[Advaita-l] What is Maya?

[Sharath T Poojary]

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your kind help.

But, if Maya is a power of Brahman...then why do we not describe Brahman as "Maya-Sat-Chid-Ananda", as Maya is also an adjective as sat, cit and anand with respect to Brahman?

Why is it that people only attribute the latter 3 to Brahman, when Maya is a power of Brahman...that too...so potent that it veils the other 3 aspects?

Would you be so kind as to clarify this?

Regards,
Sharath


On Wed, 02 Jan 2008 Krishnamurthy Ramakrishna wrote :
>Sharath wrote on Jan. 2nd - "Can someone tell how the ONLY BRAHMAN "becomes"
>of "mistaken" (so to say)as Maya, when there is nothing else?"
>
>Brahman is not mistaken as Maya; Maya is a power that makes Brahman
>being seen as jagat. I read a very simple story to illustrate the
>concept of Maya which goes like this....
>A farmer having three sons, dies leaving a will. The will reads that
>- Half of his property should go to the first son
>- one third of the property should go to the second son
>- one ninth of his property should go to the last son.
>
>The children were worried, because the farmer's property consisted of
>17 cows - how to divide the 17 cows per the will?
>A sage passing by came to their rescue. He said, he will add his one cow to
>help them divide the property. With the sage's cow, there are 18 cows.
>- The first son takes nine (9) cows - 1/2 of 18
>- The second son takes six (6) cows - 1/3 of 18
>- The third son was given two (2) cow - 1/9 of 18
>In all 17 cows were given away to the three sons - 9+6+2
>The sage walks back with his single cow.
>Maya makes us see something that does not exist. Does Maya really exist?
>"sannApyasannApya ubhayAtmikA no
>bhinnApyabhinnApya ubhayAtmikA no
>sAngApyanangApya ubhayAtmikA no
>mahAdbhuta anirvachanIya rUpa  .......VivEka chUDAmaNi (verse 111)
>- It is not real, it is not unreal, not both, It is not different,
>it is not non-different, not both, It is not with parts, it is not
>without parts, not both. It is very wonderful and of form which is
>inexpressible.
>
>In the story example above, did the 18th cow exist? Was it different?;
>It appeared to exist, and different but did not exist in the dividing among
>the brothers.
>
>Regards,
>K. Ramakrishna
>
>