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Maya and the Divine Mother

After the experience of Nirvikalpa Samadhi, Ramakrishna realized that the great weaver of Maya is none other than Kali, the Divine Mother herself; that she projects it by Her will like a spider that spins a web out of itself, and She can no more be differentiated from Brahman than can the power of burning from fire. Observing Maya as a majestic and enigmatic statement of divinity, he was filled with reverence and love for it, unlike with disdain seen in other realised souls.

He observed that Maya functions in the world in two ways and named them as "Avidya Maya" and "Vidya Maya". Considering Avidya Maya to be represented by the lower forces like evil, greed, cruelty etc., which consign a man to the lower level of existence, and Vidya Maya to be represented by the higher forces like kindness, love and devotion, which elevate a man to the higher levels of existence, Ramakrishna felt that when an individual with the help of Vidya Maya could rid himself of Avidya Maya he would become Mayatita or free of Maya. He realised these two facets of Maya to be the two forces of creation, the two powers of Kali — Who stands beyond both of them, like the beaming sun behind the clouds of different colours and patterns, and shines through them all. Instead of looking upon the world as an illusion created by Brahman as per Vedanta, Ramakrishna looked upon it as the manifestation of the Divine Mother.

He further elaborated his view on the Brahman of Vedanta and the Divine Mother of Tantra thus:

"When I think of the Supreme Being as inactive - neither creating nor preserving nor destroying - I call Him Brahman or Purusha, the Impersonal God. When I think of Him as active - creating, preserving, and destroying - I call Him Sakti or Maya or Prakriti, the Personal God. But the distinction between them does not mean a difference. The Personal and the Impersonal are the same thing, like milk and its whiteness, the diamond and its lustre, the snake and its wriggling motion. It is impossible to conceive of the one without the other. The Divine Mother and Brahman are one."