Further reading: Somdath Bhuckory, Profile of the
Hindu Community (Port Louis, Mauritius, n.p. 1972);
Marina Carter, Voices from Indenture: Experiences of
Indian Migrants in the British Empire (New York: Leices-
ter University Press, 1996); Chand S. Seewoochurn,
Hindu festivals in Mauritius (Quatre Bornes, Mauritius:
Editions Capuchins, 1995).
maya
The term maya has several senses. In the VEDAS
the term referred to the magic or power of the
divinity. The term is still used in this sense in
theistic branches of Hinduism to refer to the
delusive and enthralling power of the personal
divinity.
In SHANKARA’S ADVAITA VEDANTA the term devel-
oped a specialized meaning of “illusion,” spe-
cifically, the illusory nature of the world of
phenomena. It is an alternative term for avidya
or ignorance—that is, ignorance of the unitary
character of the ultimate reality. Maya in this con-
text is the veil of illusion over the BRAHMAN or the
highest reality. It neither exists nor nonexists, but
is something that cannot be defined. Maya, the
world as we sense it and know it, is thought to
disappear as a fog does when the light of knowl-
edge of the singular nature of the ultimate reality
moves forward in consciousness.
In the SHAKTA traditions of GODDESS worship,
the goddess as supreme divinity is sometimes
called Maya or Mahamaya. In this case the word
has no negative connotations, but simply refers to
the goddess’s supreme magic and power.
Further reading: Paul David Devandan, The Concept of
Maya (London: Lutterworth Press, 1950); Margaret Dev
and Neena Dev, Maya: The Divine Power (Piercy, Calif.:
Chinmaya, 1999); L. Thomas O’Neil, Maya in Sankara:
Measuring the Immeasurable (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass,
1980); Tracy Pintchman, The Rise of the Goddess in the
Hindu Tradition (Albany: State University of New York
Press, 1994).
Ma Yoga Shakti International
Mission (est. 1979)
The Ma Yoga Shakti International Mission, with
ashrams and centers in India, the United King-
dom, and the United States, is dedicated to the
spread of YOGA in the West. It offers instruction in
a variety of yoga paths.
Ma Yoga Shakti (no birth name available) was
born April 6, 1927, and raised in the holy city of
BENARES (Varanasi), India. She spent her youth fas-
cinated by high ideals and devoted herself to the
quest of finding solutions to life’s mysteries. She
obtained an M.A. in political science and became
principal of an all-women’s college in Bihar, India.
In 1956 she founded the Annie Besant Lodge of
the THEOSOPHICAL SOCIETY in Chapra. In 1965, she
took vows of SANNYAS, renouncing the worldly life,
and became a paramadesa SANNYASI, or one who
becomes a monastic without being initiated by
another SANNYASI. She does not acknowledge any
one GURU or Hindu lineage. She took the name
Ma Yoga Shakti Saraswati. In 1969 she was given
the name Shakti Sant Shiromani by several monas-
tic orders of India at the KUMBHA MELA. She was
given the title Maha Mandleshwar in 1974 by the
Niranjani Akhara, one of India’s largest orders of
monks.
In 1979, following her intention to spread
yoga to the West, she established the Ma Yoga
Shakti International Mission, with ashrams in
South Ozone Park, New York, and Palm Bay, Flor-
ida. Other ashrams are active in London and in
five cities in India. Following the teaching of Ma
Yoga Shakti, the mission emphasizes four forms
of yoga—HATHA, raja, KARMA, and BHAKTI—and
instructs students to pursue the yogic path that
is most accessible to their inclinations and abili-
ties. The mission publishes books by Ma Yoga
Shakti in English and Hindi and offers a monthly
periodical, Yoga Shakti Mission Newsletter. Each
of the movement’s ashrams offers retreats, devo-
tional services, yoga and MEDITATION classes, and
workshops.K 282 maya