Maya

Kashmir Shivaism teaches seven TATTWAS beyond the  Divine

* Ishvara-Tattwa and Sad-Vidya - Tattva('Atman'):

* Impure MAYA and the six KANCHUKAS(sheaths) : Kalaa, Vidya, Raga, Kaala, Niyat, Purusha. The Kanchukas are created when the divine light meets the dark forces of Maya. Hence Purusha clothes himself with Pancha-Kanchukas or five envelopes developed from Maya. Anava or Avidya constricts the energy necessary for the activities of Purusha.

Impure māyā is created from Shiva's Ānanda Śakti. It is the instrument for the creation of the dual world. Impure Maya is here a Tattva ! 

"Maya, which is really barren as it has no power to create on its own, becomes impregnated with soul energy and creates this world of colour and form. The soul, which is the real creator and sustainer of things, no longer creates because it has now withdrawn itself into Brahmand and the regions beyond, leaving Maya to shrink back to its infertile state."(Huzur Maharaj from Radhasoami)

MAYA is therefore one of the 7 essential forces of creation and the basic force of the four lower planes. In the indish mythologie Maya is also created, when SHIVA and SHAKTI unite their forces in the DIVINE. This Maya is impure, and above is Mahamaya, which dissolves impure Maya.

Hinduism describes Maya as a beautiful girl which becomes uglier the more it steps down into the lower planes of creation. In our material world it ends as on old and ugly women with a crutch, in a world with the characteristcs of the nature of death.
(Ann.: This context offers a meditation about Maya (with her illusionary structure) and about beauty.

Mara tempts Buudha with pictures of beautiful women, but of course not pictures of green Tara or Vajrayogini...)

Saint Kabir saw women as kali nagini  (black cobra) [2], kunda naraka ka (the pit of hell), juthani jagata ki (the refuse of the world). According to Kabir, a woman prevents man's spiritual progress....

The Bhagavata - Purana says in 3.31.40 :The woman, created by the Lord, is the representation of māyā, and one who associates with such māyā by accepting services must certainly know that this is the way of death, just like a blind well covered with grass. 

So the real woman should be a Yogini.

There exists again the polarity of Shiva and Shakti on the lower planes : Maya - or Mula-Prakriti - with its destructive etheric structure and the Kanchukas. The silent interaction  of Purusha and Prakriti creates the 4 lower planes : The buddhic plane, the mental plane, the astral plane and the material plane - which are vibrating  forms of Maya (and of the material etheric forces of white magic).

In the small book of Sri Yuktesvar Giri : "The holy science" You can find a simplified drawing of this structures with illustrations.

In hinduism MAYA is the part of the lower BRAHMAN which coexists in AUM. Through the interaction with forces of the Kanchukas the lower NADA or lower Pranava is created, while the Shabda and the Omkara are at the top of the Trimurti-planes.

Maya is as also created (A.A. Bailey, D.K.) through the unification of divine cosmic masters with divine cosmic "female" masters on their cosmic initiations. A modern example is the second cosmic initiation of the KUMARA ( A.A.Bailey) in the PLEYADS with the cosmic "mothers". Through these activities Maya is produced together with other forces of the KANCHUKAS in the ATMIC PLANE.