Maya is the illusion that the world is as it is perceived via the senses: sight, sound, touch, taste and smell. It is the apparent reality of the material world. The term is closely related to Avidya, the difference being that Avidya is an individual reality and Maya is collective. According to the teachings of the Vedas, Maya is an invisible and eternal power of God, the Supreme Self (the Most High). Today spiritual types often dismiss, misrepresent, or even denounce it as being bad or some creation of an evil force that is obstructive to one’s spiritual progress. But the illusion of Maya and the desire that it creates is far more nuanced than modern spiritualist would suggest. Thus, it’s importance to our spiritual path and progress deserves to be assessed with greater depth.
Maya is said to be the feminine force of creation, in the Vedas. Its force manifests in terms of the three qualities (gunas in Sanskrit): Gods purest form or Sattva , Gods creative pursuits to build and create things or Rajas and Gods power to transform and end things or Tamas. Everything we see and experience in the world around us has these three attributes, especially the human mind. But we can’t lose site of the fact that Maya is an invisible and eternal power far greater than the three gunas.
There is pure consciousness -Shiva and pure energy -Shakti, they are both eternal. Maya is Shakti, the world of nature herself, and she is our greatest teacher, our greatest Guru. She is capable of balancing and transforming herself in an instant. Thus completely indestructible. Despite what we are told, human greed is incapable of destroying her. We do not have to worry about this present age of extreme greed and human confusion. Maya is a seductress and as such we must recognize that we have been collectively seduced into this experience. Without the seduction we’d remain dormant, ignorant and in a vulnerable state of sleep. This is not acceptable. This is not the goal of the Most High and the eternal Maya who fulfills his will diligently works to ensure that this doesn’t happen.
The entire phenomenal world is her manifestation, but she herself is invisible and divine, the Mother of all, eternally teaching her sleeping and arrogant children, the souls of the world -us, how to be aware, awake, and truly live. We are all subject to her laws and regulations and we simply have to wake up, it’s not an option. It’s the will of the Most High. Thus every experience is pregnant with soul and an opportunity to become self-realized.
-Cocoa
Private session with Cocoa, Vedic astrologer
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