Section
23
The
Three fold Mäyä is real
Liberation (kaivalya) is not possible when there is a tinge of mäyä-çakti; and owing to a lack of sense experience in kaivalya, the bliss is kaivalya cannot be an object of experience (arthatä). Thus using presumption as evidence (anyathä-anupapatti-pramäëa), the presence of the internal energy in kaivalya is established in Arjuna's prayer to Kåñëa (S.B.1.7.23):
You are the original Personality of Godhead who directly controls everything and is transcendental to the material energy. You have cast away the effects of the material energy by dint of Your spiritual potency. You are always situated in eternal bliss and transcendental knowledge.
Arjuna says: You are directly the original person, Bhagavän; and you are also the controlling person, called antaryämi or one who is situated within. In both of these features You are transcendental to material nature being untouched by her. An objection is raised. How can one who enjoys only self bliss perceive Mäyä by which His Goodhood is indicated? Moreover, how is it that the Lord, who is the controller and presiding Deity of the material nature, remains aloof from her?
It is replied Mayäà vyudasya, after dispelling mäyä. By His eternal internal potency He keeps away the shadow like material energy, and He remains in the liberated state, kaivalya. According to Eleventh Canto (11.9.18) of the Çrémad Bhägavatam this state called kaivalya is the bliss of self experience. Ätman sthitaù (1.7.27) means situated in His own svarüpa. That is to say, He tastes His own bliss.
He is also the supreme worshipable object for all beings, including liberated souls, demigods, and ordinary conditioned souls. The Lord is eternally free from any material designation, and He is the totality of spiritual bliss, which one experiences by seeing His spiritual form. The Lord thus exhibits the fullest meaning of the word 'liberation' or kaivalya.
This is confirmed by the demigods in the sixth canto, (S.B.6.9.32), "You taste your own bliss derived from Your own self."
The word sandoha in the verse from the eleventh canto (11.9.18) means variety, and this arises only because of the internal energy. Therefore, certainly there is an internal energy. Prakåti here (S.B.1.7.27) means the three modes of Mäyä. Çrédhara Swämé has also shown the existence of the three types of energies in the same way.
For instance, in her prayers Devahuti states (S.B.3.24.33):
I surrender unto the Personality of Godhead, descended in the form of Kapila, who is independently powerful and transcendental, who is the supreme person and the Lord of the sum total of matter, pradhäna and of the element time, who is the fully cognizant maintainer of the universes under the three modes of material nature, and who absorbs the material manifestations after their dissolution.
Param means the supreme controller, because He has independent potencies. The Lord is further described in the verse as pradhäna, or material nature. Puruña is the controller of the pradhäna; mahäntam is the mahat-tattva; käla is the one who agétätes them; and trivrtam is the false ego. He is the universe and its maintainer too lokapälam. In this way after explaining the Lord through His energy, Mäyä, in the form of Pradhäna and so on she next explains His form free from material energy through His conscious energy with the phrase ätmänuBhütya nugata-prapaïcam. Ätmanubhüti means internal potency. The whole material universe is dissolved in Him following His internal potency. Kavim means omniscient. This means that He is the witness of the appearance of the material elements beginning with pradhäna.
In this description figuratively that the Puruña is contained within Mäyä being her presiding Lord, in reality He is transcendental to her. This is confirmed by Lord Kapiladeva in the Çrémad Bhägavatam (3.26.3):
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the Supersoul and has no beginning Anädi. He is transcendental to the modes of nature and beyond the existence of the material world. He is perceivable everywhere because He is self-effulgent. By His lustre the entire creation is maintained.
The Mahä Saàhita also separates these three energies by defining their names and natures.
"The jévamäyä of the Lord is divided into Çré, Bhü, and Durgä. Ätmamäyä is His will, and guëamäyä is inert.
The sense is this. Çré is the maintaining potency, Bhü is His creative potency, and Durgä is His dissolving potency. The Lord's energy, when divided into these features, in relation to the jéva, is called jévamäyä. In a dialogue between Çré Kåñëa and Satyabhämä, in the portion of the Padma Puräëa mäyä says (73.231), Kärtika Mahätmya, "I, exist dividing myself into three, through three modes."
Later in the same chapter it is stated (73.233): after hearing and being inspired by her statements all the demigods bowed down to Gauri, Lakñamé, and Dharä with devotion.
And sage Antarikña informs King Nimi in the eleventh canto of the Bhägavatam (11.3.16):
I have described Mäyä, potency of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, consisting of the three modes of nature. It is empowered by the Lord for the creation, maintenance, and annihilation of the material universe. Now, what more do you wish to hear?
Ätmamäyä means the energies of the Lord. By the derivative explanation "by which one knows" the word mäyä also means energy in general. This is in accordance with the statement of Lord Brahmä (S.B.10.13.45):
As the power of fog to create darkness is eclipsed by night and the power of a glow worm to illuminate is defeated by day light, so an inferior person's controlling energy, mäyä, is baffled and diminished by the energy of a superior person.
The only purpose of this verse is to show the gradation of energy (mäyä) in general. A small energy may be instrumental in revealing an illusion or a truth but it is overpowered by a superior energy. This is the gist of the verse as depicted by the two illustrations of fog and of the glow worm.
The Puräëas relate stories of people getting killed or wounded by weapons made of Mäyä. This Mäyä should not be regarded as only imaginary or contemplative, because no one gets wet by the water in a mirage?
The Chaturveda-sikha portion of the Veda confirms the meaning of Mäyä as energy: "The eternal Personality of Godhead Lord Viñëu is called Mäyä-maya (the possessor of Mäyä), because He is endowed with His eternal energy, called Mäyä, as part of His essential nature." Therefore, in the phrase ätma mäyä tad icchä-syät--ätma-mäyä is His will, His working potency and cognitive potency are also indicated. Will (icchä) implies knowledge and activity, so both of these are accepted in the Lord.
Therefore, the Nighaëtu Vedic dictionary lists vayunaà jïänam, the faculty of perception, as a synonym for Mäyä. The dictionary called Çabda-mahodadhi states, "Those who know the essential meaning of the words say that mäyä means the material nature, endowed with three modes, knowledge, and the energy of Lord Viñëu." Triguëätmikä, or having three modes, means having the energy of creation, and so on. This is of two type, as said earlier. The Trikäëòaçeña dictionary states, "Mäyä means illusion and knowledge." The Viçva-prakäça dictionary says, "Mäyä means pretence and mercy."
While commenting on the word mäyämaye in the kälo mäyä maye jéve part of the verse from the 11th canto (S.B.11.14.27) Çrédhara Swämé says it means the "inspirer of Mäyä or the conscious person". While commenting on dauñmantiratyagänmäyäà devänäm gurumäyayau, part of the verse from ninth canto (S.B.9.20.27) he writes opulence or mäyä of the demigods. In his comment on 3.15.26 he first explains the word yogamäyä as the mystic influence of the Kumäras and then in relation to the Lord as the manifestation of His cit potency. Therefore it is firmly established that ätma-mäyä is threefold.
"O unlimited Lord! Mahämäyä, avidyä niyati mohiné, prakåti and väsanä are Your will." Here it is seen that even jévamäyä is the will of the Lord, but it should be known as only a shadow of His will. Because Lord' swill is not directly accepted in Mäyä, the cause in the creation of the universe, it is guëamäyä which has the three modes in their balanced state called Pradhäna.
Or another explanation of the verse beginning tvamädyaù (1.7.23) is, although the existence of mäyä is denied, the internal energy in Vaikuëöha is confirmed. The Lord is in a liberated state (kaivalya) called Mokña characterized by Vaikuëöha. He is situated in Himself meaning, His expansion. How does He exist? By disregarding the Mäyä, which is already situated faraway, through His cit potency which exists majestically in the Vaikuëöha. This doctrine of mäyä's absence is also confirmed by Çré Çuka (Bhag. 2.9.10):
In that personal abode of the Lord, the material modes of ignorance and passion do not prevail, nor the influence of goodness or any mixture of these three. There is no predominance of the influence of time, what to speak of the illusory, external energy; it cannot enter that region. The devotees of the Lord shine there being worshipable to both demigods and demons.
The Padma Puräëa, Uttara Khaëòa, lists some synonyms for Vaikuëöha: Mokña, param padam, liìgam, amåtam, and viñëu-mandira.
PURPORT
In the previous Texts it has been shown that Mäyä, which is inert by nature, is activated by and functions under the control of the Lord's internal energy. This gives rise to the following doubts: If the Lord activates Mäyä, it means He brushes against her, how then can He be on the liberated platform (kaivalya)? And, since kaivalya is devoid of any experience, because there is nothing to be experienced, how can it be said that He enjoys bliss? The second doubt is raised keeping in view the impersonal understanding of liberation.
Arjuna answered these two questions in the first canto of Çrémad Bhägavatam, seventh chapter, verse twenty-seven. There he explains that the Lord, although the controller of Mäyä, is transcendental to her, and though He is transcendental, he is not impotent. The word kaivalya (lit. sole-ness) comes from kevala, which means only or pure. Although generally the word kaivalya is translated as "liberation" and is understood to mean being non-different from Brahman, its real import is "pure", "unadulterated" or "free from material contamination". In this sense kaivalya means "sole" or "only", yet it does not deny the existence of the internal energy of the Lord. The Lord enjoys with His internal energy and He has no need for the material energy for His own bliss. The internal energy is likened to a queen and the external energy is like the maidservant. A king does not sport with his maidservant. Because the internal energy is non-different from the Lord, He is understood to be situated in kaivalya.
Similarly, the Lord does not contact Mäyä, but He controls her just like a magnet may manipulate a piece of iron without direct contact and without the iron influencing the magnet. A magnet has its own internal power with which it can influence a piece of iron outside of itself. A solar machine works on by the energy of the sun yet the sun is neither in contact with the machine directly nor influenced by it. The Lord controls Mäyä through His expansion called puruña, or Supersoul, who is also not touched by Mäyä.
In the verse by Arjuna, adya purüñah means Bhagavän and éçvaraù means Supersoul. Both are transcendental to Mäyä, prakåteù paraù. In the Bhagavad-gétä Lord Kåñëa says (B.g. 15.17,18):
"Besides these two, there is the greatest living personality, the Supreme Soul, the imperishable Lord Himself, who has entered the three worlds and is maintaining them. Because I am transcendental, beyond both the fallible and infallible, and because I am the greatest, I am celebrated both in the world and in the Vedas as that Supreme Person."
Because the Supersoul is transcendental to Mäyä it naturally follows that Bhagavän is untouched by Mäyä. According to Bhagavad gétä 13.13 even Brahman is beyond material nature.
Although He controls Mäyä He remains in His svarupa, or internal nature, kaivalye sthita ätmni (S.B. 1.7.23). This is confirmed in the Chändogya Upaniñad (7.24.1), sa bhagaväù kasmin pratiñöhitaù sve mahimni, "Where is the Lord situated? In His own nature". Hence He is not like an ordinary controller who must contact the controlled. And the bliss which He enjoys is from His internal potency and not from the material experience.
A further doubt is raised. If the Supreme Lord is transcendental and situated in pure bliss, how can He even feel Mäyä and thus control her? The verse answers that He subdues Mäyä by His cit çakti. This means that He presides over Mäyä. He remains free from Mäyä and perceives her through His internal potency. In fact because Mäyä, which is inert, is functioning and following certain rules, we are forced by the law of presumption anyathänupapatti, to accept that the Lord has internal potency, which activates Mäyä. Otherwise it is not possible to explain the activities of inert Mäyä. Thus the answer to the first two doubts raised in this anuccheda prove the existence of the Lord's internal energy.
Çréla Viçvanätha Cakravarti comments on Bhägavatam 1.7.23 that prakåti means Mäyä, and not avidya. Mäyä has two features, vidya and avidya, and the Lord is superior to both. He is within His internal energy and because His internal energy is non-different from Him, He is still in kaivalya. Mäyä is like a shadow. Just as a shadow is outside the object and dependent on it so also the Mäyä is outside Lord's svarüpa and works under His control. This also defeats the Mäyäväda theory that Mäyä is the only energy and that the Absolute Truth in its pure state is devoid of potency.
The verse (S.B. 11.9.18) states that the Lord is called Kaivalya, because He is superior to all existence, material and spiritual. He is free from all limiting designations and situated in the bliss of His own experience. This verse also implies that He has internal potency, otherwise there is no need to say that He enjoys supreme bliss. Moreover, the word sandoha indicates that His internal energy is variegated. This is confirmed in the Svetasvatara Upaniñad, paräsya säktirvividhaiva çrüyate, "The transcendental Lord has multifarious energies".
That the internal energy activates Mäyä is described by the sage Dattatreya in the Çrémad Bhägavatam (11.9.19):
"O subduer of the enemy, at the time of creation the Personality of Godhead expands His own transcendental potency in the form of time, and agitating His material energy, mäyä, composed of the three modes of material nature, He creates the mahat-tattva."
In this verse kevälätmanubhävena means by the influence of His cit-çakti, which is described as the glance of the Lord by which He activates Mäyä.
Mäyä, which sometimes is also called prakåti, has three divisions according to the modes of nature. In text No. 18 it was divided into jévamäyä and guëamäyä based on its being the efficient cause and the material cause respectively. These divisions are explained in the Mahä-saàhitä. Guëamäyä is the inert aspect. It produces insentient products. It is also called pradhäna, in which the three modes are in a balanced state. The efficient part, which influences the jéva, is called jévamäyä. It is also divided into three, according to the three modes. The presiding deities of these three energies Bhü, Çré and Durgä. Their corresponding energetic personifications are called Brahmä, Viñëu, and Çéva. Their respective functions are the creation, maintenance, and dissolution of the universe. In the Çrémad Bhägavatam (12.8.45), the sage Märkaëdeya says :
"O my Lord, O supreme friend of the conditioned soul, although for the creation, maintenance, and annihilation of this world You accept the modes of goodness, passion, and ignorance, which constitute Your illusory potency, You specifically employ the mode of goodness to liberate the conditioned souls. The other two modes simply bring them suffering, illusion, and fear."
The idea behind this verse is that although Viñëu like Brahmä and Çéva is the energetic personification of material mode, He is transcendental to the modes. He should not be compared to the other two controllers i.e. Brahmä and Çéva. He is never touched by the modes and thus He has the power to liberate those who surrender unto Him. Thus Çréla Jéva Gosvämé writes that although puruña or the Supersoul is within Mäyä in Reality He is transcendental to her. According to Çréla Suta Gosvämé, this is the Godhood of God (S.B.1.11.38
"This is the divinity of the Personality of Godhead: He is not affected by the qualities of material nature, even though He is in contact with them. Similarly, the devotees who have taken shelter of the Lord do not become influenced by the material qualities."
The word mäyä has many meanings and Çréla Jéva Gosvämé cites numerous references to show them. Some of them are energy, either internal, eternal, or external; will; knowledge; activity; intelligence; illusion; magic; pretence; mercy; opulence; and so on. Generally, mäyä is used in philosophy to denote the Lord's energy, both internal and external. Lord Viñëu is therefore called Mäyä maya, the possessor of Mäyä or energy. In the material world mäyä manifests as inert matter and as the potency that performs the acts of creation, maintenance and annihilation. In the spiritual world mäyä is the cit potency of the Lord and it is of different varieties. The Mäyävadis say that only Brahman is real and the material creation as well as the spiritual world of Vaikuëöha is mithya, or mäyä. Brahma satyaà jagan mithyä jivo brahmaiva näparah. They do not accept this material world as real in an absolute sense, only in an empirical sense. The Vaiñëavas never accept this. Therefore Çréla Jéva Gosvämé gives numerous references from Çrémad Bhägavatam to show that Mäyä means energy of the Lord. Sometimes the word may refer to external energy and sometimes to the internal. This is supported by the numerous Sanskåt dictionaries.
Çréla Jéva Gosvämé further explains why that one should not mistake mäyä to be mithyä, or only empirically real. If it were so, then the living entity could not be bound and to say that the Lord activates mäyä by His internal energy would make no sense. Just as the mirage water which is illusory cannot wet anything; nor is it that someone is voluntarily causing it. Similarly it will not be possible to have the universal existence based on illusory mäyä. To say that Lord's Mäyä causes the creation (S.B.11.3.36) would be senseless. The law of karma would have no meaning. The Lord's abode, form, and pastimes would also be imaginary because He is called Mäyämaya. Ultimately it would mean that the Lord has no potency. In the previous Text, however, it has been shown that the Lord has inherent potency.
When it is said, therefore, that the glow of the fire-fly is insignificant in comparison to the sunlight (S.B. 10.13.45) this illustrates that the internal energy is superior to the marginal and external energies. The comparison is between the different qualities of the two energies. This verse is cited to show how Lord Kåñëa took Brahmä by surprise through the manifestation of his internal energy. From the context there is no understanding that Brahmä's act of stealing the calves and cowherd boys was false. The import is that the external energy is subdued by the internal energy, but that does not mean that one is real and other is false, or to show that when one is realized in Brahman, Mäyä ceases to exist.
Çréla Jéva Gosvämé gives many references to show the various meanings of mäyä and none of them indicate "false, imaginary or non-existent". It is very difficult to understand the Lord and His Mäyä--and impossible for non-devotees. Even great souls are bewildered, muhyanti yat sürayah. Thus it is not surprising that the Mäyävädis are unable to have proper understanding of Lord's Mäyä. This is due to their defect of not surrendering to the Lord. Lord Brahmä was unable to understand and thus he prayed (S.B. 10.14.19):
"To persons ignorant of Your actual transcendental position You appear as part of the material world, manifesting Yourself by Your inconceivable energy. Thus for the creation of the universe You appear as me [Brahmä}, for its maintenance You appear as Yourself [Viñëu], and for its annihilation You appear as Lord Trinetra [Çiva]."
In this way it is established that the Lord's Mäyä has three divisions. The Upaniñads compare mäyä to a goat of three colors referring to her three divisions, ajämekäà lohitäà çukla kåñëam.
Ätmamäyä means the will of the Lord and it is His internal potency. It also indicates that he has knowledge and working potency and this is confirmed in the Upaniñads, sväbhäviki jïäna bala kriyä ca. "The Lord naturally possesses cognitive faculty, will-power, and working potency". The faculty of will have no efficacy if Lord did not have the working potency. And will naturally assume knowledge about the object of will. When the word "will" is used in reference to the external energy, it indicates the external energy works according to His will. It does not mean that she has independent will.
Dependent Mäyä has no entry into the spiritual world. Çréla Jéva Gosvämé gives a list of synonyms for Vaikuëöha. They all indicate that Vaikuëöha is free from any contact with Mäyä.
Up till now it has been explained that the Lord has energy and His energy is real. His energy is inconceivable. The energy is divided into three classes internal, external and amrigna. These three classes of energy have further sub divisions and although there are energies which continuously oppose each other, the Lord is their ultimate support and they exist in Him harmoniously. The relation between the Lord and His energies is like that of sun and its rays, that is to say that energy is inconceivably one and different from the Lord. Although in the conditioned state one can not realized God as a source behind the creation. Lord has both conscious and inert energies. All the activities have their source in the internal energy. The external energy is moving under its influence like a piece of iron is pulled or rotated by a magnet. Although Lord controls and is situated in the external energy, He is not influenced by it just as a shadow does not control the object. The external energy generally called mäyä has two divisions called jévamäyä an dguëamäyä. They each have further three divisions according to the three modes. Although Mäyä is inert it has its presiding deity. Mäyä is real and it is not simply illusion. From the next Text Çréla Jéva Gosvämé begins explaining that the qualities of the Lord are also part of His internal nature.