Hindu concept
Mayaमाया
māyā — the appearance that veils ultimate reality
In short
Maya is the power of appearance — the way the one ultimate reality (Brahman) shows itself as the many changing forms of the world. In Advaita Vedanta it is what makes the impermanent seem permanent and the self seem separate, the veil of ignorance that spiritual knowledge dispels.
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What it means
Maya does not mean the world is simply an illusion in the sense of being nothing. It names the mysterious power by which the single, formless reality appears as the vast, shifting multiplicity we experience — and by which we mistake that appearance for the whole truth, taking the changing for the changeless and the self for something small and separate.
In Advaita (non-dual) Vedanta, liberation is the lifting of maya: not escaping the world, but seeing through the misperception to the reality beneath it. A common image is a rope mistaken in dim light for a snake — the fear is real while the error lasts, and it dissolves the moment the rope is clearly seen.
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About Maya
What is maya in Hinduism?
Maya is the power of appearance by which the one ultimate reality shows itself as the many changing forms of the world. It is the veil that makes the impermanent seem permanent and the self seem separate.
Does maya mean the world is an illusion?
Not that the world is nothing — rather that we misperceive it, taking the changing appearance for the whole truth. Spiritual knowledge lifts this veil and reveals the reality beneath.
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