The Metaphysics of Maya

December 15, 2020

In the Devi Atharvashirsham, a part of the famous Tantrik Scripture Durga

Saptashati, the second stanza says,

which means, “I am the intrinsic nature of consciousness, From me both

nature and consciousness have taken birth, this world of true existence and
untrue appearance.” A stanza worthy of deep contemplation by itself, it also
clears up some fundamental misconceptions inherited from the distortion of the
original advaita vedanta teachings, which assert the manifest world is unreal and
only the absolute is real. The world is unreal ONLY in appearance and real in
its true existence. Refusing the world altogether also means refusing the source
of true existence within it. Its the appearance which is to be refused so that the
unity within can be affirmed. The kernel and import of all religion, philosophy
and metaphysics has always been this. Science tries to poke into the appearance
aspect of things so to reach the essence and Yoga attempts to pierce directly
into the essence of things so as to understand the appearance in a new light.
The newly attained light reconfigures the understanding of reality which then
is finally understood as only an appearance. Until then appearance is reality
for everyone deluded by Avidya (false knowledge). To be fair to Science, it is
because appearance has such a marvelous look that it is difficult to not take
it as real. But as we are now coming to see, Science has now gone as far into
matter as it could and found mostly empty space. New infinitesimal particles
are being discovered by breaking “matter” down which play a bewitching game
among each other. And in a bewildering Hegelian turn to things, yesterday a
particle was discovered which is its own anti-matter, in Hegel’s terms, matter is
its own “immanent critique”. All this may be very fascinating for scientists but

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the problem of Science will always be its utter incapacity to answer the Why.
Its so occupied with How that Purpose and Meaning are beyond its reach. In
the scheme of reality as found in the scriptures, Meaning is found in the high
levels of formless reality and “brought down” into matter. Thus physical matter
and its movements is a huge and distorted reflection of the original meaning.
Thus Science by concentrating on the distorted effects of purer causes will find
it impossible to find the true causes of things. In another place in the Chandi
Path, the following line appears,

“The Supreme Sovereign is composed of the three causes, Sattva, Rajas and
Tamas. Her intrinsic nature is both definable and indefinable, and having dis-
tinguished all the individual phenomena, she resides within.” This captures the
dilemma of Science perfectly. It is investigating individual phenomena on the
outside and whereas the cause is deep within, that nature is paradoxically both
capable of being captured and yet not captured in thought. This reminds one
of the early experiments with the double slit experiments where the photons of
light are happily creating patterns when no one is looking but as soon as some-
one tries to look at the mechanics of the formation, light becomes predictable
and all the play of patterns is stopped. One can interpret this in two ways,
one, that Nature rarely reveals her secrets to the uninitiated, which was and
is a very old maxim of the initiates and secondly that for the curious layman,
he can see only what is appropriate at his level of consciousness. Also the fact
that the observer had an effect on the experiment says that the individual does
create his own reality albeit a distortion of the true one. These ideas have al-
ways been taught in the ancient schools of wisdom so in that sense, Science is
only refurbishing old truths in a new garb. This garb has a point after all since
knowledge is increased on the material level and concrete knowledge forms one
of the seven departments of the Plan. But its only one of the seven depart-
ments and we should remember the proper place of this dimension of modern
“scientific” knowledge. The “definable” part of the Goddess is what the Bud-
dhists call, conventional reality or the reality of appearances. One can take the
appearance for reality and make all kinds of theories based on it, dance in it,
drown in it, laugh and cry in it but that will reveal none of her truth. Most

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of the history of Philosophy has been caught in the trap of trying to capture
Her in thought purely by her appearance. The “indefinable” part of Her is the
ultimate reality which cannot be captured in thought. The greatest evidence
of this is the field of Prasangika Madhyamika where the great Sage Nagarjuna
demolishes every attempt to capture ordinary reality in concepts. It shows to
anyone willing to go through the labour of understanding it, that how all our
concepts about the ordinary world are only true at a relative level in conjunc-
tion with the frame in which we apply it. There is no absolutism to any mental
concept altogether. When we try to go inside the origin of our everyday con-
cepts, we come up against total emptiness. The conclusion of Madhyamika is
that this ordinary reality around us of everyday life is indefinable in thought
from the ultimate level. The ultimate level matters because the conventional
level is ridden with utter lies and Truth only resides where the illusions have
been got rid of. The objective of Nagarjuna and the Madhyamika masters was
to raise the thinking capacity of seekers to the level of a being who is looking
at the world from outside of time and space, in other words, from outside of
Maya. That this is well nigh Herculean is of no doubt because we are not just a
mental being. Getting rid of our mental illusions is not enough because man is
composed of emotional, physical and physical bodies too and these have their
own energies which are stuck in Maya. It is for this reason that the Buddhist
masters considered Madhyamika as a first step after which the other processes
dealing with the other bodies becomes easier since the chattering mind stops
whispering fallacious lies in our ears. In an intensive mental race like ours, this
is a real boon.
The question of indefinability at an ultimate level raises many questions least
of all which is, if the mind is incapable of understanding reality, then what is ?
The real mechanism of creation in space-time is not an object of comprehension
for the lower mind because in essence, Space-Time itself is the result of causes
which lie beyond both these constructs. This all-encompassing Truth which is
beyond Space and Time is the Goal of all seekers. In the ancient wisdom, it
is well known that the three worlds of mental, emotional and physical planes
are planes of Illusion. Beyond it lies the Buddhic, Atmic and Monadic Planes
which are Planes of ever increasing Truth. But how then is this whole illusion
created ? Any attempt to describe such a process is defeated from the very
beginning since language is a creation of space and time and thus shares all
the defects of this level of reality. Thus processes which are initiated in the
planes of the “Eternal Now” find it impossible to be represented in the planes

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of past, present and future. The question of space-time have occupied the mind
of the greatest thinkers on the planet without much elucidation but at a very
basic level, Spacial consciousness is essentially about the finitude of matter. Its
because separation in consciousness exists between us and the world other than
us, we perceive space. Time is the symbol of isolated units of consciousness’s
attempts to overcome the problems of space. By problems, I mean the ever busy
world of likes and dislikes which for every individual, dictates the order of space
one in comfortable with. Its through desire that we are unconsciously trying
to order space in time. Human life is at its heart, driven by our attempts to
order space and time. Desire’s roots lie in separation and finitude in matter and
its solution lies in the nullification of that separateness. In this level of reality,
separation and heterogeneity is the order of things and both evil and desire are
man’s rebellion against the order of things. Separation is a fact of consciousness
and not just “out there” in the world. When one has transcended separation,
one has achieved Unity and thus the problems of space and consequently time
has been resolved. Unity can be conceived as a state of consciousness when it
encompasses effectively infinite space. In such a state, Time will stop existing
because Time is ordered by a change in states of consciousness which change
is driven by an unconscious perception of separateness and desire concomitant
with it. In normal language also, we measure time with respect to Desire.
Desireless people effectively live in a timeless plane. The fact that Maya breaks
down into Ma-Not and Ya-That, meaning “not that”, says a lot about the inner
message in the outer kaleidoscope of things. Maya is telling us that she is not
what she appears to be so in Man’s anguish at this imposed separation from his
“other” is the result of his lack of Truth. Durga Saptashati is the great scripture
to appeal to Mahamaya, the great Deluder to remove the veils and reveal the
Light. One of the great features of the Ancient texts like the Saptashati is that
it has many levels of comprehension for the varying levels of its readers. In outer
garb, this texts seems like a prayer to a Goddess in devotional terms but hidden
in every line is a secret, esoteric meaning only known to her chosen students.
The exoteric and esoteric were always entwined in the past.
So we must ask then, how does the Goddess operate this majestic illusion
? We must remember that though we are seeking an immeasurably powerful
Devi in the form of Durga, she also represents the whole structure of beings
who create the illusion we call Maya. And it is with these beings that we have
to seek our answers. Since language or thought is not capable of understanding
this problem, we have to resort to symbols which seek to open up the intuitive

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mind. The symbol we use here is Projection and to explain this, lets resort
to an image. Imagine a galaxy of Higher beings who though being separate in
individuality, are united in Consciousness outside space and time. From their
perspective, there is only an eternal Now. But this “Now” is outside the three
planes of illusion. These beings project finite individualized smaller selves in
a artificial construct which to them is finite but from within that construct,
appears infinite. These finite selves are us. The Higher beings, being united in
consciousness are effectively our essential selves but to us, they don’t exist. We
are given “free will” to run our lives, interact in this construct and seek the Truth
which lie with our higher selves. Karma is the result of these interactions and
the objective of this whole construct is to realize our Identity with our higher
selves whose projections we are. Though our true selves are One, we are Many.
When we have realized our Oneness inside this construct, we have fulfilled the
goal of creation. What was an eternal Now only outside creation has now been
brought down into creation. We will of course remain separate in bodies but
it is in consciousness where the Unity will be realized. The image brings us a
whole plethora of questions which can be meditated upon but the most startling
realization is the consequence of the Unity above on the separateness below. We
are forced to confront the essential inter-connectedness of Karma, individual,
social, national and planetary. The grand tapestry of existence, intertwined
by billions of threads stretched in time spread out over an entire swarm of
evolutionary monads appears in our imagination. Existence in this construct
is a throbbing pulsation of Life, a gargantuan honeybee nest with billions of
tiny units of consciousness, humans, birds, beasts carrying out the relentless
dramas of existence. Imagine that for each of our Higher selves, this grand
tapestry is a single block of consciousness within which, every little life is like a
cell in a human body and we come to understand somewhat what Unity really
means. Karma becomes the guiding law of this tapestry and these Higher selves,
united in one, become the Divine Gurus, who compassionately guide their small
children through the maze of existence so that one day, they might also grow up
and become one of the Guides of Evolution just like their fathers. Maya thus
becomes as much of a teacher as a foe. If there were no Maya, Consciousness
would always be stuck in these near-formless planes and Unity would never be
realized in the grosser levels of creation. In Yoga, these Higher selves have been
called the Gurus, whose true meaning has become lost in our times. One can
imagine what the goal of the true Guru is, to help you realize Unity. Since He
lives in the eternal consciousness of Unity, he certainly cannot be reached by

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selfish desire since that will defeat the very purpose of his tremendous sacrifice
and work. All consciousness development proceeds by mimicking here what is
true above. Thus relinquishing of desire here sets up alignment with the streams
of Truth flowing above. One can realize the entirety of spiritual practice as a
means to realize the consciousness of our Higher Selves. Everything that reeks
of separation is progressively shredded so that consciousness can stand clear
of separative emotions and thoughts. This is undoubtedly the hardest part of
any monad’s development, the human stage. Humans stand in the dangerous
precipice between evolution and regression. Its in this stage that the greatest
internal battles are fought, greatest dramas of creation enacted and heights of
sublime realizations attained. Thus the need for Gurus and consequently the
need for compassion. Its not easy fighting this battle.
The greatest proof of Humanity’s failure in achieving this goal lies deeply
buried in the planetary memory with the histories of Lemuria and Atlantis, two
streams of evolution whose entire existence was removed off the face of the earth
by the Guides and their continents drowned, because Evil had taken such a hold
on their consciousness. The earth today sees a tremendous amount of misery
but it is said, both in its heights and lows, Atlantis was way ahead of us. Thus
this construct which is essentially illusion is still an illusion with its relative laws
and all activity in every sphere down here aims at a replication of the eternal
laws above in which our Gurus live. In the Rig Veda, this order is called Rtam,
the cosmic order. The Vedic Yagya, in its meticulous obsession to details was
actually an enactment of this Rtam. The whole science of Kalpa, or Ceremonial
is a microcosmic enactment of the universe. This was the way in which the
ancients mimicked creation below to match the uncreated above and aimed at
liberation. One who understood the cosmic meanings of the positions of the
various constituents, the significance of the mantras, also understood the laws
of Creation at the planetary, Solar and Galactic levels. One example should
suffice. As part of the recitation of Vedic Suktams, there is a little ritual called
Nyasam where one seems to place certain Devas in particular portions of the
body. The particulars of the devas differs according the the Deva to whom the
Suktam is addressed. The greatest of such Nyasam is called MahaNyasam ad-
dressed to Shiva in his Rudra form where about a thousand mantras are uttered.
The exoteric aim is to become as “pure” as Shiva so that one could conduct the
ceremony. But a deeper wisdom tells us that if we note the meanings of the
various names of the Gods and their positions, we encounter a whole architec-
ture of creation symbolized in the Human Body. The insignificant piece of flesh

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comes to resemble a grand sacrificial platform where a cosmic ritual is being
enacted. If we then project this symbolism in space, we arrive at a staggering
truth, that Shiva in reality represents the infinity of space holding together the
vault of creation where the various Gods are carrying on the magnificent Cosmic
Drama of creation. This was the knowledge of the Ancients which has now been
lost because the true interpretation of the names and the positions was only
taught to the chosen initiates. The Satapatha Brahmana, Hundred paths to the
Absolute looks on the outside a set of unconnected arrangements of ritualistic
materials but hidden deep within are hundred such esoteric teachings of the
Divine Creative principles running the Universe. The Vedic Gods were not just
Deities waiting up there to distribute goodies for a comfortable earthly life as
is now thought if at all thought. They were specific Powers of Creation with
very particular attributes whose work was to order creation below according to
the Plan above. It is sometimes thought that one could ask any boon from the
Devas and he or she would give it. But all such wants which were contrary to
Unity were always punished as shown in the Puranas and Itihasas. The essence
of all striving for a Deva was to order one’s internal structure in accordance
to the divine principle represented by the Deva. Since they represent Unity’s
certain specific attributes, one could choose which attributes appealed to the
seeker. This was the origin of the Ishta Deva, your specific form of Divinity.
By aligning yourself to a specific representation of Unity, you sought out your
path of Liberation. The Goal remained Unity in all cases. Thus Rudra would
represent the Fierce form of Unity which is required to break through certain
impossible barriers to reaching it. Vishnu would represent the Consciousness
Principle of Creation and ordering aspect of Unity. Such a path automatically
ordered your internal thought structures to align with the Unity and thus, de-
sires in the ordinary sense come to an end. You desire that which “must be
desired” because that is in tune with the Plan. Then the Universe will ensure
it reaches you since that must reach you. Such was the universe in which our
ancients lived. In the end , it all comes down to how much earnestness we bring
in to our lives so that the very purpose of this grand Creation is accomplished.
It is said by those who have reached the other shore that when they first en-
countered their Higher Selves and guided by them, reached the consciousness
of Unity, it seemed nothing in this universe could compare to the infinite vistas
of Truth, the over-arching vision of the Creators which were revealed to them.
Only after a heroic and enormous struggle was such an accomplishment attained
but the reward seemed infinitely more worthy than even many lives of effort. In

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the words of a Sage talking of all the sacrifices which he made, “It was entirely
worth it and immeasurably more.”