As in the Upaniṣads, so too in Advaita, the ultimate truth of Brahman is obscured by Māyā, the everyday reality of the world in all its diversity.•Adapting Saṅkhya-Yoga teaching, Śaṅkara said that Māyā is like Prakṛti (Nature), which appears to us as diverse physical reality.•We thereby strive to return from a state of consciousness in Māyā to primordial Brahman—a personal evolution, as in yoga