Maya: The Illusion of Permanence and Control

In Hindu and bhakti philosophy, maya is the cosmic illusion that obscures our perception of reality. We experience the world as permanent and ourselves as solid, separate beings with control over our circumstances. But this is illusion. Mirabai invoked maya to question the rigid rules of her society—the way women were supposed to remain invisible, obedient, chaste. For her, seeing through maya meant recognizing that social rules were gossamer illusions, not immutable facts. Grief, too, can be a rupture in maya. Loss reveals the impermanence we usually deny. Our careful plans dissolve. The person we counted on disappears. In creative practice, working with maya means accepting loss not as aberration but as truth of existence. This acceptance paradoxically frees us. When we stop fighting the reality of impermanence, we can create from that reality rather than in denial of it. Mirabai's work does not pretend her loss could be fixed or that she will ever be reunited with Krishna in life. She creates from acceptance of the permanent separation. This clarity—seeing through the illusion of control—becomes the ground of her art.