THE Doctrine of Maya - HolyBooks.com

TiiiPREFACEword is not within the strict scope of my essay, butI have collected some suitable materials which mayhelp to give an insight into the gradual transitionof meaning of the word itself. In Chapter II Ihave attempted to trace the development of theconception, apart from the word. I do not, however, claim that the internal system of the Upanisadsas sketched there, the transition of the variousstages of thought, etc., is to be looked upon as anultimate scheme or the only possible scheme. Butsurely it is one of the possible systematic ways oftreating the Upanisads, consistent and coherentas far as it goes ;and as yet I know of no betterscheme. In the same chapterI have given a verybrief analysis of Gaudapada s Karikas on the MandukyaUpanisad, so far as they bear on the subject.This has its own justification, since the book isunfortunately not so well known, and even thosewho know it cursorily do not always understandit correctly. Some of itsepigrammatic stanzashave been erroneously construed so as to countenance either the doctrine of Sunyavada or that ofthe reality of the world. I have selected the mosttypical as well as the most difficult passages, which,Imay hope, will remove doubts on this point. Itseems to me perfectly clear that Gaudapada wasa thoroughgoing idealist and a worthy precursorof Sankara. Then in Chapter III I have examinedin brief the fundamental objections of the threeother schools within the Vedanta, especially those