Question: What is the function of yoga-māyā?
Answer: Just as jīva-māyā obscures awareness of the supremacy of Bhagavān in the material world, yoga-māyā suppresses awareness of the supremacy of Bhagavān in the spiritual world.
Question: Then Bhagavān and His devotees are also in a type of avidyā?
Answer: Yes, it can be called avidyā, but it is of a different type than the avidyā here. In the spiritual world, Bhagavān lacks the awareness that He is Bhagavān. If He and His devotees did not forget the fact that He is Bhagavān, then He would not be able to give pleasure to His devotees as they would be in awe of Him. Therefore, His forgetfulness is also for the enjoyment of His devotees and is under His control, and by His wish. Both jīva-māyā and yoga-māyā are His potencies, and serve Him alone. This is the difference between us and Him.
Question: So Bhagavān in the Dāmodara-līlā truly does not know He is Bhagavān?
Answer: Yes. He is afraid of His mother. He has no awareness that He is Bhagavān. At the same time, He does not stop being Bhagavān. His mother tried to bind Him, but couldn’t. Till He consented.
Thank you for sharing, this is really fascinating. Doesn’t this suggest that yoga maya is ontologically more supreme than Bhagavan? How does yoga maya remain subordinate to Bhagavan when he has no awareness of being Bhagavan? Who decides when Bhagavan wants to become “aware” again?
The subordination of yoga maya to Bhagavan does not depend on His awareness of His bhagavatta. That is her nature and nature cannot change. She is His Svarupa sakti by nature. As an example, water will flow downhill and never uphill – that is its nature.
Bhagavan’s Saktis enable His Lilas- they work in perfect cadence to maximize His ananda. That principle decides when He becomes aware and when He does not.