Māyā

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." Thus, in early Vedic mythology, maya was the power with which the gods created and maintained the physical universe.