The Moksha Gita : Swami Sivananda // Commentary : Chapter 3 -2. Swami Krishnananda.

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Sunday, February 12, 2023. 06:30.

The Moksha Gita : Swami Sivananda

Chapter 3: The Nature of Maya - 2

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4, 5. Maya is Indescribable (Sat-Asat-Vilakshana Anadi Bhava Rupa Anirvachaniya Maya). She is neither Sat nor Asat. Maya is Anadi Santam. She is beginningless but has an end only for the sage who has realised the Self. Maya is Suddha Sattwa or pure Sattwa.

Maya is neither Sat nor Asat, neither real nor unreal, neither is, nor is not. It transcends human comprehension, it stands above all ratiocination, it controls even the reasoning capacity of the individual. The degree of intelligence of a person is proportional to what extent he is freed from the stupefying influence of Maya. It is hard to withdraw oneself from its clutches for it originates from and is based on the Eternal Brahman Itself. That which is based on the Infinite Reality must therefore be a hideous power difficult to win victory over. To extricate oneself from the hypnotic effect of this Divine Illusion the individual has to dehypnotise himself into the consciousness of Self-Illumination and absoluteness.


The nature of Maya is Anadi-Bhava or beginningless existence and is Anirvachaniya or inexpressible by speech. It is Sat-Asat-Vilakshana, distinct from existence and non-existence. It is Anadi-Santam, without beginning, but with an end. It is ended by Brahmajnana or Absolute Wisdom arrived at through intense meditation or Nididhyasana. Maya differs from Brahman in that Brahman is Anadi-Anantam, beginningless and endless, whereas Maya is Santam or removable. The origin of ignorance cannot be found out, but it is well known that sages who have realised the Eternal Brahman free themselves from the effects of Maya. One can only tell how to free oneself from Maya, but one cannot say why Maya creates a universe.


Maya is Shudda-Sattwa and is not preponderated by Rajas or Tamas. That is the reason why Ishwara or the Cosmic Lord is uncontrolled and unaffected by the hypnotising power of Maya. Ishwara who is the Infinite limited by Maya is midway between the Indivisible Brahman and the multiple universe. Hence Ishwara is conscious of the Eternal Reality as well as of the diverse world of nature. He is in a sense, the mediator between Jiva and Brahman. Here is the necessity of the Jivas for developing devotion to God, for a sudden jumping into the Infinite Brahman is hard for the ignorant Jivas, without the help of the Universal Controller, Ishwara. Ishwara is the Personal God, the object of religious worship, and Brahman is the Absolute Truth, the object of philosophical quest.

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To be continued

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