Grand Canyon

Some years ago, the late New Mexico author Frank Waters used the Sanskrit word maya to describe Grand Canyon, which means “illusion” in Sanskrit. His definition is a puzzle. 

I’ve concluded that there is not one Grand Canyon, but many times many, and that every person’s experience is unique. Quite simply, there isn’t one word to describe Grand Canyon. Except one perhaps…  A more appropriate Sanskrit word for Grand Canyon may be agadha—meaning “unfathomable.”I would love to have discussed this with Frank, becauseI believe he’d have agreed that our language is totally inadequate to define the Canyon, And perhaps it's better that we just quietly reflect in the feeling we have when we view it's vastness as the sun goes down.

Barry Goldwater, the late Senator and Presidential candidate from Arizona, requested his ashes be deposited in Grand Canyon.