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It conceals Brahman from our knowledge point of view and shows up in it place the universe and world of souls. It not only makes not apprehend Braluman, but creates some other thing in its place. It is its speciality that it projects something in the place it conceals. In this sense Mäyā is considered as a positive. Everything is play of Maya, just appearance of Brahmm. How Bralman appears is very difficult to exppin, but we can only say that Bralman appears as the world, even as the rope appears as the snake.
It is very difficult to give logically satisfactory account of doctrine of Māyā. Sureśvara, a direct disciple of Sankara, admits that there is a core of unintelligibility associated with the doctrine of Māya 38 But on this basis it cannot be denied. It is a felt fact. It is basis of our intellectual, religious, inoral and social activities. In fact every one of our activity is the work of Mäyä, 39 It is a simple statement of facts, it is what we are and what is around us. 'It is co-eval with our life. We do not know how or when we got into it. Nobody walks into an illusion consciously. We can only know bow to get out of it. Really it is the result of a false indentification of the real and the unreal. It is a nature of mau's experience.40 For common man the world of Māyā is rcal. The learned, man thinks that it is unreal and for the metaphysician, it is neither real nor unreal.4!
This causal potentiality or the cause of the world appearance be understood from the two stand paths. For Isvara, or God, Māyā is only the will to crate the appearance. It does not affect God, does not deceive Him. For ordinary ignorant people like us, who are deceived by it and see maniness here instead of one Brahman, Mäyu is an illusion producting ignorance. In this aspect Mäyā is also called, therefore, Ajñāna, or Avidya and is conceived as having the double function of concealing the real nature of Brahman, the ground of the world and making him appear as something else, viz., the world. But for those wise few who are not deceived by the world show, but who perceive in it nothing but Brahman, there is no illusion, nor therefore, illusion producing Mäyā. Brahiman for them is not therefore, the wielder of Maya.42
MĀYA AND AVIDYA :
It secms that Sankara does not make any difference between Māyā and Aridyā. He uses them as synonymous terms. Even Rāmānuja took Māya in the sense of Avidya and criticises it in his Sribhâsya mostly using the word Avidyā. It is of the nature of Avidyā.13 Sankara, quite clearly states that Maya is Avidya.44 The world has also some times been
