MAYA

The term "maya" in Vedanta generally means world illusion.  But what does it mean more precisely?  The root of the word is "matr," from which we get the modern words "measure," "meter," and "matrix."  Maya is the world as measured, which is how the human brain sees it, in bits, as if a grid were placed over it.  The world, however, is not bits, but is an entirety, so vast that the mind cannot grasp it in its true state.

Maya also means magic and play and in this way is the creative illusion that the Brahman, the godhead, generates.  But it is not illusion in the sense of unreality. Rather it is cosmic play or cosmic sport.  

The world is further described in Vedanta as a drama.  The Brahman plays all the parts in the drama, and it is through us humans that it witnesses it.  As part of the drama, it believes that the roles it is playing are real, until eventually it awakens from it, at which point the world ends--until the Brahman begins it again.

The ever-changing mirage-like aspect of life, where a piece of rope lying by the roadside will appear in twilight to be a snake, or a distant post a man, is also maya.  Maya is described as that illusion of reality which is not Reality itself, even though it is embodied in that Reality.

The Vedanta model of the universe as a drama is contrasted with the model of Western religions where the universe is seen as an artifact, something that is made, like a potter makes a pot.  With this model God created a human out of clay, blowing the breath of life into its nostrils.  The Chinese model as found in Taoism, on the other hand, is an organic one.  The universe is seen as an organism, with every part affecting every other part. 

The inspiration for the Vedanta model might well be the way in which we humans feel at times like we are playing roles.  We have a public self that meets and interacts with the world, and then we have a private, personal self.  But it so happens that there are lots of selves that we create throughout our lives depending on the circumstance, all of which we feel sooner or later to be an illusion.  In Vedanta, our realizing this is the Brahman waking from its play, albeit ever so briefly, before going back and playing at it some more.