By Victor M Fontane
Maya is also called illusion and refers to the physical world or Universe. In the Advaita Vedanta or the Hindu non-dualistic school Maya is an appearance, not real in itself. So, the Advaita formulation of Maya at its core means ignorance, ignorance of your true nature. They apply the problem-solution approach: ignorance is the problem, knowledge is the solution.
Thus, ignorance has five characteristics:
This Maya (ignorance) you can’t say it is seeing because once you become enlightened it’s not. It’s like, how did the One become the many? “On our side before enlightenment, we have the question and there’s no answer and on their side, after enlightenment they have the answer, there is no question. You can’t say Maya is the ultimate reality because after enlightenment there is no Maya for you. At the same time we can’t say that don’t exist either, because you see it. So, you can’t say it is and you can’t say it is not. We are ignorant of our true self.
What is Maya composed at? The answer from Sankhya cosmology is that is made of three gunas: Sattva, Rajas and Tamas (qualities of nature).
Maya is opposed to knowledge or is destroyed by knowledge.
Ignorance is not just an absence of knowledge but also a positive something. In Advaita Vedanta Maya has two functions: it obscure, hide or veils the reality or our true self (Brahman) and error. It project the reality as it is not (confusing the rope as a snake). As an example. When the water of the lake is muddy can’t reflect properly the Sun or the Moon but when is clear can perfectly reflect them. Also, in a pond covered by hyacinths you can’t see the water until you push them aside and then see the crystal clear water but the moment you let go it dances back into the original place covering the water again. Similarly, when you are doing spiritual practice or in front of high spiritual Masters Maya disappear until you’re back in regular life when Maya (illusion) dances back again. Two functions of Maya: veiling and projection.
Maya can not be characterized as it is, the very nature of Maya is that is hard to pin down. It’s like a man possessed by a ghost, he don’t know of recognize that is possessed by a ghost until he think and recognize it and it leaves him immediately, vanishes. In the Himalayas monks has a saying: “Don’t try to establish ignorance, try to cut down ignorance, there is something that you don’t know, let’s try to know it”.
Sixfold inconsistencies in Maya:
Locus of Maya. Where is this precious ignorant of yours, in the ultimate reality of Brahman? Or in the individual self?
What is this ignorance? real or unreal? What is the nature of this ignorance?
All is a logical inconsistency.
If ignorance obscure the real self (Brahman), how can the real self or the ultimate perfection be obscure?
What will remoce this so called ignorance? Knowledge that I’m Brahman?
There is not possibility of going beyond Maya.
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