Avidyamaya and Vidyamaya

Avidyamaya and Vidyamaya are concepts created by the Hindu sage Ramakrishna based on his realizations.

Ramakrishna implied that all things, good and bad, were maya (illusion). According to him, both love and hate, materialism and spirituality, egotism and generosity exist only due to our limited perception of Reality. However, he divided them in illusions that bind us further (avidyamaya) and illusions that take us further onto the dispelling of maya (vidyamaya).

According to his hindu school of thought, as one cannot trust one's eyes before a trained magician, also the human five senses draw and drag us further into illusions and false conclusions. However, the embracing and realization of some concepts that are not sensual (i.e., "of the senses"), such as love, generosity, spirituality, all of them "vidyamaya", take us further away from sticking to what we see, touch, smell, hear, taste.

In Ramakrishna's view, one does not have to close the eyes before the magician or to run from sex. But in both cases, man's senses cannot reckon the most important things happening there.