If Brahman alone exists, how does the multiple, changing world arise? Advaita answers: through Maya—the inexplicable power by which the One appears as many, the unchanging appears as changing, the infinite appears as finite. Maya is neither absolutely real (sat) nor absolutely unreal (asat) but anirvachaniya—indefinable, occupying a unique ontological category. The classic analogy: a rope in dim light mistaken for a snake. The snake appears real enough to cause fear and physiological reaction, but upon investigation, only rope exists. Yet we cannot say the snake-appearance was completely non-existent—it was experienced. Similarly, the world has vyavaharika (empirical) reality—it functions, can be known, has internal consistency. But from the paramarthika (absolute) perspective, only Brahman exists. Maya operates through two powers: avarana shakti (veiling power) conceals Brahman's true nature; vikshepa shakti (projecting power) projects the appearance of multiplicity. Understanding Maya is not nihilism—Advaita does not deny the world's empirical existence but contextualizes it within a more fundamental reality.