What is maya ?
Maya means illusion or farce. The concept of maya gets its drive from the logic that everything that we see or experience in the world is temporary. Not only that, our attitude, understanding, and experiences change depending on the how we view the situation and our attachment to the outcome. Consequently, our experience is always changing, and this is called samvritti-sathya or transient-truth.
How does maya occur?
- First, as soon as we become conscious of our own existence, we look for confirmation that we exist (our cognition of our Self or asmita).
- As soon as someone confirms our existence, we form a bond (bandhana) with that person or entity to ensure continued affirmation of existence.
- However, our conditioning (dharma) may not synchronise with the other person or entity, so we are constantly experiencing like (raga) or dislike (dvesha) in our transaction with the other entity, even as we remain within the bond.
- When we like something, we try to bring it closer. Similarly, when we dislike something, we try to push it away. This causes movement/ doing or action (karma) and debt (rna).
- All action (karma) results in experience (anubhava) which is dependent on our situational awareness (prajna).
- Situational awareness consists of two components:
- Awareness of the situation by the Self during the transaction (vijnana).
- Awareness of changes to the Self due to the transaction (jnana).
- These changes to our awareness depend on the permutations and combinations of 3 attributes of cognition (guna).
What is the relationship between maya, asmita, and tantra (weave)?
- Tantra means “weave”. It is the weave of the person, the Self or identity, with his or its actions.
- The Self is called Shiva or Purusha and the manifestation of Self is called Shakti or Prakriti.
- The difference between Shiva and Purusha is that Shiva is the quanta or unit identity, while Purusha is the composite of many Shiva identities.
- So, one might say that Shiva is the building block of Purusha, and Purusha is any identity that comprises two or more Shiva identities.
- At the universe-level, Purusha is known as Parama Purusha (supreme Identity or Self), in which quanta-identities are continuously generated and dissolved. This phenomenon is known as Sadashiva or perennial-identity.
- In the individual, our identity is called asmita (sense of self-worth) and its manifestation is called svabhava (behaviour). Their weave is svatantra (individuality) and the feeling of being the doer is called ahankara.
- The manifestation of Shiva/ Purusha is not possible without Shakti/Prakriti , just as Shakti/Prakriti cannot manifest without their identities, Shiva/Purusha. They weave with each other continuously and this weave is called tantra.
But, how do the mechanics work?
- First, when Shiva manifests with Shakti, the initial experience is awareness of its own identity (existential identity).
- Next, the need is confirmation of existence forces Shiva to find another Shiva to acknowledge its existence.
- When this happens, Shiva experiences both, happiness at confirmation of existence and fear of loss of this confirmation of identity.
- The fear of loss of this confirmation forces the manifesting identity (Shiva) to latch on to receiving identity (Shiva).
- Consequently, this bond is not broken until either finds an alternative confirmation of existence.
Shiva‘s manifestation in the individual is asmita (cognition of Self, identity or self-worth). The conditioning is svadharma (personal conditioning) and behaviour is svabhava. Finally, the weave of conditioning with behaviour is called svatantra or personality.
The transaction between the manifesting Shiva and receiving Shiva is called maya (illusion/ farce).
How does the transaction between two entities (Shiva) become maya (farce)?
Whenever we transact with anyone, we are constantly confronted by perception. We never see everything in its entirety, nor do others see us for what we actually are. Broadly speaking, we can split our perceptions into,
- Our behaviour, which is called darshana (that which is shown).
- What others see, which can be called drishti (that which is seen)
- The seer is called drishta (one who sees)
The transactional mechanics can be broken down as follows –
- Firstly, during the transaction, the manifesting Shiva can transmit its identity only to the level of its own awareness/ cognition, and this is never complete or in alignment with the situation.
- Similarly, the receiving Shiva can receive and analyse the incoming information only to the extent supported by its identity and its awareness of the situation.
- However, the reality is that each Shiva thinks that its own as well as the other’s manifestation is complete, and this leads to a difference in perception between the manifestation and feedback.
- The resulting relative difference between the perceptions of the sender and the receiver as well as the way feedback is received and decoded, is maya (illusion).
Additionally, it’s important to realise that various other parameters of decision-making framework are also continuously changing.
- The conditioning (dharma) of the sender and receiver is continuously changing,
- The dharma of others in the environment is continuously changing.
- Both, the sender and receiver are getting inputs from multiple sources, which makes them distracted.
- Everyone’s self-worth (asmita) is continuously changing because the awareness is never completely engaged in the present.
- The environment or framework of the transaction is continuously changing.
Comment: Therefore, it is very important to understand how maya (illusion) drives our existence. Our manifestation is the expression of our identity (asmita). However, the feedback we get may or may not be in congruence with how we perceive our Identity.
Consequently, when there is congruence between our manifestation and the feedback we receive, our sense of self-worth (asmita) expands, and there is raga (attraction-karma). But, when it is dissonance between the feedback and our Identity, then our asmita contracts and dvesha (repulsion-karma) results.
What is the role of prajna (awareness)?
From the above, we can realise that our ability to engage completly in any situation is dependent on our awareness in any situation.
Situational awareness (prajna) consists of two components:
- Awareness of the situation by the Self during the transaction (vijnana).
- Awareness of changes to the Self due to the transaction (jnana).
Points to ponder about maya (illusion) :
Internal Tags: Conditioning or Dharma, Self Awareness or Asmita, Guna in Bhagavat- Geeta chapter 14
External Tags: Stress
- How do you recognise your value system or conditioning (dharma)?
- When you are stressed, how do you know?
- How do you recognise that your coping actions are not adequate?
- What would svatantra mean for your team, your company, your state or country.
