Within Non-Dual Shaivism, māyā is understood as a power of Consciousness (Śiva), not as an independent or fundamentally unreal principle. Ultimate reality is one, identified with Śiva or pure Cit, and māyā is one of Śiva’s own śaktis through which this unity appears as multiplicity. Because it is a function of Consciousness itself, māyā is regarded as real, rather than as something opposed to or outside of reality. It is the dynamic force through which Śiva projects, sustains, and reabsorbs the universe within itself, so that the entire field of experience is embraced as an expression of the same Consciousness.

A central feature of this understanding is that māyā operates as a principle of limitation or contraction of the infinite. Through māyā, the all-pervasive Consciousness appears as finite individuals and a differentiated world of subjects and objects. This power produces the sense of difference between Śiva and the individual, between one object and another, and between subject and object. From this perspective, the world is not dismissed as false; rather, it is a real manifestation or appearance of Consciousness. The error lies in mistaking this contracted, partial experience for the whole of what is, and thus taking limitation and separation as ultimate.

From the highest standpoint, there is only Śiva, and māyā is nothing other than Śiva’s own freedom to appear as many. From the empirical standpoint, however, māyā functions as the binding power that veils the full nature of Consciousness, giving rise to ignorance and bondage. Yet even this bondage is rooted in the same divine power that, when rightly understood, is seen as creative play. Liberation, therefore, is not the destruction of an external illusion, but the recognition that all differentiation and limitation arise within and as Consciousness itself. When this recognition dawns, the very power that once seemed to obscure reality is appreciated as the means by which Consciousness enjoys its own diversity.