BABA'S EXPLANATION ON MAYA
N G Chandorkar: Who is this Maya? Who created her? What is she likes? You Just now said that the root of the whole world is Chaitanya. Then where does Maya come in.
Baba: I will describe to you where and how she comes. Maya is the name given to the Shakti or Power of Chaitanya which makes chaitanya appear in different forms. Can you separate Chaitanya from its Shakti? You cannot – just as you cannot separate jaggery from its sweetness and the sun from its brilliance. The separation comes only at the end of maya. Maya ends when Chaitanya is released. Chaitanya is endless. Both chaitanya and Maya are beginningless. Maya and chaitanya are also named Prakriti and purusha, which are fully described in the Jnaneswari from which you must get your Atma Jnana.
Chaitanya is a cave and he who enters into that cave never returns but becomes the cave.
Maya is Karya and has wonderful quality. I am such and such a person, you are such and such etc., - all this is the result of maya. All these of unreal differences. You see, if you are under maya, (undifferenced) reality does not appear. Maya has two aspects. (1) The Avarna covering up the consciousness of the soul of atman and (2) Vikshepa, producing illusory appearances over that covering. Here is an illustration.
A cooly dreamt that he became a king. Thereby he forgot his coolyship. That coolyship was covered up (avarna) by Maya, and kingship was produced by Maya over that cover. Similarly maya covers up Brahman and produces worldly appearances. In reality, the world does not exists. Only one Real (Sat) exists but these appearances are taken to be real. That causes the mischief (akalyan). So kick out Maya and regain Brahman how? Regard yourself as pure Chaitanya. Water when relieved of impurity is pure water. Similarly remove impurity of Maya from this world of appearances. Then that appearance becomes reality. This is the upasana of the Real sadvastu. Think of this always. This is my advice to all. This constant thought of the sadvastu or Atman is the Adhyatma. You should release this atman as yourself and become Mukta in this life.
Source: Baba's Charters and Sayings, # 126
