The mask of the absolute is a figure of speech that relates to the functioning of ultimate reality. In Advaita Vedanta, the Absolute is the ultimate reality, the foundation of the universe from which matter and consciousness appear to emerge. Also known as Brahman (to expand and grow), emphasising its unity and continuity as indivisible, it remains complete in its wholesomeness in eternity. Today, quantum physics refers to the same substrate as the energy that expands and grows in a closed system, remaining constant, encompassing all subset forms that appear to revert to the same.

In Vedic philosophy, the Absolute is described as nameless, changeless, spaceless, timeless, and formless, transcending causality. It is without any second existing as the only extant in the universe. For whatever reason, the non-dual Absolute masks its true nature to appear in various forms in creation, playing the dance of dualities, which we call Maya. In this play, the infinite becomes finite, the unchanging changes restricted to space, time, and identifications categorised in different forms – living and non-living for the period they exist.

The mask’s purpose is a divine play of Absolute Energy, to play its drama of illusions for the sake of creation, preservation, and destruction, and to recycle this process in birth and death. However, in this divine play, one dances through dualities of happiness and sadness, pleasure and pain, truth and lies, divine and the devil, etc., primarily due to ignorance of its true nature.

Spiritual awakening is the path that enables an individual to see beyond this mask by silencing the mind, engaging in self-introspection to experience their true self, being present at the moment, and taking control of the emotional desires that govern the mind. It reveals Maya is an illusory and dualistic quality of life that hides the truth of the Self. It is that veil of illusions, indicating that what seems real differs from its actuality. Because, in ignorance, we falsely believe that reality consists only of the dualities, forms, names, and material world.

Both exist. The absolute non-dual is eternal; the other is its transient presence in duality. Maya is not unreal; it only misrepresents the ultimate eternal truth. It is the divine play of the Absolute that we call Lila, which is intertwined with Maya since both forms are a part of the same.

We might see Maya as the play of consciousness in duality—the mind’s attachment to forms, identities, and egoic distinctions—where you experience awakening as an intrinsic state of the soul and the universe as nothing but waves of aware energy (Brahman). The cognitive mind, operating in duality, creates the illusion of separation, binding one to samsara (the cycle of birth and death).

When the mask dissolves, what remains is Tat Tvam Asi – That art Thou – recognising that the individual self is fundamentally nothing but the Absolute itself.

The ‘Upanishads’ are very clear and specific – all that exists is not two. Therefore, there cannot be one real and another unreal in creation, irrespective of their innate different forms. Maya is an inclusive field of power in the form of the mind, and the absolute spirit represents the energetic force expressing this field of power through consciousness.

The mind is that mask that conceals or camouflages the absolute, yet remains part of the same ultimate reality. The mask in this play is to interact with the world of dualities, but spiritually to see through and return to its actual Self. Like every actor performs their task, not losing their actual given identity and returns. Similarly, the Absolute plays its role while remaining unchanged in its true Self.

Therefore, the Absolute by itself is changeless, timeless, and infinite. However, within itself, it exhibits various forms of matter and anti-matter, expressing themselves with their attributes. Even though the absolute is immortal, the forms within are finite and mortal. The absolute cannot be created nor destroyed, but the innate forms are interchangeable in their space and time, reflecting their presence while they exist.

The doctrine of Brahmanism holds that non-dualism, i.e., unity in all, is the supreme absolute reality. It is the final cause of all that exists, and it is that infinite, eternal truth that does not change on its own, yet is the cause of all changes, which today exemplifies the fundamental characteristic of energy in the First Law of Thermodynamics.

On the other hand, Dualism reveals the creation of existence and existence by itself in the nothingness of the universe. It explains life’s experiences through its consciousness, the separation of its absoluteness into different, interchangeable, and transient forms. Only the mind undergoes such separation in optical delusions, not the world around us, as commonly believed. The mind is the veil that covers the absolute, referred to as Maya. It means the universe exists unitedly, not two, and independently. The mind does not create anything but only interprets it differently.

Although we all live as individuals with separate identities, there is always a feeling of incompleteness, so the search persists to comprehend the paradoxical nature of our minds. We falsely believe in an illusory world under the spell of Maya. The highest level of Maya is the absolute spirit, and the lowest is that of material ego-consciousness. It also refers to the human inability to comprehend and experience their true potential. These states of mind are comprised within the Absolute and are referred to as Maya. Hence, it is not the world that is illusory or unreal but the mind that plays games, which separates the absolute into two different lines of thought.

Enlightenment is only an experience to awaken and realise from this illusory ignorance that there is nothing to seek in the future. Nothing here depicts unity and continuity in existence since energy is indivisible. As it is, dark energy within which transient forms of light energy emerge temporarily as quantum fields of energy, which entangle without space and time constraints and superposition, meaning existing in multiple states simultaneously until it is measured. There is no such entity as unreal; all that exists is inherently real and absolute in the nothingness of this universe.

The word ‘illusion’ suggests that what seems real is not. It means the form that you see only appears to be optically real, but it is formless, which is the true reality. It is simply a veil over the absolute, consequently revealing that the transitory form is also a part of the same reality and should be considered real.

NAMASTE