“Grace Now Falls Unknown Upon Us,
G Major, Maestoso e Grandioso”
Copyright © 2020 George Mohr
Mā , the Sanskrit root of the term, “Māyā “, means, first and foremost, “to measure”, and it has secondary meanings of “to make, produce, create.” The secondary meanings have been something of a bafflement to Sanskrit scholars because it has not always been clear, apparently, that measurement should give rise to manifestation.
I am reminded of Joseph Campbell’s reference to the etymology of Māyā in The Mythic Image in which he states that “mā-“ means “to measure or to compare”. Since that reading, more than forty years ago, it has increasingly become clear to me that the arising of māyāic realms is due to the simple comparison of one thing to another. Out of this, the dualistic perception of an external universe, which is made up of discrete individual entities, becomes manifest. One thing which is not always grasped is that this applies not only to this familiar physical realm, but also, to the higher, subtle realms. In this, Creation in all of its variation emerges out of the unified field of undifferentiated pure Being.
To “take measure” of something gives it the status, and the perceived reality, of objective separated being.
Possible topic for discussion:
In the Christian tradition, this is the sin of Adam and Eve, expelled from the unified state (Eden) into one of discursiveness (the World), when they partook of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
