Like Prakṛti and Puruṣa, Māyā and Brahman thus together constitute the whole universe (physical and spiritual as a single entity).•In this world, both spiritual and physical combined (hence Advaita), Brahman can manifest in a physical or tangible form as gods that we can directly perceive.•The form of Brahman that we can perceive is known as Saguṇa-Brahman, the cosmic universal version of each person’s jīva (just as each eternal ātman is the universal, unchanging Brahman).