Māyā first meant a wondrous power to create forms. In Advaita Vedānta it names the principle by which Brahman appears as a world of distinct things, much as a rope appears as a snake in dim light. Māyā is said to be indescribable: not real, since it vanishes in knowledge, and not unreal, since it is experienced. Other schools treat the world as real and māyā as God’s creative power.
Māyā
The power by which the one reality appears as the many; in Advaita, the appearance of the world, neither simply real nor unreal.
Also: Maya