one, and there was "no many" anywhere,
and S'ankara explained it by adding that the "many" was merely
an illusion, and hence did not exist in reality and was bound
to disappear when the truth was known. The world-appearance
is maya (illusion). This is what S'ankara emphasizes in expounding
his constructive system of the Upani@sad doctrine.
The question is sometimes asked, how the maya becomes associated
with Brahman. But Vedanta thinks this question illegitimate,
for this association did not begin in time either with
reference to the cosmos or with reference to individual persons.
In fact there is no real association, for the creation of illusion
does not affect the unchangeable truth. Maya or illusion is no
real entity, it is only false knowledge (_avidya_) that makes the
appearance, which vanishes when the reality is grasped and found.
Maya or avidya has an apparent existence only so long as it
lasts, but the moment the truth is known it is dissolved. It is
not a real entity in association with which a real world-appearance
has been brought into permanent existence, for it only has
existence so long as we are deluded by it (_pratitika-satta_).
Maya therefore is a category which baffles the ordinary logical
division of existence and non-existence and the principle of excluded
middle. For the maya can neither be said to be "is" nor
"is not" (_tattvanyatvabhyam anirvacaniya_). It cannot be said that
such a logical category does not exist, for all our dream and
illusory cognitions demonstrate it to us. They exist as they are
perceived, but they do not exist since they have no other independent
existence than the fact of their perception. If it has
any creative function, that function is as illusive as its
own nature, for the creation only lasts so long as the error lasts.
Brahman, the truth, is not in any way sullied or affected by association
with maya, for there can be no association of the real with the empty,
the maya, the illusory. It is no real association but a mere appearance.

443

In what sense is the world-appearance false?

The world is said to be false--a mere product of maya. The
falsehood of this world-appearance has been explained as involved
in the category of the indefinite which is neither _sat_ "is"
nor _asat_ "is not." Here the opposition of the "is" and "is not"
is solved by the category of time. The world-appearance is "is
not," since it does not continue to manifest itself in all times, and