54
Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta
tad vidyād ātmano māyāṁ yathābhāso yathā tamaḥ
SYNONYMS
ṛte —without;  artham —value;  yat —that which;  pratīyeta —appears to be;  na —not;  pratīyeta —appears to be;  ca —certainly;  ātmani —in relation to Me;  tat —that;  vidyāt —you must know;  ātmanaḥ —My;  māyām —illusory energy;  yathā —just as;  ābhāsaḥ —the reflection;  yathā —just as;  tamaḥ —the darkness.
TRANSLATION
“What appears to be truth without Me is certainly My illusory energy, for nothing can exist without Me. It is like a reflection of a real light in the shadows, for in the light there are neither shadows nor reflections.
PURPORT
In the previous verse the Absolute Truth and its nature have been explained. One must also understand the relative truth to actually know the Absolute. The relative truth, which is called  māyā , or material nature, is explained here.  Māyā  has no independent existence. One who is less intelligent is captivated by the wonderful activities of  māyā , but he does not understand that behind these activities is the direction of the Supreme Lord. In  Bhagavad-gītā  it is said,  mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram : the material nature is working and producing moving and nonmoving beings only by the supervision of Kṛṣṇa (Bg. 9.10).
The real nature of  māyā , the illusory existence of the material manifestation, is clearly explained in  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam . The Absolute Truth is substance, and the relative truth depends upon its relationship with the Absolute for its existence.  Māyā  means energy; therefore the relative truth is explained to be the energy of the Absolute Truth. Since it is difficult to understand the distinction between the absolute and relative truths, an example can be given for clarification. The Absolute Truth can be compared to the sun, which is appreciated in terms of two relative truths: reflection and darkness. Darkness is the absence of sunshine, and a reflection is a projection of sunlight into darkness. Neither darkness nor reflection has an independent existence. Darkness comes when the sunshine is blocked. For example, if one stands facing the sun, his back will be in darkness. Since darkness stands in the absence of the sun, it is therefore relative to the sun. The spiritual world is compared to the real sunshine, and the material world is compared to the dark regions where the sun is not visible.
When the material manifestation appears very wonderful, this is due to a perverted reflection of the supreme sunshine, the Absolute Truth, as confirmed in the  Vedānta-sūtra . Whatever one can see here has its substance in the Absolute. As darkness is situated far away from the sun, so the material world is also far away from the spiritual world. The Vedic literature directs us not to be captivated by the dark regions ( tamaḥ ) but to try to reach the shining regions of the Absolute ( yogi-dhāma ).