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I am a bit confused. My knowledge of the Maya was as of the world of illusion, from which we need to break away to see 'reality' How do these two relate? Or are the entirely different meaning for the same word?

Well, isn't breaking away through the world of illusion and seeing the true reality also a form of rebirth? as I wrote earlier. Maya exists in various different cultures, in greek, roman and european cultures she is a goddess of spring, (the month May in our calender is called after her name), she was the mother of Hermes, in buddhism she is the mother of Buddha, mother of the enlightened one, in hindu philosophy Maya is illusion.... etc. But as I said I haven't finished writing about it all, when you know all the myths, concepts and stories you get to the fact that all of them have something in common and that is that Maya is connected in one way or the other to fertility, birth and rebirth, creation, life and new life....But if you get deeper into any one of existing concepts or stories about her you will receive a complex message, like the one that Maya is an illusion, that concept is not very easy to grasp, I am writing about it because that way I realize more and more about it.
There are numerous adaptations and references to the concept in popular culture, notably in The Matrix trilogy, where Maya is represented by the character of the Oracle. In the final scene, the Architect tells the Oracle that she "played a dangerous game this time", which is a reference to concept of Lila.
and yes I'll write about Lila too