Cabinet of Curiosities

Maya - the veil of illusion that conceals the full experience of Brahman from the Jiva, or individual soul.
Maya is Brahman's power, a result of Brahman - like the heat from fire. Maya causes us to see manifold reality, instead of the one Reality.
In Advaita Vedanta philosophy, Maya is the limited, purely physical and mental reality in which our everyday consciousness has become entangled. Maya is held to be an illusion, a veiling of the true, unitary Self — the Cosmic Spirit also known as Brahman. The concept of Maya was expounded in the Hindu scriptures known as the Upanishads. Many philosophies or religions seek to "pierce the veil" of Maya in order to glimpse the transcendent truth, from which the illusion of a physical reality springs, drawing from the idea that first came to life in the Hindu stream of Vedanta. Maya is neither true nor untrue. Since Brahman is the only truth, Maya cannot be true. Since Maya causes the material world to be seen, it cannot be untrue. Hence, Maya is described as indescribable. She has two principle functions — one is to veil Brahman and obscure and conceal it from our consciousness. The other is to present and promulgate the material world and the veil of duality instead of Brahman. The veil of Maya is piercable and with dilligence and grace, may be permanently rent. Consider an illusion of a rope being confused as a snake in the darkness. Just as this illusion gets destroyed when true knowledge of the rope is perceived, similarly, Maya gets destroyed for a person when they perceive Brahman with transendental knowledge. A metaphor is also given — when the reflection of Brahman falls on Maya, Brahman appears as God (the Supreme Lord). Pragmatically, where the duality of the world is regarded as true, Maya becomes the divine magical power of the Supreme Lord. Maya is the veritable fabric of duality and she performs this role at the behest of the Supreme Lord. God is not bound by Maya, just as a magician is not illusioned and deluded by their own magic.

Lately, I've been very curious about the origins and other stuff related to my name,
and oh, boy have I found the new material for my Cabinet.
First, these are just few basic relations to the name itself, and second, I decided
to start with the Maia the mother of Hermes
I hope you'll enjoy, even if your name isn't Maia.

Maia (mythology), the eldest of the Pleiades in Greek mythology, also identified with an Ancient Italic goddess of spring
Queen Maya, the mother of the historical Buddha
Mayasura, a Hindu demon often known by the name Maya
Maya (illusion), the word for "illusion" in Sanskrit and a concept in Hindu and Dharmic philosophy
maja (fem.) or majo was a member of the Madrid artistic scene of the early nineteenth century
Maja can also be a Estonian word for house

When we look into the night sky, we can recognize the seven stars which make up the constellation called the Pleiades.
According to ancient Greeks these stars were once the seven daughters of Atlas.When he took part in a revolt led by the
giants against the gods of Olympus, Atlas was made to bear the world on his shoulders as punishment. Maia and her sisters
mourned their father's humiliation so much that the gods turned them into doves to spare them any more pain. Then they
flew to the highest heaven and became brightly shining stars - the seven stars we call the Pleiades.
She is also praised as "the grandmother of magic" because her son [by Zeus], the god Hermes, was the first to discover
that mysterious art.According to the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, being shy, she lived quietly and alone in a cave on Mount Cyllene, in Arcadia. Zeus, however, discovered the beautiful young woman, and fell in love with her. He came to her cave at night, to make love to her away from the jealous eyes of his wife, Hera. As a result, Maia bore Zeus a son, Hermes.
After giving birth to the baby, Maia wrapped him in blankets and went to sleep. The rapidly-maturing infant Hermes crawled away to Thessaly, where by nightfall of his first day he stole some of Apollo's cattle and invented a lyre. When Apollo stormed into Maia's cave, she showed him the tiny baby to prove he could not have been the cattle thief. Apollo was not fooled, however, and angrily appealed to Zeus to punish Hermes. Zeus arbitrated by requiring Hermes to give back the cattle. During the feud, baby Hermes played the lyre, and Apollo was so enchanted by the music that he dropped the charges, and even gave some of the cattle to Hermes, as well as other gifts. (There is a nice detailed story about this relationship between Hermes and Apollo on ArtemisToxia blog taken from Homeric hymns.)Besides being the first magician, Hermes is credited with the invention of medicine, astrology, and letters. Part of his duties as messenger to the gods and goddesses was the responsibility of bringing souls of the dead to the underworld. It is interesting to see how through this function Maia's son became the god of death, which contrasts to Maia's role as bringer of life each spring.People still celebrate Maia every year on the first of May, which is called May Day in honor of the goddess. Men and women rejoice over the rebirth of spring by dancing circles around the maypole and by wearing vibrant green - the color of the earth itself.

I am wandering, was Maia the youngest or the oldest doughter of Atlas? I am finding different informations on different locations.

Here is a nice story for you

An old Cherokee was teaching his young grandson one of life’s most important lessons. He told the young boy the following parable:

“There is a fight going on inside each of us. It is a terrible fight between two wolves,” he said.

“One wolf is evil. He is anger, rage, envy, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The second wolf is good. He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, empathy, truth, compassion, and faith.”

The grandson thought about this for a moment. Then he asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win this fight?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Which are you feeding today?