Hari OM
Application - that is what
'Workings-days' are about!
For as long as it takes to complete
it, we are going to be using today as well as Text-days to fulfil study of the
SadaachaaraH. If you have not been following that text, then use the relevant
label to go back to the beginning. It is, as might be surmised from its title,
about how to go about saadhana, but also explores more of the Sanskrit
philosophy; it is therefore both a 'working' as well as a 'thinking' text.
Maya was brought into discussion in the previous shloka. Let us look
a little closer.
A}an<
caNywa }an< mayameta< vdiNt te,
$ñr<
maiyn< iv*aNmayatIt< inrÃnm!.39.
Ajnaanam chaanyathaa jnaanam maayaametaam vadanti te,
Iishvaram maayinam vidhaan-maayaatiitam niranjanam ||39||
The wise declare these two ~
non-apprehension and misapprehension ~ to be Maya. The Lord is the wielder of
Maya and that which is beyond Maya is The Immaculate.
Iishvara is the form of the Brahman projected as the 'God' most
people refer to in religion. Not a physical being, but a power of keeping
things ticking in the world. It is important to remember that, despite giving a visual presence in the form of images and figurines, all Hindu 'gods' - said to
be 33,000,000 - are but powers and workings of things in the world. Brahma the
creator, Vishnu the maintainer, Shiva the destroyer, for example, are key to
physical processes of the cosmos. Iishvara pertains specifically to this planet
and life upon it. Every deity has a masculine and feminine power. Iishvara's
"consort" is Maya.
Maya is the ultimate creative and imaginative power. She can never
delude her husband, but, by his bidding, throws her veil upon all this and
through her, He creates this world and all things in it.
Maya's independent power takes two forms. Avarana shakti (the
veiling power) and vikshepa shakti (the projecting power). With avarana, she
hides the Truth from us and with vikshepa, she tricks us with falsities. Avarana
results in non-apprehension, the inability to see something. Vikshepa results
in misapprehension, seeing things wrongly. Both are nothing but ignorance.
Indeed, Maya herself is nothing but an illusion, for if we inquire
deeply enough we find our way to the Pure Self, the infinite and nameless in
which there is no trace of Maya - or any other deity/power.
