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The Spell of Illusion (Māyā)
Man is playing about in the midnight of Avidyā [Ignorance]. There is no knowledge possible of Māyā [Illusion], the nature of which is non-knowledge; therefore the wise say, Leave Māyā alone.
But where is the Māyā—the untruth that captivates, the shadow that rules? Is it in human society, in nature, or in Heaven? Long ago I was wandering in the beautiful forest of Brindāban [incarnate Krishna’s favorite ground], and one morning as I sat under a tree I was quite charmed with the freshness of the spring landscape; it was a perfect paradise for song-birds, peacocks, and deer; the river Jumna with her crystal waters was flowing by. I sat thinking and wondering whether all the birds and flowers and the music of the waters was nothing but Māyā, when suddenly my reverie was broken by a voice saying: “There is Māyā within the family circle, Māyā on the broad streets of the world, Māyā in the clouds, and Māyā even in the Lord’s Heaven; there is no time in which there is no Māyā, and no place where there is not Māyā. Mind is Māyā.”
I opened my eyes and met the smiling gaze of a Sannyāsin [renouncer] who was standing before me. He had read my thoughts and came to solve my doubts. He continued: “You are young, and yet you have left home and parents to don the organge robe of the monk in search of truth and peace. My child, the mind is the citadel of Māyā and the world its outworks. Conquer the citadel, and the outworks will fall of themselves.” After saying this he went his way, leaving me to muse in the silence of my own meditation.
Brahman is truth, Māyā is untruth; Brahman is Being, Māyā is becoming; Brahman is Eternity, Māyā is time; Brahman is existence, Māyā is the cosmos; Brahman is consciousness, Māyā is mind; Brahman is Reality, Māyā is power; Brahman is everything, and Māyā is nothing; Brahman is intuition, Māyā is intelligence; Brahman is Wisdom, Māyā is knowledge; Brahman is joy, and Māyā is pleasure. Brahman is the spectator, Māyā is the phantasy of dream; Brahman is the Samvid [Awareness] of sound sleep, Māyā is the general torpor of sleep; Brahman is the Prāna (super-consciousness) of Turiya [the Fourth state], and Māyā is non-existence. All Māyā implies all Brahman, but All Brahman implies no Māyā.
Swami Ananda Acharya, Brahmadarsanam: Intuition of the Absolute, Being an Introduction to the Study of Hindu Philosophy (London: Macmillan & Co., 1917), pp. 156-157