Prakriti may be looked upon either as Maya when considered as the Upadhi
of Parabrahmam or as Avidya when considered as the Upadhi of Jivatma
(7th principle in man).* Avidya is ignorance or illusion arising from
Maya. The term Maya, though sometimes used as a synonym for Avidya, is,
properly speaking, applicable to Prakriti only. There is no difference
between Prakriti, Maya and Sakti; and the ancient Hindu philosophers
made no distinction whatsoever between Matter and Force. In support of
these assertions I may refer the learned hermit to "Swetaswatara
Upanishad" and its commentary by Sankaracharya. In case we adopt the
fourfold division of the Adwaitee philosophers, it will be clearly seen
that Jagrata,* Swapna* and Sushupti Avasthas* are the results of Avidya,
and that Vyswanara,* Hiranyagarbha* and Sutratma* are the manifestations
of Parabrahmam in Maya or Prakriti. In drawing a distinction between
Avidya and Prakriti, I am merely following the authority of all the
great Adwaitee philosophers of Aryavarta. It will be sufficient for me
to refer to the first chapter of the celebrated Vidantic treatise, the
Panchadasi.
----------
* Upadhi--vehicle.
Jagrata--waking state, or a condition of external perception.
Swapna--dreamy state, or a condition of clairvoyance in the astral
plane.
Sushupti--a state of extasis; and Avastas--states or conditions of
Pragna.
Vyswanara--the magnetic fire that pervades the manifested solar system--
the root objective aspect of the ONE LIFE.
Hiranyagarbha--the one life as manifested in the plane of astral Light.
Sutratma--the Eternal germ of the manifested universe existing in the
field of Mulaprakriti.
---------
In truth, Prakriti and Purusha are but the two aspects of the same ONE
REALITY. As our great Sankaracharya truly observes at the close of his
commentary on the 23rd Sutra of the first chapter of the Brahma sutras,
"Parabrahmam is Karta (Purush), as there is no other Adhishtatha,* and
Parabrahmam is Prakriti, there being no other Upadanam." This sentence
clearly indicates the relation between "the One Life" and "the One
Element" of the Arha-philosophers. This will elucidate the meaning of
the statement so often quoted by Adwaitees--"Sarvam Khalvitham Brahma"
** and also of what is meant by saying that Brahmam is the Upadanakarnam
(material cause) of the Universe.
--T Subba Row
---------
* Adishtatha--that which inheres in another principle--the active agent
working in Prakriti.
** Everything in the universe is Brahma.
---------