Hindu Goddess Maya?

[SylverStar]

I was wondering if anyone has ever heard of this Goddess. She is a Hindu goddess of illusion. Also one of the aspect's of Kali. I am having a hard time finding information on her and was wondering if anyone knew anything about her.

[FeatherGoblinglimmer]

Hey, i have heard of Maya and i do have a little info on her somewhere. I shall dig it out for you. I hope it shall help. till later(((((((())))))))

[SylverStar]

thanks :)

[KaliGiri5]

she's connected to Neptune.

[FeatherGoblinglimmer]

I'm sorry it's taknig so long. I will have it all together by tomorrow.

[SylverStar]

she's connected to Neptune.

Interesting.

Feather it's not urgent so whenever is fine. :)

Also does anyone know any good texts on Hindu dieties. I'm currently reading the Rig Veda, but it doesn't seem to mention her.

[Mnemosyne]

Maya is the mother of Gautama Buddha. Supposedly, she had the qualites to give birth to a buddha, since she didn't drink and was a virgin. Before giving birth, she had a dream of a white elephant carrying a white lotus (that lotus flowers is always popping up) in its trunk, and this elephant entered her right side. After the dream, she gave birth to Gautama from her right side. A week later she died in happiness and joined the gods. Later, Maya become associated with the illusion of reality.

Sylverstar, what kind of texts are you looking for? Are you looking for ancient texts or modern, scholarly texts on Hindu deities. If you are looking for ancient Hindu texts, I totally recommend the Mahabharata. Here, also check out this site.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/

[SylverStar]

Thanks Mnemosyne. Quite usefull. But I guess any little bit is. :) Yes I prefer the ancient texts. I will totally check that one out and thanks for the link.

[mol]

I didn't know his mother died shortly after child birth.

[Mnemosyne]

I didn't know his mother died shortly after child birth.

Yeah, that this is the story of the Gautama Buddha. Remember that there is more than one buddha. I just found a link with Maya's story.
http://dharma.ncf.ca/introduction/life-of-the-Buddha.html

[FeatherGoblinglimmer]

This is what it says about Maya in my Goddess Oracle deck.

' The Hindus and buddhists of India worshipped Maya as the material as" mother of creation", "weaver of the web of life", and as illusion.She is the virgin or maid part of the three part Kali.Maya is also worshipped in Nepal, Tibet, Asia and the Himalayas. Her special attributes are intelligence, creativity, water and magic. I have moe info but i don't have time to write it all out now. I have a huge book of mythology so i am gonna write up what it says in there for you.

[SylverStar]

Ok wow, You guys are great. I didn't think I would get so much information. I didn't think there was that much. Thank you all.

[Ganga]

Maya,or Maha-Maya (Great Maya) is the ruler and Goddess of the total material energy. She is the expansion of the Original Goddess. Now, whether you consider the Original Goddess to be Lakshmi, Durga, Radha or other, depends on the line you follow. Thereisn't necessarily any contradiction, either. Buddha's mother might be called Maya, too, but I'm not so well-versed in Buddhism.

Generally, Maya is referred to as illusion, because She covers the living entity's real knowledge of him/herself as a spirit soul (atma). However, She does not do this out of malice, but due to living entity's own desire to remain in the material world. Her work of creating illusion is therefore a necessity for us so that we can learn (or re-learn) who we are in the deepest sense.

Rig-veda is one of the original four Vedas of India/Hinduism. It is certainly not the easiest book to understand. Sanskrit is a very difficult language to understand as it is and the original texts can get very techinal. Translations are not always accurate. Personally, I prefer reading the histories (myths) that explain the philosophy in a story-form. An author called Krishna Dharma has done a great job with his translation of Mahabharata. If you're looking for more straightforward philosophical books (and yet not too complicated), I'd recommend books by A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

I hope this was helpful!
BB, Ganga

[Mnemosyne]

Thanks Ganga! It's glad to see you around here again. I haven't seen you in a while.

I'm a bit confused though. Is the Queen Maya, mother of the buddha, connected to or the same as the Hindu goddess? Basically, I'm wondering if we are discussing two different goddesses.

[SylverStar]

I read a site somewhere that connected her to Maia. Kind of an interesting site. I don't remember where it was though.

[Mnemosyne]

I read a site somewhere that connected her to Maia. Kind of an interesting site. I don't remember where it was though.

Wow! I had no idea. As I mentioned in other posts here, I'm such a fan of Maia. So right when you mentioned that SylverStar, I had to use google and find some connection.
http://www.menlo.com/folks/davis/Maya_Web/Maya_Name.html

I'll keep on doing research on that particular issue. Aggghh, the more I read about Maya though, the more confused I become.

[Starslaye11r]

That's cool. I really just need this info for school.

[Heathen Dawn]

Maia is the Roman Goddess of the Spring. The month of May is named after her.