Editing Maya (religion) (section)

====The Upanishads====
[[File:Waterfall.svg|thumb|upright|[[M. C. Escher]] paintings such as the [[Waterfall (M. C. Escher)|Waterfall]]&nbsp;– redrawn in this sketch&nbsp;– demonstrates the Hindu concept of Maya, states Jeffrey Brodd.<ref>J Brodd, World Religions: A Voyage of Discovery, 3rd Edition, Saint Mary's Press, {{ISBN|978-0884899976}}, page 55</ref> The impression of water-world the sketch gives, in reality is not what it seems.]]
The [[Upanishads]] describe the universe, and the human experience, as an interplay of [[Purusha]] (the eternal, unchanging principles, consciousness) and [[Prakṛti]] (the temporary, changing material world, nature).<ref>[[Paul Deussen]], {{Google books|2h0YAAAAYAAJ|The Philosophy of the Upanishads|page=161}}, pages 161, 240-254</ref> The former manifests itself as [[Ātman (Hinduism)|Ātman]] (Soul, Self), and the latter as Māyā. The Upanishads refer to the knowledge of Atman as "true knowledge" (''Vidya''), and the knowledge of Maya as "not true knowledge" (''Avidya'', Nescience, lack of awareness, lack of true knowledge).<ref name=beamsc/> [[Brihadaranyaka Upanishad]], states Ben-Ami Scharfstein, describes Maya as "the tendency to imagine something where it does not exist, for example, atman with the body".<ref name=beamsc/> To the Upanishads, knowledge includes empirical knowledge and spiritual knowledge, complete knowing necessarily includes understanding the hidden principles that work, the realization of the soul of things.

Hendrick Vroom explains, "The term ''Maya'' has been translated as 'illusion,' but then it does not concern normal illusion. Here 'illusion' does not mean that the world is not real and simply a figment of the human imagination. ''Maya'' means that the world is not as it seems; the world that one experiences is misleading as far as its true nature is concerned."<ref>H.M. Vroom (1996), No Other Gods, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, {{ISBN|978-0802840974}}, page 57</ref> Lynn Foulston states, "The world is both real and unreal because it exists but is 'not what it appears to be'."<ref name=lynnfoulston/> According to Wendy Doniger, "to say that the universe is an illusion (māyā) is not to say that it is unreal; it is to say, instead, that it is not what it seems to be, that it is something constantly being made. Māyā not only deceives people about the things they think they know; more basically, it limits their knowledge."<ref>Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (1986), Dreams, Illusion, and Other Realities, University of Chicago Press, {{ISBN|978-0226618555}}, page 119</ref>

Māyā pre-exists and co-exists with [[Brahman]]&nbsp;– the Ultimate Principle, Consciousness.<ref name=aegough>Archibald Edward Gough (2001), The Philosophy of the Upanishads and Ancient Indian Metaphysics, Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0415245227}}, pages 47-48</ref> Maya is perceived reality, one that does not reveal the hidden principles, the true reality. Maya is unconscious, Atman is conscious. Maya is the literal, Brahman is the figurative ''Upādāna''&nbsp;– the principle, the cause.<ref name=aegough/> Maya is born, changes, evolves, dies with time, from circumstances, due to invisible principles of nature, state the Upanishads. Atman-Brahman is eternal, unchanging, invisible principle, unaffected absolute and resplendent consciousness. Maya concept in the Upanishads, states Archibald Gough, is "the indifferent aggregate of all the possibilities of emanatory or derived existences, pre-existing with Brahman", just like the possibility of a future tree pre-exists in the seed of the tree.<ref name=aegough/>

The concept of Maya appears in numerous Upanishads. The verses 4.9 to 4.10 of [[Svetasvatara Upanishad]], is the oldest explicit occurrence of the idea that Brahman (Supreme Soul) is the hidden reality, nature is magic, Brahman is the magician, human beings are infatuated with the magic and thus they create bondage to illusions and delusions, and for freedom and liberation one must seek true insights and correct knowledge of the principles behind the hidden magic.<ref>Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120814684}}, pages 316-317</ref> Gaudapada in his Karika on [[Mandukya Upanishad]] explains the interplay of Atman and Maya as follows,<ref name=pauldvol2>Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 2, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120814691}}, page 618</ref>

{{quote|
<poem>
The Soul is imagined first, then the particularity of objects,
External and internal, as one knows so one remembers.
As a rope, not perceived distinctly in dark, is erroneously imagined,
As snake, as a streak of water, so is the Soul (Atman) erroneously imagined.
As when the rope is distinctly perceived, and the erroneous imagination withdrawn,
Only the rope remains, without a second, so when distinctly perceived, the Atman.
When he as Pranas (living beings), as all the diverse objects appears to us,
Then it is all mere Maya, with which the Brahman (Supreme Soul) deceives himself.
</poem>
|[[Gaudapada]], Māṇḍukya Kārikā 2.16-19 <ref name=pauldvol2/>}}

Sarvasara Upanishad refers to two concepts: ''Mithya'' and ''Maya''.<ref name=knaiyar/> It defines ''Mithya'' as illusion and calls it one of three kinds of substances, along with Sat (Be-ness, True) and Asat (not-Be-ness, False).  ''Maya'', Sarvasara Upanishad defines as all what is not Atman. Maya has no beginning, but has an end. Maya, declares Sarvasara, is anything that can be studied and subjected to proof and disproof, anything with [[Guṇa]]s.<ref name=knaiyar/> In the human search for Self-knowledge, Maya is that which obscures, confuses and distracts an individual.<ref name=knaiyar>KN Aiyar (Translator, 1914), Sarvasara Upanishad, in Thirty Minor Upanishads, page 17, {{oclc|6347863}}</ref>