannot say why Maya creates a universe.

Maya is Shudda-Sattwa and is not preponderated by Rajas or Tamas. That is the reason why Ishwara or the Cosmic Lord is uncontrolled and unaffected by the hypnotising power of Maya. Ishwara, who is the Infinite, limited by Maya is midway between the Indivisible Brahman and the multiple universes. Hence Ishwara is conscious of the Eternal Reality as well as of the diverse world of nature. He is in a sense, the mediator between Jiva and Brahman. Here is the necessity of the Jivas for developing devotion to God, for a sudden jumping into the Infinite Brahman is hard for the ignorant Jivas, without the help of the Universal Controller, Ishwara. Ishwara is the Personal God, the object of religious worship, and Brahman is the Absolute Truth, the object of philosophical quest.

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Continued

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