Maya
The Hindu concept of cosmic illusion — the apparent multiplicity and substantiality of the world, which conceals the underlying non-dual reality of Brahman.
Maya is the Sanskrit word for the cosmic illusion through which the apparent multiplicity and substantiality of the world conceals the underlying non-dual reality of Brahman. The concept receives its most rigorous philosophical development in Adi Shankara's Advaita Vedanta, where maya names the cognitive condition under which Brahman appears as the diverse world of objects, agents, and relations. Liberation (moksha) is the recognition that this multiplicity is maya and that the self (atman) is identical with Brahman.
Maya is not simple non-existence: the world has a kind of provisional reality, sufficient for the practical conduct of life and the operation of karma, but not the ultimate reality the unenlightened mind takes it to have. Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita Vedanta sharply rejected Shankara's account: the world and individual selves are genuinely real and form the body of Brahman, not appearances projected onto it. The dispute over the status of maya is the central debate within Vedanta and one of the deepest disagreements in classical Indian philosophy.
Shankara's account of maya draws on the Upanishadic distinction between the higher Brahman (nirguna, without qualities) and the lower Brahman (saguna, with qualities). At the highest level, only Brahman exists; the apparent multiplicity of the world is maya, projected by ignorance (avidya). At the conventional level, maya operates as the cosmic creative power through which the appearance of the world arises. The two-level analysis has been one of the most contested features of Advaita and has been refined and criticized by subsequent commentators.
Ramanuja's Vishishtadvaita rejected the strict illusionism of Shankara's account. For Ramanuja, the world and individual selves are real and form the body of Brahman; the apparent separation is not maya in the sense of illusion but a genuine relational structure within which devotion (bhakti) takes place. The dispute has continued through medieval and modern Indian philosophy and is one of the deepest disagreements within Vedanta.
How philosophers have framed maya
| Philosopher | Position |
|---|---|
| Adi Shankara | Cosmic illusion: only Brahman is real; maya projects the apparent multiplicity of the world. |
| Ramanuja | Rejects strict illusionism: the world and individual selves are real and form Brahman's body. |
| Buddha | Anticipated in Buddhist analysis of the conventional reality of phenomenal experience. |
| Nagarjuna | Compatible with sunyata: phenomena are conventionally real, ultimately empty. |
Representative quotes
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Adi Shankara
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“Knowledge of the Self is the only means to liberation.”
p. 4: Quote nr. 2.
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Ramanuja
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“Ramanuja quotes from the Chandogya Upanishad ; Quoted in: Vivekananda (1913) Vedanta Philosophy: Lectures on Raja Yoga . p. 293.”
When the food is pure the Sattva element gets purified, the memory becomes unwavering.
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Buddha
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“There are these four ways of answering questions . Which four? There are questions that should be answered categorically [straightforwardly yes, no, this, that]. There are questions that should be answered with an analytical (qualified) answer [defining or redefining the terms]. There are questions that should be answered with a counter-question. There are questions that should be put aside . These are the four ways of answering questions.”
As quoted in: Ṭhānissaro (Bhikkhu.) (2004) Handful of leaves. Vol. 3, p. 80
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Nagarjuna
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“No suffering is self-caused. Nothing causes itself. If another is not self-made, How could suffering be caused by another? If suffering were caused by each, Suffering could be caused by both. Not caused by self or by other, How could suffering be uncaused?”
Mūlamadhyamakakārikā 14.8–9 | trans. Jay Garfield, The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way (1995), ISBN 0195093364
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