Questioner: Acharya Ji, the concept of Maya, or the idea that the whole universe is an illusion, is at the core of Advait Vedant. However, Maya as a concept is unfathomable to many of us. So, how can your book help the general audience, who do not having deep knowledge of Vedant understand this concept? And are there any learnings in this book, specifically, for students like us?
Acharya Prashant: Namaste everyone. See, you said Maya is a concept that states that the universe is an illusion. The concept, actually, is that there is nothing called ‘the’ universe. This universe that you and I perceive is a purely subjective entity. The subjectivity exists at two levels: at the level of meaning, and at the level of the fact.
Take for example, a building that you perceive. This building can be taken as symbolizing the universe. The universe consists of objects. Let the building represent them. Now, nobody looks at a building without assigning a meaning to the building, and the meanings that we assign to anything we see, or experience, or think of, or imagine are purely subjective. There is nothing absolute about them, and that much is obviously very simple to see.
Then comes the more austere part. Even the fact that the building is, is actually subjective. The three-dimensional shape that the building appears as - the height, the width, the entire spatial geometry - all that is a function of the way your brain is configured to look at things. So, it is not as if the building exists objectively or absolutely by itself, independent of the perceiving subject. Not at all. If your own personal configuration changes, the building will no more remain the same.
