THE Doctrine of Maya - HolyBooks.com

"122 THE DOCTRINE OF MAYAnot in the individual self, because the selfhood ofthe individual self is itself projected by avidyd ;neither could it reside in Brahman, since He has theessential nature of self-luminous intelligence, and isthus opposed to avidyd (ignorance).Criticism. This objection rests upon a two-foldmisinterpretation. In the first place, Ramanujastarts with the idea that Maya (or Avidya) is something real, and consequently demands a seat for thisillusionor ignorance / Avidyd is decidedly nota reality: it isonly the negation of vidyd, or theobscuration of it. As the fire is latent in the wood, sois our godly nature, our spiritual principle, hidden bythe upddhis, In the second place, Ramanuja makesan unwarranted differentiation between Brahmanand the individual soul. In stating the position of theAdvaitin he has no right to colour it with his ownconceptions. We, after Safikara, do not admit sucha difference between the two. Brahman becomes theindividual soul only by upddhis, i.e., self-imposedlimitations of manas, ten senses, subtle body, Karma,etc.These upddhis may figuratively be spoken ofas limiting the Atman and resolvingit into the twoaspects of the Highest Atman (Brahman) and theindividual Atman. If, therefore, we are pressedby Ramanuja to state the residence of Avidya, wemay meet him by saying that it must, if at all conceived as such, reside in the upddhis the mind(manas), the senses, etc. As a matter of fact, thisdemand of Ramanuja seems to be unjustifiable and