Maya — The Cosmic Power
the cosmic power of The Supreme God is called Maya shakti (Devanagari: माया शक्ति ISO15919: māyā śakti ).
It is also referred to as just
- Maya (Devanagari: माया ISO15919: māyā ).
- Prakriti (Devanagari: प्रकृति ISO15919: prakr̥ti)
It is fully controlled by God.
मायां तु प्रकृतिं मायिनं तु महेश्वरम । तस्यावयव भूतैस्तु व्यापतं सर्वमिदं जगत॥ श्वेता. 4.10
māyāṁ tu prakr̥tiṁ māyinaṁ tu maheśvarama ।tasyāvayava bhūtaistu vyāpataṁ sarvamidaṁ jagata॥śvetā. 4.10
"Maya is the cosmic power and Master of Maya is Brahm- Supreme God ."
Brahm- Supreme God is the master of infinite powers. Out of those the three primary powers are
- Jeev Shakti - All souls are parts of this power of God,
- Maya is an inert power of God, and
- Para Shakti , or most intimate and personal power of God.
God and jeev (or soul) are conscious which means they are endowed with life.
But Maya is lifeless or inert (Devanagari: जड़ शक्ति ISO15919: jaṛ śakti ). Maya is called an external power of God Devanagari: बहिरङ्गा शक्ति ISO15919: bahiraṅgā śakti ).
Since Maya is inert it cannot do anything by itself. Yet, it performs wondrous things like creating this amazing sansar . It can do all this because The Supreme God Himself wields it.
Thus, this insignificant, inert and external power of God is so mighty that even those possessing great knowledge are also afraid of it. Since it is governed by God Himself, it is as powerful as God Himself.
Modes of Maya
Maya is endowed with three material modes. These modes are called guna (Devanagari: गुण ISO15919: guṇa ).
Sattvik Guna
Sattvik guna (Devanagari: सात्त्विक गुण ISO15919: sattvika guṇa ) is the material mode of righteousness. It is the superior most guna of Maya.
It is also referred to as Maya which is white in color or shvet varna ki Maya (Devanagari: शुक्ल वर्ण की माया ISO15919: śukla varṇa kī māyā ).
Sattvik guna is dominant in celestial gods and goddesses (देवी-देवता). Love, purity, sympathy, benevolence, philanthropy etc. virtues are the signs of sattva guna .
Rajas Guna
Rajas guna (Devanagari: राजस गुण ISO15919: rājasa guṇa ) is the material mode of passion.
It is also referred to as Maya which is red in color or lohit varna ki Maya (Devanagari: लोहित वर्ण की माया ISO15919: lohita varṇa kī māyā ).
This mode is predominant in human beings. To help others, being honest, forbearing and sympathetic to an extent, without harming ones self-interest, are the signs of rajas mode of Maya.
It means that these kinds of people are neither considered 'very good' nor 'very bad'.
Tamas Guna
Tamas guna (Devanagari: तामस गुण ISO15919: tāmasa guṇa ) is the material mode of demonic dark tendencies.
It is also referred to as Maya which is black in color or krishna varna ki Maya (Devanagari: कृष्णाम् वर्ण की माया ISO15919: kr̥ṣṇām varṇa kī māyā ).
Tamas guna promotes darkness, destruction and ignorance and is predominant in devious beings. Individuals, who are extremely selfish, angry, dishonest, cruel, unfaithful and destructive, fall in this category.
Aspects of Maya
There are two aspects of Maya
Swaroopavarika Maya
Swaroopavarika Maya (Devanagari: स्वरूपावरिका माया ISO15919:
svarūpāvarikā māyā ) aspect performs two actions
- It makes us forget that we are an immortal and divine jeev . Instead it makes us believe we are the physical body.
- makes us attracted to the material world.
This is also called Avidya Maya (Devanagari: अविद्या माया ISO15919: avidyā māyā ).
Two of the above mentioned modes of Maya fall under this category
- rajas guna - the material mode of passion and
- tamas guna -the material mode of demonic tendencies
With intense practice over many lifetimes gyani (those who tread on the path of gyan ) can overcome this aspect of Maya .
Please note , till Maya has control over the jeev all three guna of Maya remain with the jeev . But, some gyanis can supress rajas and tamas guna in themselves .
Gunavarika Maya
Gunavarika Maya (Devanagari: गुणवरिका माया ISO15919: guṇavarikā māyā ) is the sattva guna .
This is also referred to as Vidya Maya (Devanagari: विद्या माया ISO15919: vidyā māyā ).
Nobody can win over this aspect of Maya. This Maya spares the jeev only upon being instructed by The Supreme God to do so. The Supreme God instructs it to spare only the fully surrendered jeev .
Usefulness of Maya
God is concerned about spiritual upliftment of jeev . Also, jeev is non-doer which means it cannot perform any actions. So jeev needs body, mind and intellect to perform actions for its own upliftment.
So, first God creates sansar . Then before sending jeev into the sansar , God gives each of them trisharir , a mind and an intellect. All of these things are made by Maya. Every material thing is inert, transitory and ever changing.
You have experience of the sthool sharir (the physical body). It is made of Maya. That is why our body is inert, insentient, lifeless, temporary and ever changing. It comes into being one day, grows, matures, dies and decays (see shadvikar ).
Our physical body is lifeless! This might seem absurd and contrary to good sense. Lifeless things don't perform any action! Our physical bodies perform numerous actions like seeing, hearing, touching, thinking, smelling, deciding etc. These bodies have got to be sentient!
No, bodies are inert. The body does not perform actions on its own accord. The life force jeev lives in the heart of the body. When a lamp is placed inside a room it illuminates the whole room. Similarly, jeev lives inside the heart and provides consciousness to the whole body.
Understand it with this example: A table is lifeless. Yet it moves from one corner to another.
How?
It moves only when live hands push the table around.
Vedic scriptures reveal that these hands are also NOT sentient. They get consciousness from the mind. The mind is also not sentient. It gets consciousness from the intellect. The intellect is also insentient. It gets consciousness from the jeev . The Supreme Soul has eternally given consciousness to jeev .
That Supreme Soul is The Supreme God . He is the source of all consciousness. He does not get consciousness from anybody else.
Jeev has eternally been conscious and keeps the body, in which it is, also alive. That is why, as long as jeev lives in the body, the body functions as if it were “alive”. When jeev leaves then it because clear as day that the body is unconscious and made of Maya.
Jeev is part of divine bliss and is the master of the senses, mind and intellect. It is jeev who naturally desires to attain divine happiness .
The dilemma is its servants (mind and intellect) are material. They are unaware of existence and whereabouts of divine happiness . So, it should not be a surprise that they are ignorant of the ways to attain it.
So, Maya is essential for jeev to attain the bliss that jeev strives to attain. Maya is a power of God. God is all loving and gracious. But Swaroopavarika Maya and Gunavarika Maya seem to be the cause of jeev 's despair. So, what is it? To find answer of this question read the article Is Maya a Friend or a Foe?