Upanishads · Kṛṣṇa 1.4
॥
Devanāgarī
माया सा त्रिविधा प्रोक्ता सत्त्वराजसतामसी । प्रोक्ता च सात्त्विकी रुद्रे भक्ते ब्रह्मणि राजसी
Transliteration (IAST)
māyā sā trividhā proktā sattvarājasatāmasī | proktā ca sāttvikī rudre bhakte brahmaṇi rājasī
Word-by-word
SanskritIASTMeaning
माया सा त्रि-विधा प्रोक्ताmāyā sā tri-vidhā proktāmāyā is declared threefold
सत्त्व-राजस-तामसीsattva-rājasa-tāmasīsāttvic, rājasic, tāmasic
प्रोक्ता च सात्त्विकी रुद्रेproktā ca sāttvikī rudrethe sāttvic is declared in Rudra
भक्ते ब्रह्मणि राजसीbhakte brahmaṇi rājasīin the devotee Brahmā, the rājasic
Translation
"Māyā is declared threefold: sāttvic, rājasic, tāmasic. The sāttvic is declared in Rudra, the rājasic in the devotee Brahmā."
Version
6f40752fab21 · published Aug 12, 2026, 5:00:00 AM UTC
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Māyā is divided into three by the guṇas, and this division is worth examining, for it determines everything that follows. Let us first say a word about the term itself, discussed when reading the Jābāla-darśana (10.2): māyā means "power, might, the capacity to produce," and the meaning "delusion" is derivative. Here it is taken in the first sense: māyā is a power, and it is of three kinds according to the three guṇas.
The Vaiṣṇava side accepts this division and works it out in more detail. Her reckoning is this: there is māyā-śakti, material power, divided into three guṇas; there is jīva-śakti, the power of living beings; and there is svarūpa-śakti, "His own power," belonging to Himself and standing beyond the guṇas. Let us add what follows from this and is worth keeping.
If māyā is a power and not an absence, then leaving it is not the discovery that it does not exist. Leaving it is a change of subjection: one passes from under one power to under another. The Gītā says this directly, and its verse has been cited more than once: mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṃ taranti te, "those who take refuge in Me alone cross over this māyā" (7.14).
It is worth noting that it does not say "they learn it does not exist"; it says they cross over, that is, they find themselves on the other side of a real barrier. As for the distribution of guṇas among gods, it is the usual thing in the Purāṇas and indicates who presides over what; there is no need to dispute it.