12. Māyā and Individual Selves

In Advaita Vedānta and Pratyabhijñā, ultimately the individual selves are the Supreme Self itself. But due to the Māyā it is seen as different from the Supreme Self. These false conceptions of separation lead one into bondage rather than to the freedom of Paramātman, which is above all distinctions. These individual souls are the creation of Māyā. They all are lying down without the recognition of the self. Māyā connects the individual self with the phenomenal world, which leads a differential knowledge between Jīva and Supreme Self, Jīva and Jīva, Jīva or other beings in the universe.

In both systems the notion of Māyā is seen used in the positive and negative perspectives. As in the form of ignorance, by hiding the real nature of the Supreme Self, Māyā is seen as a negative entity. But as a creative power of the Supreme Lord, without which the Lord is incapable to create the universe, it is seen as a positive entity. According to both Pratyabhijñā and Advaita of Śaṅkara the goal of life is to recognize one’s own self as the Supreme Self by annihilating the diversities caused by Māyā. Both systems have suggested some ways of this state of liberated existence.