Within the vision of Vishishtadvaita, māyā is not treated as a grand illusion that falsifies reality, but as the genuine, creative power of Brahman. Rather than veiling Brahman or generating a merely apparent universe, this māyā is understood as the divine śakti through which Brahman manifests the cosmos. It is real, though always dependent, and functions as the material through which the one Brahman appears in manifold forms without ceasing to be one. In this way, māyā is not an independent or deceptive principle, but the very means by which the Absolute expresses itself.

Because of this understanding, the world that arises through māyā is affirmed as real, not as a dreamlike or illusory projection. The multiplicity of beings and things is genuine differentiation within the unity of Brahman, not a false superimposition to be dismissed. The world and the individual souls are thus seen as real attributes or modes of Brahman, comparable to how a body stands in relation to a soul. Māyā, as creative power, enables this “qualified” non-duality: one Brahman, truly qualified by a real universe and real selves.

Ignorance and bondage, in this framework, do not stem from a cosmic deception imposed on Brahman, but from the limited understanding of individual jīvas. Brahman is never under the sway of māyā; rather, Brahman is the sovereign Lord who wields this power. What needs to be transformed is not an illusory world, but the soul’s grasp of its proper relationship to Brahman and to the world that manifests within Brahman. Liberation, therefore, is not a matter of negating the reality of creation, but of rightly discerning and living within this divinely grounded order.

From such a standpoint, spiritual practice does not aim at escaping an unreal cosmos, but at recognizing the sacredness and authenticity of existence as an expression of Brahman’s power. Devotion, surrender, and right understanding become ways of aligning the finite self with the infinite source that both transcends and pervades the world. The language of māyā thus shifts from the register of illusion to that of divine creativity, preserving the reality of both the personal God and the devotee’s relationship with that God.