Nikhilananda:
The following are some of the characteristics of māyā:
It is something positive, though intangible; it cannot be described as either being or non-being. It is positive because it is the source of the manifold universe.
It is not of the nature of existence or being, because it does not exist when Truth is realized. Again, it is not non-existent or non-being (like the son of a barren woman), for it produces the illusion of the relative world.
Māyā is intangible: it cannot be grasped by reason, for reasoning itself is in māyā. To try to prove māyā by reasoning is like trying to see darkness by means of darkness.
Again, māyā cannot be proved by Knowledge, for when Knowledge is awakened there remains no trace of māyā. Hence it will remain for ever inscrutable to the human mind.
Māyā consists of the three gunas: sattva, rajas, and tamas. They constitute māyā and are present in everything that exists in Nature.
Māyā is beginningless, for the very conception of time is due to māyā. But it has an end. The Knowledge of Brahman ends it.
Under the influence of māyā the Self, which is the same as the immortal Brahman, regards Itself as an embodied being and experiences the suffering and misery of the world.
With the help of māyā, but retaining control of it, Brahman appears as an Avatār, or Incarnation, in order to subdue the power of iniquity and establish righteousness.
The goal of spiritual discipline is to get rid of māyā and realize one’s divine nature.
~from Nikhilananda's translation of The Bhagavad Gita, note on 7:14
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