The Real Meaning of "Maya", A Comment on the Theos-Talk Dialogue about Maya 
By Bhakti Ananda Goswami

Maya does not mean ‘mother’ in Sanskrit. This is an associative meaning from the fact that MAYA is the personal name of Vishnu’s or Shiva’s Feminine Shakti as YOGA MAYA (the ‘Mother of Devotion’), or MAHA MAYA (Durga), Who is the ‘Mother’ of the material universes.  MA or MATA does mean MOTHER, but this is nowhere given as the root of the ancient Sanskrit word MAYA.

Below are some corrections regarding modern misperceptions about MAYA. These are from my long experience in studying early Vishnu, Shiva and Shakti Traditions. For confirmation of many of my assertions, please see the 1979 Edition of the Oxford Monier-Williams Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Please note that in this standard reference text, the earliest sources for the Sanskrit words given are VAISHNAVA SHASTRAS. This means that these words came out of a religio-cultural linguistic milieu in which KRISHNA or VISHNU (PURUSHA) was worshiped with His Emanations and Incarnations as THE SUPREME PERSONALITY OF GODHEAD. There were no generic ‘Hindu’ literatures in the ancient world, only ‘sectarian’ literatures exalting the supremacy of God Ess as Vishnu Hari-Shakti, or Shiva Hara-Shakti.  

In every case, the earliest surviving Sanskrit Literatures are not sectarian Shaivite, Shakta, Buddhist or Jain; they are always Vaishnava, and these are still part of the scriptural canon of living Vaishnavism today. The traditional commentaries on these Vedic-Vaishnava Shastras are now voluminous beyond imagining. If one wants to understand the original meanings of the Vedic-Vaishnava Sanskrit words IN THEIR EARLIEST RECORDED CONTEXT OF USE, one cannot gain this understanding from Jain, Buddhist, separated Shaivite, Shakta or Vedantic sources. One must study the Vaishnava Sanskrit vocabulary of the Vaishnava Scriptures from the perspective of the Vaishnava Devotional (Bhakti) Tradition. Consulting the original texts, traditional Vaishnava commentaries and the living tradition, and making related interdisciplinary inquiries, is the way to understand the original Vaishnava meanings and uses of the Sanskrit words in these texts.

In the same way, if we want to understand the later use of these Sanskrit words in Buddhism, or separate Shaivism, etc., or in the late Advaita Vedantic Tradition of Shankaracharya, we have to study their meanings and uses in those contexts. Different lineages are like different historical streams of thought with distinct watercourses. The use of words in these distinct traditions must be studied carefully IN CONTEXT to avoid erroneous assumptions regarding their meaning in other traditions.

The words MAYA and BRAHMAN in Vaishnavism exist within the context of a Trinitarian monotheistic tradition: 1) Bhagavan, 2) Sankarshana (and His Vishnu Expansions and Incarnations) and 3) Paramatma are the 1)Transcendent, 2) Emanating and Incarnating, and 3) Immanent Supreme Personality of Godhead. Brahman is the personal bodily effulgence and expansive Energy of the Lord, and Maya is both YOGA-MAYA as God’s Feminine Shakti Who facilitates UNITY WITH GOD, and MAHA-MAYA as Durga, Who is the ‘Mother’ of the TEMPORARY BUT VERY REAL material universes. Maya is our Mother, but Maya does not MEAN mother.

p. 804 gives root #3: maa as measure, mete, meter, mark. M-Williams (M-W) says compare Zend ma; Greek metron, metreo; Latin metior, mensus, mensura; Slavonic mera; Lithuanian mera.

p. 811 gives mfn (root #3 - maa) measuring...; “creating illusions (said of Vishnu).” The Mahabharata is the source cited for this.

Maaya (feminine) is “art, wisdom, extraordinary or supernatural power (only in the earlier language); illusion...” In Sankhya and Vedanta, Maaya is identified with Prakriti (Shakti) and Pradhana as the source of the visible universe.

Durga (Maya) is one of the nine Shaktis of Vishnu. These are all expansions of Radha. On the Minoan Era Isle of Rhodes, Rhoda, the Shekinah of Eli-Yahu / Helios Kouros was called Rhoda, Nymphia (Lotus) and Astaria (Star), which are the primary Shakti Names of Krishna’s Shakti as Radha, Padme (Lotus, another name of Lakshmi or Sri) and Tara / Astraya (Star). Maya is a name of both Lakshmi and Durga. M-W says Maya is the name of “illusion personified.” With Shaivas, Maya is a name of Durga as Shiva’s Shakti. In Shaivism, Maya may also mean one of the four Pasas or snares, which entangle the soul.  

Maya Devi is the mother of Gautama Buddha, but the word Maya, as in Shaivism, acquires an evil connotation in Buddhism.

‘Mayin,’ meaning ‘enchanting’ (creating illusions), is a name of God (Krishna-Vishnu) but M-W only gives it as a name of Brahma, Shiva, Agni, or Kama.

Mayeshvara or Maya-Ishvara means the ‘Lord of Maya’ and is used for Vishnu and Shiva, as the Lover or Spouse of Maya / Durga.

The demon Maya-Danava, who was an expert creator of material illusions, was also called Mayin. Maya with a negative connotation may mean cheating, magic, deceiving, juggling or trickery. Maya-vada (or Maya-vadin) refers to the path of Maya, or one on the path of Maya, or to those that teach that there is no reality to the material (or any) universe. The term may be used to refer to either atheistic Advaita Vedantists, Buddhists or now anyone else teaching that there is no reality to the universe or to any variegated or ‘personal’ existence.

In Vaishnava Vedanta, the Material Universes are REAL but TEMPORARY.  The ILLUSION is that the material manifestation of temporary composite forms subject to beginning, ending, injury and deterioration (birth, death, disease and old age) IS ALL THAT THERE IS. Vaishnava Vedanta asserts that the saha worlds are real (but temporary) facsimiles of the non-material eternal realm. In this realm, we are ‘in Maya’ as long as we think that this temporary existence is all that there is, and fail to realize the eternal nature of our own soul and our origin and end in the Supreme Soul of God-Who-Is-Love, in His eternal SAT-CHIT-ANANDA Transcendental Realm.

Although Maya Devi is the Mother of Gautama Buddha, and Durga / Maya is considered the Mother of the Cosmic Manifestation, ‘Maya’ (the name itself) does not mean ‘Mother’ in Sanskrit. MATA means Mother in Sanskrit. The Transcendent Tara, also a Shakti of Vishnu, incarnated as Maya Devi, because Tara is considered the Mother of ALL Buddhas or incarnations of THE ONE ADI BUDDHA. Tara descends as the Mother of the Incarnation or Avatara of Vishnu. Tara or Astraya in Sanskrit means ‘Star’ and thus the STAR of Beth-lehem was the portent of the Messiah’s birth, and Mary is associated with Rhoda-Nymphia-ASTARIA on the Isle of Rhodes as STELLA MARIS, and SEKHET / SHEKINAH / SHAKTI the Feminine ‘energy’ or creative ‘Pleasure-potentia’ of HARI / ELI / HELI / HERU etc.

In the earliest sources, MAYA is always associated with the Feminine Energy of Vishnu or Shiva. The word or concept has no separate existence from this theistic context.

A pun associated with the name MAYA by Vaishnavas is due to the variant root meaning of ma as ‘not’ (where ma and na seem to be confounded), thus giving the esoteric meaning of “not-Me” or “not-Myself” or “not -I”, where A, AHAM, YA etc. refers to KRISHNA OR VISHNU AS ADI PURUSHA, the PLENUM / PURNAM, GIVING (MASCULINE) ORIGINATING SELF OR SOUL OF ALL EXISTENCES. Thus Maya is the eternal ‘not-Me’ Feminine Receiving Potentia (Shakti / Shekinah) of the Godhead. Maya is Krishna-Vishnu’s OTHER, Feminine, Receiving Self. All finite jiva selves, or jivatmas, are receivers as tiny expansions, emanations or incarnations of the Maya potency of the Lord PARAM-ATMAN. This is why in the Divine Love (Bhakti) Bridal Mysticism Traditions, the finite self or soul is always considered feminine in relation to the Godhead. The Greek Platonists spoke of PSYCHE / soul as feminine. Jewish Mysticism teaches about reuniting the soul-sparks of the Shekinah with God. Catholic theologians speak of the soul as feminine, harkening back to the Jewish Canticle ‘Song of Songs’ Bridal Mysticism. Yang-Yin, Yab-Yum, Purusha-Prakriti, Hari (Krishna-Vishnu) and Shakti, Hara (Shiva) and Shakti, HRIH (Adi Buddha) and Tara-Shakti, Eli and Shekinah, Heru and Sekhet (Egypt), Helios and Astaria-Hecate (Hexad)...it is all the same ‘Bridal Mysticism’ of Godhead Who is GIVING-AND-RECEIVING LOVE. We as finite souls experience God as OTHER / LOVER, because we are related to the MAYA SHAKTI or Prakriti NOT-SELF OTHERNESS of the Godhead.  YOGA as in the words YOKE (of oxen) and CON-JUG-AL means to unite two as one, but not to merge two into one. The original Sanskrit Shastras as evidenced by extant Vedic-Vaishnava and Shaivite Bhakti Shastras today do not contain any concept of MAYA outside of this context of God as Krishna-Vishnu or Shiva, and Their Shakti and Bridal Mysticism.

It amazes me that people can go on for years discussing MAYA and BRAHMAN and other such Vedic-Vaishnava Sanskrit words without ever once considering what these words meant, what their content was, in their earliest known context. I would recommend to everyone seriously interested in the real meaning of such words to at least learn the Sanskrit Alphabet, which is not difficult at all, and consult a good Sanskrit-English (or whatever is needed) etymological dictionary. Immediately one will see that these Sanskrit words used in Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta, Sufism, Theosophy and the New Age ‘spiritualities’ originally are found in *VAISHNAVA LITERATURES, where they often have very different meanings than what the later impersonal and atheistic traditions have ascribed to them. Using Hindu or Buddhist references edited from late Advaitan, Buddhist or other non-Vaishnava perspectives will not help anyone to understand what these ancient Sanskrit words meant in their earliest Vaishnava uses.

*The Purusha-based Vedas, and related texts, Srimad Bhagavatam and the Puranas, The Epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana etc.