It is important to notice that R. thinks this power of self-expression is a sine qua non of the Absolute. There is a well known song which children sing : “My hat, it has three corners; three corners has my hat. And had it not three corners, it would not be my hat.”…

This power of actualization is given the name of māyā in later Vedānta, for the manifestation does not disturb the unity and integrity of the One. The one becomes manifested by its own intrinsic power, by its tapas….The Śvetāśvatara Upanisad describes God as māyin, the divine art or power by which the divinity makes a likeness of the eternal prototypes or ideas inherent in his nature…

3. māyā³ : as Duality of Consciousness and Matter : Māyā¹ as inexplicable mystery is an epistemological concept and māyā² as power of self-becoming is a cosmogonic concept. Māyā³ as duality of consciousness (purusa) and matter (prakrti) is a “uniting” concept. R. uses māyā³ to unite Sāmkhya and Vedānta darśanas. He incorporates the Sāmkhya categories of consciousness (purusa) and matter (prakrti) into his own system….This calls attention to R.’s view that twoness or duality of consciousness and matter, being and non-being , is inherent in all things. Purusottama is Īśwara, poise two of reality. R. thinks even Īśwara’s nature is dual. He remarks that “All things partake of the duality of being and non-being from Purusottama downwards”. R. holds that the world process is dual : a mixture of self and not-self, spirit and nature, consciousness and matter…sat and asat. In short hirānyagarbh (poise three) and Virāt (poise four) express symbolically this duality which is inherent in all beings and even Īśwara. All things in the Universe are comprised of consciousness and matter to some degree…

            Māyā³ is like an ellipse. An ellipse is the locus of all points the sum of whose distances from two fixed points is equal. Usually oval, an ellipse can be drawn by tying a string loosely between two nails, by pulling the string taut with a pencil point, and by swinging the pencil all the way around the two nails. These two nails in this simile are consciousness and matter. All things in the Universe lie somewhere on the ellipse itself. Māyā³ signifies this duality inherent in all things.

4. māyā⁴ : as Primal Matter : māyā⁴ also unites Sāmkhya and Vedānta philosophies. For R. , the phrase “primal matter” is identical with the phrases “lower prakrti” and “unmanifested prakrti”.

Māyā⁴ as primal matter, in R.’s view, is that from which all existence arises. He theorizes that “Māyā is also used for prakrti, the objective principle which the personal God uses for creation”….The world is traced to the development of prakrti which is also called māyā in the Advaita Vedānta, bu this prakrti or māyā is not independent of spirit. It is dependent on Brahman….