Viparyaya is maya's power of reversal — mistaking the finite body for the Self and the dependent world for reality. Self-knowledge corrects this inversion.

Ignorance is not the absence of knowledge—it’s the presence of misperception. In Vedanta, ignorance (avidyā) is what makes us mistake a rope for a snake, or the body for the Self. This essay explores the subtle but pervasive force that distorts reality, and how knowledge—not belief—dispels it.