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माया ।तत्प्रतिबिम्बनिष्ठसर्वज्ञत्वाद्याधायकविशेषणत्वेन अस्या अस्तीति एकाक्षरी ।एकम् अक्षरं सर्वप्रकृतित्वात्परापरब्रह्मप्रतीकतया तदुपासनया तदुभयप्राप्तिसाधनत्वेन शब्दब्रह्मरूपलक्षितलक्षकशब्दः प्रणवः अस्या अस्तीति वा ।एकः अखण्डैकचैतन्यरूपः अक्षरः अनश्वरः अविनाशी परमेश्वरः अर्धशरीरत्वेन अस्यामस्तीति वा ।एकान्यक्षराणि मायाबीजादीनि सदुपासनाप्रतीकत्वेन अस्याः सन्तीति वा ।'अथ परा यया तदक्षरमधिगम्यते' इति श्रुतेः अखण्डाकारवृत्तिप्रतिफलनयोग्यचैतन्यरूपतया तद्वृत्तिव्याप्तिमात्रेण अक्षरपदलक्ष्यचैतन्यं विषयतासबन्धेन अस्या अस्तीति एकाक्षरी ।चकारः निर्गुणब्रह्मणोऽपि सगुणब्रह्मविशेषणसद्भावसमुच्चयपरः सर्वत्रापि द्रष्टव्यः ।'सच्चिन्मयः शिवः साक्षात्तस्यानन्दमयी शिवा' इति वचनेन, 'स्त्रीरूपा चिन्तयेद्देवीं पुंरूपामथवेश्वरीम् ।अथवा निष्कलं ध्यायेत्सञ्चिदानन्दविग्रहाम्' इति स्मृत्या च, त्वं स्त्री त्वं पुमान्' इति श्वेताश्वतरोपनिषदि उपाधिकृतनानारूपसंभवोक्तेश्च ।अत एव 'सेयं देवतैक्षत' इत्यादौ तत्सत्यं स आत्मा' इत्यन्ते च श्रुतौ स्त्रीलिङ्गान्तदेवतादिपदानां तत्सत्यमिति नपुंसकान्तस्य स आत्मेति पुंलिङ्गात्मशब्दस्य एकार्थत्वम् अविवक्षि-
In plain words
Māyā. She is named Ekākṣarī because she bears the defining quality that confers omniscience and all divine attributes onto her reflection. Alternatively, the primordial syllable Praṇava belongs to her—that sacred sound which serves as both the expression and the essence of the sound-Brahman, acting as the symbol for both lower and higher realities, the source of all existence, and the direct path to their realization. Or, she is Ekākṣarī because the Supreme Lord—indivisible, pure consciousness, immutable, eternal, and indestructible—resides within her as the very half of his divine form. Or because other sacred seed-syllables, such as those of Māyā, exist as symbols for true meditation upon her. Based on the Upanishadic declaration, 'Now, that higher knowledge through which the imperishable is known,' she is Ekākṣarī because the pure consciousness pointed to by the term 'Akṣara' is revealed as an object illuminated by her through the mere pervading of the unbroken mental state. The particle 'ca' should be understood everywhere as conveying that even the attributeless absolute shares in the attributes of the qualified divine. This is confirmed by the declarations: 'Śiva is pure existence and awareness, and his consort Śivā is the embodiment of bliss,' and the traditional instruction, 'Let the seeker meditate upon the Goddess in a female form, or in a male form, or as the formless reality whose nature is existence, consciousness, and bliss.' It is further affirmed by the Śvetāśvatara Upanishad's verse, 'You are woman, you are man,' which reveals that all manifold forms arise solely through limiting adjuncts. Hence, even in scriptural passages running from 'That deity willed' to 'That is truth, that is the self,' the varying grammatical genders—the feminine deity terms, the neuter 'tatsatyam,' and the masculine 'sa ātmā'—all converge to point toward one identical, non-dual reality beyond gender.
Close to the Sanskrit
Māyā. Because she possesses the quality of being the attribute that confers omniscience and other traits residing in her reflection, she is Ekākṣarī. Or, because the sacred syllable Praṇava—which is the word denoting and denoted by the sound-Brahman, serving as a symbol for both lower and higher Brahman through being the source of all, and acting as the means to attain both—belongs to her. Or, because the sole, undivided consciousness-form, imperishable, indestructible, eternal Supreme Lord exists in her as half of his body. Or, because other single syllables such as the seed-syllables of Māyā exist as her symbols for true meditation. On the authority of the śruti text 'Now, that higher (knowledge) by which the imperishable is attained,' because consciousness fit for reflecting the undivided mental modification has the relation of being an object to her through the mere pervading of that mental modification, she is Ekākṣarī. The particle 'ca' is to be seen everywhere as intending the aggregation of the existence of attributes of qualified Brahman even in attributeless Brahman. This is known through the declaration 'Śiva is directly pure existence-consciousness, and his consort Śivā is full of bliss,' through the smṛti text 'One should meditate on the Goddess in female form, or in male form, or else as partless and possessing a form of existence-consciousness-bliss,' and because the Śvetāśvatara Upanishad states the possibility of manifold forms created by limiting adjuncts in the passage 'You are woman, you are man.' Therefore, even in scriptural passages beginning with 'That deity willed' and concluding with 'That is truth, that is the self,' the identity of meaning between feminine gender deity terms, the neuter ending 'tatsatyam,' and the masculine 'sa ātmā' is intended to transcend grammatical gender differences.