Brihadaranyaka Upanishad Ch.2 4.12-14 Lecture 67 on 12 September 2026 Q&A

Discussion on Avidya, Maya, and the Nature of Ignorance

Question 1: If Brahman Is Not Fragmented, How Is Ignorance Not Fragmented?

Participant: Maharaj, in today's lecture, you mentioned a point that said ignorance also is not fragmented. Just like how Brahman is continuous, no fragmentation – ignorance is also not fragmented, correct? How do I understand, Maharaj? Because, okay, ignorance is feeling fragmented.

Maya as Infinite Ignorance

Response (Maharaj): Maya is infinite. So just like – Brahman is fragmented within us or not? What is Brahman? What is the knowledge of Brahman? "I am infinite." Yes. What is our knowledge? "I am finite."

Participant: Finite.

Response: How did this phenomenon take place? That is where that Maya concept comes – because of Maya. And the funny thing is, nobody can define what is Maya. So it is a power that can make the impossible possible, but nobody can define what it is – like Brahman. You can't define Brahman, so you can't define also Maya.

So somehow – that is in English language – Maya means what? Infinite ignorance. What is infinite ignorance? Ignorance of the infinite is called infinite ignorance. But when it enters into us – or rather, we identify with the body-mind – we are cutting down that infinite Maya into a small piece in the form of "I am this body, I am this possession, I am this mind." You understand, actually it is not divided. We are making it divided.

How Ignorance Appears Fragmented

Response: How do we know? Because the moment true knowledge comes – you have to keep in mind all the time, as I said – that Brahman cannot be divided. So Maya or Avidya Maya, when we divide it, identifying is called dividing. You don't have to take a knife and divide it. To feel that "I am this particular individual" is called cutting down that Avidya into a piece: "I am only this piece, not that any other piece."

Because when jnana, true knowledge, dawns, you know what happens? Both our ajnana, which is the result of this Avidya, and also its limiting factors – both disappear simultaneously. Ajnana also disappears. Maya also disappears.

Example: The Rope and the Snake

Response: You know how, Maharaj – supposing a person in semi-darkness thinks there is a snake. Somebody brings light. As soon as a light is brought, how many things have disappeared?

Participant: The snake has disappeared. No, the darkness also has disappeared.

Response: No, no – the fear arising out of the snake.

Participant: Sure.

Response: The moment – a person thinks it is a snake, and it is also – I am not too poor in my imagination. That is where we have to pray to get a Nobel Prize for ignorance. It is the most virulent cobra in the whole world. It could be, for all given purposes, a water snake, isn't it?

Participant: We will always imagine the worst.

Response: So if that snake is there, snake produces fear. So both fear – as soon as light is brought, then true knowledge dawns. Snake also disappears and the fear also disappears.

Ignorance, Wrong Knowledge, and Fear

Response: So ignorance produces – or manifests as – individual, what is called, wrong knowledge. Individual knowledge and wrong knowledge are both one and the same – name for the same phenomenon. And what is the result of this ajnana? Fear. "Since I am born, I am going to die." Who wants to die? "I am suffering." Who wants to suffer? "I have an enemy." Who wants to have enemies? So every effect – along with the removal of the cause, the effect also is totally destroyed.

So that is how – who fragments it? That fragmentation itself is the particular effect of Avidya.

Maya and Saguna Brahman

Response: By the way, don't ever forget: Maya is the collective name. And of this Maya has another name. You know what its name is? Saguna Brahman. Saguna Brahman married – Brahman married to that beautiful lady called Trigunatmika Maya Shakti. Before marriage, he was experiencing Brahmanandam. After marriage, the best he can hope for is Brahma Lokananda.

All right, Jai Thakur. Anything else?

Participant: Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Adit.

Response: Okay, there are other questioners.

Question 2: Are Wrong Knowledge and Avidya the Same?

Participant: Okay. Yeah, in fact, I too had the same doubt of individual Brahman – individual Brahman, individual ignorance is called Avidya. You have cleared that. One more complementary doubt is whether the wrong knowledge and Avidya both are the same.

Response: Exactly. Avidya means wrong knowledge. Wrong knowledge means Avidya. Two names but same thing.

Participant: And Maya you said it is collective?

Response: Infinite drama – that is Saguna Brahman is also called Maya. Brahman plus Maya is called Saguna Brahman. Saguna Brahman.

Question 3: Is Collective Ignorance for Individuals or the General Public?

Participant: And so this collective ignorance – is it for individuals or is it for the general public?

Response: Saguna Brahman has no such ignorance. That's why he is called Maya Adhishwara, master of the Maya. That is what the Bhagavad Gita says: Daivi hy esha mama maya duratyaya – this is my Maya. Prakritim svam adhishtaya – so with the help of Maya, adhyakshina prakriti suyate sacharacharam – along with me and prakriti – prakriti is another word for Maya – are the great grandparents of this entire universe.

So what we call Brahma – not Brahman, Brahma – that is what is called Saguna Brahman. Anyway, you don't need to get confused over these things. What is the truth is: still we are thinking from the viewpoint of duality, even when we think we are going to become one with Brahman. That is why these doubts are coming. "I will not know myself as so and so." No, you will not think – because there is no so and so, there is only one voice. Yeah, thank you.

Question 4: A Thought Experiment on Realisation and Universal Consciousness

Participant: Aur Jai Thakur, Kanna Maharaj. So I was just enquiring about a possible thought experiment. So in case somebody realises in this body and identifies with the universal consciousness – so would that person mean, since the person is identifying with the consciousness that connects everything in this universe, so that means for that entity, like, this body would be somebody, right? It won't be "my body," but it would be somebody. And then this would be this mind, and this side – like, am I performing this thought experiment correctly? That is what I wanted to know.

Response: I think there is a confusion. You better – we can talk later on.

Participant: OK, yeah.