THE Doctrine of Maya - HolyBooks.com

"""DEVELOPMENT OF ITS CONCEPTION 49expanded and developed in various ways in theUpanisads, and what we call the doctrine of Mayaisnothing more than an attempt to explain this factin detail, to show how it is impossible for the worldto be anything more than an appearance as distinguished fromwhich Reality,"strictly speakingisonly Brahman.We now come to one of the most important partsof our present subject, viz., the development of thetheory of Maya through the Upanisads down toSarikara. We may remark at the outset that thetheory may be enunciated in two :ways (i) Thatthe world is an illusion or appearance, and That(2)the only reality is the Atman. These two statements mean the same thing, so that the passageswhich emphasize the statement that the Atman isthe only reality mean most transparently that allelse (i.e.,other than the Atman, viz., the world, etc.)is not real.The Upanisads when read through without anyguiding principle seem to bristle with startling contradictions. The world is described as pervadedby the Atman, and it is said that all this is Brahman, while at the same time it is asserted that theworld is unreal ;it is declared that the Atmanagain,created the world, while yetit is true that there isno world besides Brahman.All such and other statements would perhaps baffle all attempts at explanation ifonly we looked at the external aspect, andsome readers of the Upanisads may consequently