54 Sri Caitanya-caritamcta
tad vidyad atmano mayam
yathabhaso yatha tamah
SYNONYMS

rte—without; artham—value; yat—that which; pratiyeta—appears to be; na—not;
pratiyeta—appears to be; ca—certainly; dtmani—in relation to Me; tat—that; vidyat—
you must know; adtmanah—My; mdyam-—illusory energy; yatha—just as; abhdsah—
the reflection; yathd—just as; tamah—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 mdyd, or material nature, is explained here. Mayd has no
independent existence. One who is less intelligent is captivated by the wonderful
activities of mdyd, but he does not understand that behind these activities is the
direction of the Supreme Lord. In Bhagavad-gita it is said, mayadhyaksena praktih
suuyate sa-caracaram: the material nature is working and producing moving and
nonmoving beings only by the supervision of Krsna (Bg. 9.10).

The real nature of mdyd, the illusory existence of the material manifestation, is
clearly explained in Srimad-Bhdagavatam. The Absolute Truth is substance, and the
relative truth depends upon its relationship with the Absolute for its existence.
Maya 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 com-
pared 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 Vedanta-
sutra. 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 (tammah) but to try to reach the shining regions of the Absolute (yogi-dhama).
