Question: I get that Maya is part of Satyam (of course it is, everything is!) and mithya is the result of maya acting on behalf of Satyam. Why make a separation between satyam and maya?
Reply: Because Knowing the Difference Between them is Freedom
Most people don’t separate their material selves, the Maya or Mithya portion, from their spiritual selves, the Consciousness/Satya portion. Knowing the difference between them frees us from depending on our material selves for fulfillment.  The Satya/Mithya teaching is a higher level of understanding reality, an expansion from a more rudimentary understanding.
Take the example of water. In primary school, we learn water is a liquid to be careful with. In secondary school, we learn water is made up of two gases. At university, we learn the atomic structure of water. At post-grad level, we study the quantum aspect of water. Each level is an expansion which supersedes the previous level, which is acknowledged and dropped. Similarly, with the understanding of reality. As our ignorance is reduced through knowledge, the understanding of reality and the distinction between reality and non-reality expands and our mistaken notions are dropped.
For spiritual maturation, to satisfy one’s spiritual thirst, one needs to know that Consciousness is satyam while matter is mithya, and know what those words mean and recognise Consciousness, not matter, as one’s inherent and primary nature.
The Sanskrit word for universal, all-pervading capital C Consciousness is Brahman, while the same Consciousness within an individual form is called Atma. Vedanta teaches that Brahman and Atma are identical, just two words for the same Reality seen from different angles. It is not obvious, because the bodies associated with the two are different. The whole universe is the body of Brahman, whereas only the human body is associated with Atma. The word for universal matter, both subtle and dense, is prapanca, while the word for an individual subtle body or an individual dense body is shariram. The word for consciousness (small c) in a living form is cidabhasa. To gain spiritual maturity, one must know the meaning of these words.
The Spirit/Matter (Consciousness/Maya) Conundrum
How do we get matter from non-matter? Consciousness is not matter, it is immaterial. But we observe, describe and experience matter, both dense and subtle (in the form of energy), and we give names for the various forms of matter. How does matter arise from formless, non-material Consciousness?
The explanation from scientists is that consciousness arises from matter. Being material scientists, they start from and analyse matter and have many hypotheses about consciousness, including those based on quantum physics. But none have been proven nor accepted. There is still much debate among neuro-scientists. In a past issue of Time magazine, there was an article from some scientists who stated that consciousness maybe an illusion arising from matter!
Something Can’t Come From Nothing.
On the other hand, all spiritual traditions take the opposite view, that matter arises or manifests from Consciousness. Each tradition has its own teaching on cosmology. Vedanta, quite distinctly, states and explains how matter arises from Consciousness; it is through a power in Consciousness called Maya.
Maya is Consciousness Plus Matter (Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 7)
Maya acts like a catalyst. A catalyst drives a chemical reaction and is discarded after the reaction is completed. In biological systems, the catalyst is called an enzyme. The other example is the 18th horse, which is used to solve an insoluble problem and then removed.
Maya is a potential power or force, present in with Consciousness. Maya is different from Consciousness, yet is not separate from Consciousness. For example, fire and its power to burn, or fire and its ability to light up, are different but not separate. The sun and sunlight are different, yet not separate. It is sunlight which triggers photosynthesis, not the sun per se. If the sun moved any closer, the Earth would be scorched. Similarly, Consciousness and Maya are different but not separate.
The words satyam and mithya refer to ‘status’, the ‘status’ of Consciousness and the ‘status’ of matter respectively. The word ‘status’ means order, position, standing, rank, and in this case, applied to reality, the status of reality and the status of non-reality or apparent reality. Matter is seemingly, not actually real.
A status is different from the ‘thing’ present in that status. For example, the status of President is different from the person who is President. The status has a certain position and function. The person has individuality and personal qualities. When the person is President, the status and the personal qualities, while different are not separate. The person brings his/her personal qualities to the status of President. That is why there is the danger of superimposing one on the other. Some Presidents think the status is theirs for life, as part of their persona. Others are realistic enough to know that they occupy the status of President only for some time.
The Satya Status
The word satyam refers to status … the status of being always present, self-existent, causeless, eternal, never changing, real, absolutely still, only one, a seamless whole, no parts, undivided, indivisible like space, present everywhere, all-pervading, omnipresent, absolute. The status of satyam is a “higher order†of reality. Only Consciousness, your true Self, has this status. That is why the word satyam, indicating status, is applied only to Consciousness. Most importantly, this Consciousness is what I am, here and now. As Consciousness, I enjoy the status of satyam.
In its status as satyam, the nature of Consciousness (comparable to ‘personal qualities’ of the President) is pure Presence of Be-ing, unconditioned Awareness, complete Fulness, permanent Stillness, absolute Happiness. (In Sanskrit, sat cit ananda). That is its nature, which is the nature of all sentient entities and material objects.
The Mithya Status
The word mithya indicates the status of being temporary, not always present, changing, showing movement, evolving or deteriorating, disintegrating, undergoing entropy, a seeming reality, a relative presence, a transient appearance, a semblance, simulation, ‘pretence’, relative, of being inert, dependent for its existence, inherently lifeless, intrinsically dead. The status of mithya is a “lower†order of reality and is diametrically opposite to the status of Consciousness. Matter has this status. This is why the word mithya, indicating status, is applied to matter (in Sanskrit, prapanca). The body-mind-sense complex is the material portion of human beings.
In its status as mithya, the nature of matter (like personal qualities) consists of the three gunas and five elements. From matter, both subtle as energy like stardust, we get all the different forms in the macrocosm and the microcosm.
Is There a Connection between Satya and Mithya?
Matter is permeated, pervaded and enlivened by Consciousness. A living form looks conscious, looks alive, looks sentient, looks functioning, even doing action as thought, word, deed. It is like the sun lending light to the moon making the moon look bright and attractive. But it only looks so, seems so, appears so; the moon remains inert, dead and has no light nor brightness of its own. Similarly, in its status as mithya, matter remains inert, lifeless, dead. If a form looks conscious and alive, it is because of the presence of Consciousness giving that form consciousness and movement, the sign and symptom of life.
To sum up, the associations must be clear: Consciousness with its status of satyam, and matter with its status of mithya. Status and nature are different. The nature of Consciousness is Presence, Awareness, Fulfilled, Peace, Happiness. The nature of matter consists of the three gunas and five elements.
Maya is present with Consciousness, is not Consciousness, yet is not separate from Consciousness whose status is satyam. The activity or movement of Maya leads to the appearance of matter with its status as mithya. An effect shares the same nature as its cause. Since matter, as effect, is mithya, Maya, as cause, is also mithya.
Ultimately, there is only Consciousness.
There is only I, Consciousness …
… pure Presence … unconditioned Awareness … complete Fulfilment.
I abide as Myself, Consciousness …
… I, by Myself … I, alone am … I, ever am.
Then, what is everything else?
Name them … it is I … only I.
OM
Playing the role of source, substrate, matrix …
… I seem to appear … seem to take the form of whatever is named.
I seem to appear as them … I seem to un-appear as them.
It is My play … My magic show … My lila.
In reality … ultimately … in finality …
… there is only I, Consciousness … nothing else.
I abide as Myself, Consciousness …
… I, by Myself … I, alone am … I, always am …
… forever and ever
