THE Doctrine of Maya - HolyBooks.com

"12 THE DOCTRINE OF MAYAThis inference seems to us to be reasonable andvalid. The fact isvery important, as we shall havethe opportunity to speak more of it later. Herewe cannot do anything more than simply mentionit,since we are now concerned only with the meanings of the word so far as it can be determined bya collocation of ancient texts in a more or lesschronological order.Now, the word does not so often occur in theYajurveda and the Samaveda. This cannot surprise us in any way. These two Vedas containmostly the mantras of the Rgveda which areadapted and arranged to suit their particular functions as well as some new mantras. In the Y.V.all ideas are subservient to sacrifice (yajfia) and itsvarious elaborate ceremonies ;while in the S.V.chanting or singing the mantras is the chief function.The R.V. is the chief source of these two Vedas,which along with it form what is known astrayividya," i.e., triple knowledge. The comparativeabsence of the word Maya from the Y.V. and theS.V. does not affect our examination, as the R.V.can be safely taken to be an index to the ideas andviews of the ancient Indians of that age. It wasnot very long before these two Vedas sprang intoexistence, to be ranked with the R.V. as to theirimportance and authority in the tradition of theAryans. In fact these three Vedas seem to havebeen brought into existence almost simultaneously,thoughit must be admitted that it took a consider-