Is Maya eternal? Why does she illusion the jiva but not God?
From: Keshav
Who created Maya ? I have heard that Soul,Supersoul and Maya existed from eternity . Is it true ?
Why is Jiva deluded , if we are illusioned due to maaya and due to use of our free will ,than why do not maaya affect God but the Jiva ?
Transcript
This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Question from Keshe of Rome. Who created maya? I have heard that souls persued in maya existed from eternity.
Is it true? Why is Jiva deluded? If we are illusioned due to maya and due to abuse of our previous, then why does maya not affect God but the Jiva? Answer. Maya is the energy of Krishna. And as Krishna is eternal, his energies are eternal.
So yes, in the absolute sense, we cannot say that anybody created maya just as nobody created us. We as souls are also eternal. Our specific bodies may be created but souls are eternal.
So maya is also eternal. Maya is the external energy of Krishna. And in that energy, the souls get deluded because the souls are infinitesimal.
Krishna is infinite. So that is one of the defining differences between the Jivatma and the Paramatma. In the Bhagavad Gita chapter 15 verses 16 to 18, Krishna explains how the conditioned souls are under maya and the liberated souls go beyond the control of maya.
But he explains that the Supreme Lord is beyond both. I am beyond the Akshara. Akshara is here the fallible.
That is those who fall into this world. I am beyond the Akshara also. Those who are infallible, those who are… I have not gone beyond the Akshara.
I have not gone beyond the realm of illusion and in that sense become liberated or infallible. So this is a clear refutation of the Mayavadi idea that the soul when liberated becomes God. Krishna is saying… that I am Uttama, I am higher, I am transcendental.
Tamma means darkness. Uttama means beyond darkness. I am beyond.
I am beyond the infallible also. Therefore I am declared in the words and in the scriptures as Purushottama, a supreme person. So essentially Krishna’s ontological, constitutional, eternal position is being the source and the master of everything.
So he is infinite and his energy can never delude him. And that’s why the Lord never becomes deluded. Just as the darkness can never overwhelm the sun.
The sun is the source of light and wherever there is no sun that is where darkness comes. Now as souls, we don’t have to experience darkness. But when we turn away from the sun, then naturally, inevitably, we see the darkness, we see the shadow.
So Maya is always there, Krishna is always there, the Atma is always there. But it is when the Atma desires to enjoy something separate from Krishna and this uses the free will, then the Maya catches the soul. Krishna bahirmukha jiva bhoga vancha kare, nikatastha maya tare, jhapatiya dhare.
So Krishna bahirmukha jiva bhoga vancha kare. Then the soul becomes bahirmukha to Krishna, turns away from Krishna and desires to enjoy nikatastha maya. So nikatastha means close by situated.
So it is not that Maya is created at any particular time. She is always situated nearby. nikatastha maya tare, jhapatiya dhare.
This is from Chaitanya Charitambul. She pounces and catches the soul. So what it indicates is that it is our free will that is critical.
And because we are subordinate to Krishna, we are not the sun. We are sparks of the sun. So that’s why we can come under that illusion.
We are not omniscient. We don’t know everything. Krishna talks about this difference again in the 7th chapter of the Bhagavad Gita also.
When he talks about nāhaṁ prakāśe sarvasya yogamāyā samāvṛtah First he describes how people don’t know him because they are obscured by the covering of Maya. Then he explains that, In 7.25 he explains this. In 7.26 he says He says that, I know the past, present and future.
I know all these, but no one knows. So essentially, just as, to give another example to conclude this, Just as, the sun produces clouds, but the sun never gets covered by clouds. But when the sun rays leave the sun and come to a level below the clouds, then the sun rays get disconnected from the clouds, from the sun basically.
So like that, we are parts of Krishna, but when we turn away from Krishna and leave Krishna, then Maya covers us. But because Maya is the energy of Krishna, the clouds are the energy of the sun, and Krishna is not like a worldly master whose servant may sometimes usurp the position of the master and take over the controllership. Maya never does that.
Maya has neither the inclination to do that because she is a devotee. Vaishnavi janamohini. She is a devotee, she is Vaishnavi, but her service is janamohini.
Her service is to delude those souls who want to imagine they can enjoy separate from Krishna. But because she is a devotee, she is doing this service to Krishna. She has no intention to usurp the position of Krishna.
And moreover, no soul can have the power. That’s why Krishna’s position is eternally secure and to the extent we connect ourselves with Krishna, our position becomes eternally secure.