Acharya Prashant explains that the concept of Maya in Advaita Vedanta does not mean the universe is nonexistent, but rather that it is a purely subjective entity. He clarifies that our perception of the world is skewed by the ego, which assigns subjective meanings and is limited by biological configurations. The universe as we perceive it is 'Mithya', meaning it does not exist in the way we think it does. The reality of the universe is Brahman, which is unfathomable and beyond the mind. Maya resides within the individual as the ego, characterized by tendencies like greed, fear, and desire that distort perception. This internal Maya has two aspects: 'Avaran', the failure to see reality, and 'Vikshep', the projection of things that do not exist. Addressing the difficulty of overcoming biases, Acharya Prashant asserts that ignorance is often a self-imposed ploy to maintain comfort and avoid the price of liberation. He suggests that people are not truly ignorant but choose to suppress inner knowledge to protect material or physical privileges. To drop biases, one must simply choose to do so, as life constantly provides feedback that our imaginations are not aligned with facts. He notes that people often become defensive when faced with the truth because they are already aware of their own falsehood. Dealing with others' prejudices begins with understanding and addressing one's own biases first. Regarding devotional practices and the worship of deities, Acharya Prashant explains that any deity conceptualized by the mind is a product of the waking state and is therefore smaller than the mind itself. He emphasizes that the Truth, Atman, or Brahman is not a concept or a product of imagination and remains independent of the mind's state. While deities are contents of the mind, the ultimate Truth is inaccessible to it. He concludes that the path to Truth is through 'via negativa'—the negation of what is false—rather than through the accumulation of mental concepts or discussions about the unfathomable.