If everything is the Atman or Brahman, the universe of name and form cannot be an illusion. The Upanisads consider
it as maya; but this does not mean illusion. Maya is a mere
statement of fact, what we are and what we see around us.
It refers to the inner contradictions involved in our experience of the world and in our knowledge of it.
These contradictions will remain, say the Upanisads, so long as we remain
at the sensate level, so long as we fail to take into account
the Atman, the Self behind the not-Self, the One behind the
many. Yet, all our experiences and knowledge in the sphere
of maya are experiences and knowledge of the Atman, coming through the sense-organs. Hence they are not illusory, but
true.
Man travels, says Swami. Vivekananda, not from error
to truth, but from truth to truth, from truth that is lower to
truth that is higher. Hence the Upanisads describe the world
of the not-Self as ‘truth’ and the Self or Atman as ‘The Truth
of truth’. This is conveyed in a significant passage of the
Brhadaranyaka (II. 1. 20)
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