Summary:

Vivekachudamani, Verse 31 – Part 2: Māyā – the all-knowing, all-powerful śakti of limitless consciousness – operates through three guṇas: sattva (knowledge, clarity), rajas (activity, energy), and tamas (inertness, resistance). These guṇas, distributed into everything that exists, are how we infer māyā from her effects. Only a sudhī with refined intelligence can make this inference. When māyā activates from unmanifest to manifest, that same knowledge-power is called Īśvara – the creator of time, space, and jīvas – never separate from Brahman.

Vivekachudamani – Verse 31: What is Maya?

अव्यक्तनाम्नी परमेशशक्तिः
अनाद्यविद्या त्रिगुणात्मिका परा
कार्यानुमेया सुधिया एव माया
यया जगत् सर्वम् इदम् प्रसूयते (१०८, अल्त् ११०)
avyaktanāmnī parameśaśaktiḥ
anādyavidyā triguṇātmikā parā
kāryānumeyā sudhiyā eva māyā
yayā jagat sarvam idam prasūyate (108, Alt 110)

That māyā, through which this whole world is born, is called avyakta (unmanifest) and is the power of the limitless Lord. She is the beginningless ignorance, of the nature of the three guṇas viz., sattva, rajas and tamas. Her existence is to be inferred from her effects, by a person with a clear mind. By Her is this entire universe projected.

Notes for this session are in lesson 24. Session's content is between “Maya is of the nature of three gunas”, and “Maya is power of the limitless Lord”.

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Recorded 14 Jan, 2026