Māyā

te vai vidanty atitaranti ca deva-māyāṁ

te vai vidanty atitaranti ca deva-māyāṁ
strī-śūdra-hūṇa-śabarā api pāpa-jīvāḥ |
yady adbhuta-krama-parāyaṇa-śīla-śikṣās
tiryag-janā api kim u śruta-dhāraṇā ye ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 2.7.46)

“Even women, śūdras, Hūṇas, and Śabaras, as well as sinful living beings and even slanting creatures [i.e., animals] certainly understand Deva’s [i.e., Bhagavān’s] māyā and cross beyond [it] if they have [received] instruction about the character of those devoted to he of astonishing stride [i.e., Bhagavān], and so all the more [do] those who sustain steadiness upon what they have heard.”

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sa yad ajayā tv ajām anuśayīta guṇāṁś ca juṣan

sa yad ajayā tv ajām anuśayīta guṇāṁś ca juṣan
bhajati sarūpatāṁ tad anu mṛtyum apeta-bhagaḥ |
tvam uta jahāsi tām ahir iva tvacam ātta-bhago
mahasi mahīyase’ṣṭa-guṇite’parimeya-bhagaḥ ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.87.38; cited in Bhagavat Sandarbha: 24; Paramātma Sandarbha: 39)

“Since he [i.e., the jīva], however, can lie down with the unborn [i.e., ignorance (avidyā) on account of the unborn (ajayā) [i.e., māyā], he partakes of the qualities [of the unborn] and thereafter of likeness [to those qualities of the unborn], becomes deprived of fortune (apeta-bhagaḥ), and undergoes death [i.e., saṁsāra]. You, on the contrary, shun her [i.e., the unborn, i.e., māyā], like a serpent [its] skin, and, being possessed of fortune, are exalted in [your own] eightfold greatness, being of immeasurable fortune.”

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nṛṣu tava māyayā bhramam amīṣv avagatya bhṛśaṁ

nṛṣu tava māyayā bhramam amīṣv avagatya bhṛśaṁ
tvayi sudhiyo’bhave dadhati bhāvam anuprabhavam |
katham anuvartatāṁ bhava-bhayaṁ tava yad bhrū-kuṭiḥ
sṛjati muhus trinemir abhavac-charaṇeṣu bhayam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 10.87.32)

[Translated according to Śrī Śrīdhara Svāmīpāda’s commentary:] “Understanding the ignorance as a consequence of your māyā among these human beings wherefrom repeated birth ensues, the wise foster bhāva [i.e., render service] profusely for you, Non-existence [i.e., you who are the cause of liberation from material existence]. How could your followers have any distress on account of [material] existence, since the furrowing of your brows—time (trinemi)—creates distress perpetually for those who are not in your shelter?”

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tasyā eva praticchāyā-rūpā māyā guṇātmikā

tasyā eva praticchāyā-rūpā māyā guṇātmikā ||
mithyā-prapañca-jananī mithyā-bhrānti-tamomayī |
ato’nirūpyānityādyā jīva-saṁsāra-kāriṇī ||
aṣṭamāvaraṇāsyādhiṣṭhātrī mūrtimatī hi yā |
kāryākāra-vikārasyāprāptyā prakṛtir ucyate ||
yasyās tv atikrameṇaiva muktir bhaktiś ca sidhyati |
utpāditaṁ yayā viśvam aindrajālikavan mṛṣā ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.4.179–182)

“Her [i.e., Bhagavān’s superior potency’s (parā-śakti’s)] semblance is [his inferior (aparā) śakti known as] māyā constituted of the guṇas, who is the mother of the false phenomenal world (prapañca), constituted of the darkness of delusions based on falsity, thus unascertainable, impermanent, primordial, the cause of the jīvas’ saṁsāra, possessed of form as the superintendent of the eight coverings [of the brahmāṇḍa], and called prakṛti on account of [her] non-obtainment of transformations in the form of [the] effects [she produces]; only by crossing beyond whom [i.e., her] mukti, as well as bhakti, is attained, and by whom [i.e., her], like a magician, the universe is falsely produced.”

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na yāvad etāṁ tanu-bhṛn narendra

na yāvad etāṁ tanu-bhṛn narendra
vidhūya māyāṁ vayunodayena |
vimukta-saṅgo jita-ṣaṭ-sapatno
vedātma-tattvaṁ bhramatīha tāvat ||
na yāvad etan mana ātma-liṅgaṁ
saṁsāra-tāpāvapanaṁ janasya |
yac choka-mohāmaya-rāga-lobha-
vairānubandhaṁ mamatāṁ vidhatte ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 5.11.15–16)

“[Rendered according to the Bhāvārtha-dīpikā:] O King, as long as the bearer of a body does not cast away this māyā, and, having become completely freed from attachment and victorious over the six co-wives [i.e., the six senses], understand the nature of the self (ātma-tattva) by means of the appearance of wisdom, so long he wanders here [i.e., in saṁsāra], and as long as one does not understand the mind, a guise of the self, to be the field of a person’s suffering in saṁsāra which bears a continuance of lamentation, delusion, disease, attraction, greed, and enmity, and produces my-ness [so long one wanders in saṁsāra].”

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aho māyābalaṁ viṣṇoḥ sneha-baddham idaṁ jagat

aho māyābalaṁ viṣṇoḥ sneha-baddham idaṁ jagat ||
kva deho bhautiko’nātmā kva cātmā prakṛteḥ paraḥ |
kasya ke pati-putrādyā moha eva hi kāraṇam ||
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam: 8.16.18–19)

“[Kaśyapa Muni, slightly smiling melancholically, speaks to Aditi:] Aho! This world is bound by affection, the power of Viṣṇu’s māyā! Where is the non-self, the body made of the [material] elements? And where is the self (ātmā) distinct from prakṛti? Who is whose husband, son, and so on? Delusion (moha) is the only cause [of considering anyone to be one’s own relative or oneself to be anyone else’s relative].”

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mahābhūtāny ahaṅkāro buddhir avyaktam eva ca |

mahābhūtāny ahaṁkāro buddhir avyaktam eva ca |
indriyāṇi daśaikaṁ ca pañca cendriya-gocarāḥ ||
icchā dveṣaḥ sukhaṁ duḥkhaṁ saṁghātaś cetanā dhṛtiḥ |
etat kṣetraṁ samāsena sa-vikāram udāhṛtam ||
(Śrīmad Bhagavad-gītā: 13.5-6)

“The [five] gross elements (mahābhūtas), the ego (ahaṅkāra), the intellect (buddhi), the unmanifested [i.e., prakṛti], the ten senses and the one [additional one], the five objects of the senses, desire, aversion, happiness, suffering, the aggregate [i.e., the body], consciousness, and resolution—this in sum is said to be the field (kṣetra) along with its transformations.”

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dvā suparṇā sayujā sakhāyā samānaṁ vṛkṣaṁ pariṣasvajāte

dvā suparṇā sayujā sakhāyā samānaṁ vṛkṣaṁ pariṣasvajāte |
tayor anyaḥ pippalaṁ svādv atty anaśnann anyo abhicākaśīti ||
samāne vṛkṣe puruṣo nimagno’niśayā śocati muhyamānaḥ |
juṣṭaṁ yadā paśyaty anyam īśam asya mahimānam iti vīta-śokaḥ ||
(Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad: 3.1.1–2)

“Two birds of beautiful plumage,

Ever-united in friendship,

Perch on the same tree.

Among them,

One eats the tasty berry [of the tree],

And the other, not eating, watches over [the first].

On the same tree,

The puruṣa [i.e., the embodied living entity], absorbed,

Laments because of [his] powerlessness, being deluded.

When he sees the other, the Lord, satisfied, and his [i.e., the Lord’s] greatness, he becomes free from lamentation.”

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duṣitān bahu-doṣeṇa sukhābhāsena bhūṣitān

duṣitān bahu-doṣeṇa sukhābhāsena bhūṣitān |
māyāmayān mano-rājya-svapna-dṛṣṭārtha-saṁmitān ||
(Bṛhad Bhāgavatāmṛta: 2.3.10)

“[Gopa Kumāra on his way to Siddhaloka: I saw these fourteen lokas of the material universe] Tainted by numerous faults, ornamented by a shadow of happiness [i.e., not by ultimate (paramārtha) happiness], made of māyā, and similar to objects seen in a fantasy or dream.”

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