Māyā: Difference between revisions
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'''Māyā''' (माया) is a [[Sanskrit]] word that in Indian religions has multiple meanings. Usually translated as "illusion" (from ''mā'' "not" and ''yā'' "this"), it points out the fact that we do not experience the reality but only a false image perceived by our minds, as when one pursues a mirage in the desert or mistakes a rope for a snake. | '''Māyā''' (माया) is a [[Sanskrit]] word that in Indian religions has multiple meanings. Usually translated as "illusion" (from ''mā'' "not" and ''yā'' "this"), it points out the fact that we do not experience the reality but only a false image perceived by our minds, as when one pursues a mirage in the desert or mistakes a rope for a snake. | ||
It is also regarded as "the cosmic power which renders phenomenal existence and the perceptions thereof possible."<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Theosophical Glossary'' (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 211.</ref | It is also regarded as "the cosmic power which renders phenomenal existence and the perceptions thereof possible."<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Theosophical Glossary'' (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 211.</ref> Thus, in early Vedic mythology, maya was the power with which the gods created and maintained the physical universe. | ||
Both in [[Hinduism|Hindu]] philosophy and in [[Theosophy]] only that "which is changeless and eternal is called reality; all that which is subject to change through decay and differentiation and which has therefore a begining and an end is regarded as mâyâ—illusion."<ref>Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, ''Theosophical Glossary'' (Krotona, CA: Theosophical Publishing House, 1973), 211.</ref> | |||
== Notes == | == Notes == | ||
Revision as of 21:19, 22 March 2012
Māyā (माया) is a Sanskrit word that in Indian religions has multiple meanings. Usually translated as "illusion" (from mā "not" and yā "this"), it points out the fact that we do not experience the reality but only a false image perceived by our minds, as when one pursues a mirage in the desert or mistakes a rope for a snake.
It is also regarded as "the cosmic power which renders phenomenal existence and the perceptions thereof possible."[1] Thus, in early Vedic mythology, maya was the power with which the gods created and maintained the physical universe.
Both in Hindu philosophy and in Theosophy only that "which is changeless and eternal is called reality; all that which is subject to change through decay and differentiation and which has therefore a begining and an end is regarded as mâyâ—illusion."[2]