Yogamaya
Yogamaya (Sanskrit: योगमाया, lit. ‘illusory potency’, IAST: Yogamāyā) is a Hindu goddess who serves as the personification of Vishnu’s powers of illusion. In Vaishnava tradition, she is accorded the epithet Narayani—“the sister of Narayana (Vishnu)“—and is regarded as the benevolent aspect of the goddess Durga.
According to Hindu texts, Yogamaya plays the role of the facilitator of the earthly birth of Krishna, an avatar of Vishnu. She took the avatar of the daughter of Yadava cowherd Nanda and Yashoda, after which her place is swapped with Krishna to protect the latter from the tyrant ruler Kamsa. After warning Kamsa about his impending death, Yogamaya vanished and resided in the Vindhya hills, due to which she is accorded the epithet Vindhyavasini.
Yogamaya is also an important goddess in Shaktism sect, and is worshipped as a form of Mahadevi.
Yogamaya, in Hindu philosophy, refers to Vishnu’s divine, illusory power. It’s also the name of a goddess who personifies this power. In essence, Yogamaya is the energy that creates the phenomenal world, the illusion of separation from the divine, and yet, it also holds the potential for union with the Ultimate Reality.
- Illusion and Reality: Yogamaya is associated with maya, which is often translated as illusion. It’s the illusion that the world is separate from the divine and that our individual identities are distinct from the whole.
- Divine Energy: However, Yogamaya is not just any illusion; it’s a divine, creative power of Vishnu, a manifestation of the feminine divine energy, Shakti.
- Spiritual Significance: In the context of yoga, Yogamaya is the energy that can be harnessed to transcend the illusion of maya and achieve union with the divine, or Brahman.
- Mythological Role: In Hindu mythology, Yogamaya is often depicted as playing a crucial role in divine events, like switching the baby Krishna with Subhadra to protect him from King Kamsa, according to Instagram.
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[2] https://www.yogapedia.com/definition/8485/yoga-maya
[3] https://www.wisdomlib.org/concept/goddess-yogamaya
[4] https://www.quora.com/What-is-yoga-maya
[6] https://courses.onlineyoga.school/pages/the-three-malas-explained-anava-mayiya-and-karma