åte ’rthaà yat pratéyeta
na pratéyeta cätmani
tad vidyäd ätmano mäyäà
yathäbhäso yathä tamaù (CC Aadi Lila 1.54)
What appears to be truth without Me is certainly My illusory energy, for nothing can exist without Me. It is like a reflection of a real light in the shadows, for in the light there are neither shadows nor reflections.
In the Chaitanya Charitamrita by Kaviraj Goswami there is an important verse.
kåñëa sürya-sama; mäyä andhakära
yähäì kåñëa, tähäì nähi mäyära adhikära [Cc. Madhya 22.31]
That Kåñëa is compared to sun, and mäyä is compared to darkness. In the presence of the sun darkness can not survive. So what we have been discussing is the nature of this darkness and Maya. This is a very broad and deep subject. In fact, every university, every college has a whole iternary of courses, syllabus sometimes, class. Every class is being held as big as this Bhagvad Gita. And what are they teaching? They are teaching simply the nature of Maya. In every television, in every radio, in every billboard, in every business people are simply trying to understand deeper and deeper the nature of Maya. But they are not trying to understand how to get out of Maya. They are trying to understand how to get more involved in Maya. That is the problem. But a devotee also wants to understand how this material nature is working but from another point of view, from point of view of getting out.
 
Maya is simply to consider us ourselves separate from Krishna. Just like when a spark is separated from the fire. Although the spark is non-different from the fire itself because it is a tiny part. When it is within the fire, it glows as part of the fire. But when it falls on to the ground separate than the fire, and very soon its radiance is extinguished. So we are like that, we all are parts of Krishna. But when due to forgetfulness we separate ourselves from Krishna, then our spiritual qualities become covered, become veiled from the darkness of illusion. And therefore spiritual life is meant to simply Yoga, reconnect ourselves with Krishna, reconnect this spark with the fire. This separateness is due to only one cause - forgetfulness. Because factually we can never be separate from Krishna. It is not possible. Because Krishna is everywhere, and He is in everything. Because as paramatma, He is in everyone's heart. He is in and between every atom. He is within and without of everything. So how possibly we can be separate from Krishna.
 
Due to forgetfulness. We forget our connection to Krishna. And that is what Maya is in essence. It is that power that deludes the pure spirit soul to forget its identity. To forget its eternal nature and its eternal relationship with God. And therefore when Lord Kapiladeva was speaking to His mother Devahuti, he explained that all the Vedas, and all the great scriptures of the world, they are filled with hundreds and thousands of instructions and hundreds and thousands of philosophical analogies and examples. But ultimately they are all meant to bring us consciousness of always remembering Krishna and never forgetting Krishna.
 
To always think of Krishna means simply to remember Krishna. And Krishna explains in the Gita. anta-käle ca mäm eva smaran muktvä kalevaram [BG 8.5]. One, who simply remembers me at the time of death, comes back to Me. So this smaran or remembering our relationship with Krishna is the sum and substance in the spiritual life. Sometimes people become so engrossed in being big big philosophers but they forget Krishna. They become such big logician and grammarians but they don't remember Krishna. And therefore Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu explained that the conclusion of all knowledge of Shastras is to simple chant the holy names.
 
Because to chant the holy names means to directly remember Krishna because Krishna is non-different that his holy names. And in remembering Krishna, we remember, we are again united with Krishna. This spark is again connected with the fire. Maya or the material energy, Krishna says: tribhir guëa-mayair bhävair (B.G. 7.13). This means this material nature is being conducted by three modes of material nature - trigunas. Satva guna, rajo guna, tamo guna - goodness, passion and ignorance. Guna literally means rope. We are bound by the ropes of these three modes. And being influenced by these three modes, we become attached. What does this rope do? It attaches you to something. You are tied to pole, or you are chained to a rock like the prisoners. The prisoner is attached to that rock through the chain; a prisoner is attached to that pole through the rope. So in the same way, it is not so much the rope that causes the problem, but what you are attached to by the influence of the rope. A prisoner is someone who is chained to a big boulder, chained something is not bad, as the boulder. Similarly, Maya is the influence that chains us, like a rope that attaches us to the object of the senses in this world. The objects of the sense in itself are not bad. It is our attachment to the object of our senses. And the three mode of material nature, they are according to your particular consciousness; Maya, the material energy is so expert, that she knows exactly what will attract your mind. And she will tie it through the modes of material nature.
 
Someone who is rather self controlled, who is highly cultured, who is moral, follows many even religious discipline in his life. Maya will not so easily attract him by the lower modes of nature. Therefore, she has to somehow or other attach to sense gratification through piety, through charity, through poetry. In this way, she ties that rope around your heart and connects to objects of these forms of sense gratification in the mode of Satva guna.
 
Those who are greedy, those who are very lusty, like Maya easily takes their rope and connects to rajo guna and connects your consciousness to sex pleasures, to lots of money, lots of fame, lots of prestige. And some people they don’t even care so much about these things, they just like to intoxicate in street, so the mode of ignorance, attaches, binds your conscious by the rope of tamo guna and attaches you these lower mode’s sense enjoyment. So understand that Maya operates though the process of creating forgetfulness of Krishna on one side and attachments to sense gratification on the other.
 
The nature of the soul is to be attractive. Maya covers your attraction to Krishna and awakens your attraction to sense enjoyment. And therefore sometimes Maya is considered, just like we were explaining sometime - the other day how it is a perverted reflection, it is like a mirror, and we can not really enjoy the reflection in the mirror. All the pleasures of this world, all the aspirations that the man is working so hard for, it is only striving force, it is reflection. Krishna is the real substance and everything. And similarly Maya is also considered to be manifestation of a mirage. A mirage in the desert.
 
It is said in the Vedanta sutra, änando na syät. That means every living entity is pleasure seeking by nature. And in this desert of material existence, the pleasure we are looking for is water. In the desert you become so thirsty you know well, even if you are very lusty man, in the desert you are not thinking so much about sex. Even if you greedy man, you are not thinking so much about money. You are only thinking about one thing, water. You are desperately longing for water. So in this material world, we are all desperate for water of pleasure, because we are by nature pleasure seeking. And what Maya does is, she creates mirages. What appears to be water is not. Real water does exist. But the objects of the senses are like mirages. They can not quench our thirst. And that is where we get the definition of Maya – that, which is not.
 
Whatever appears in this material world, before our senses, is not what it appears to be. And this is a lesson between a learned soul and a less intelligent. Is the less intelligent man is taking Maya seriously? That whatever presentation and whatever allurements Maya puts before us, we accept them to be real. We take it - what it appears to be. But a devotee, a jnani and a bhakta they must discriminate and understand whatever presentation Maya puts before us, it is not what it appears to be. If you don’t have this power of discrimination you will be baffled. In fact, Sripad Shankaracharya, he was a transcendentalist; his conclusion may have been about Impersonal Mayavad, that his idea of extracting the consciousness of our hearts away from material energy, he elaborated very very deeply. There was one book he wrote, the crest jewel of discrimination. Thorough this jnana he is explaining that one must be always alert in discriminating. What something appears to be, but actually what it is? Therefore a devotee must look into the future. He must see what the real substance of something is and by indulging in this what would be the reaction? This is jnana, this is knowledge.
 
This Shankaracharya explains that the raised breasts of a young woman are the most attractive part of a woman's body. And for a man, woman is the complete manifestation of Maya. The absolute complete manifestation of Maya for a man is the woman's body. And Shankaracharya explains that these raised breasts of a woman are keeping a man’s mind bound to material sense enjoyment birth after birth after birth. But he explains, analyses, what is it? It simply blood, fat, stool, urine, so many gases. That's how it is. It appears to be something that can give us great pleasure. But actually, in reality it is nothing but the grossest substances which are utterly abominable, which are mixed in such a way. And he explains that they represent lust and envy. And what you associate with you become like. If you associate with personification of lust and envy what happens to your consciousness, you become lusty and envious. This is one example of discrimination as taught by Shankaracharya. And yet the materialists they consider it what it appears to be. This a very beautiful, flowerlike manifestation. that will give me pleasures. And because they do not discriminate what is behind, what is the reality, what is the truth of it? What is the result – That the people just drove insatiably into the terrible qualities of lust and envy. Therefore he taught the process of 'naiti naiti'. Discriminate, God is not this and He is not that. Therefore when Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya met Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, he told, you are a young man, your senses are strong and full of vitality. If you don’t understand the Vedanta sutra according to my teachings, you will not be able to discriminate what is real and what is illusion.
 
Therefore a devotee, one of the great necessities, a philosophy for a bhakta. We are not jnanis, we are bhaktas. That Sarvabhauma when he became converted by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu said, Vairägya-vidyä-nija-bhakti-yoga [Cc. Madhya 6.254]. That Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came to teach jnana, vairagya and bhakti. Bhakti is the combination of jnana and vairagya. The fruit of knowledge is detachment. And fruit of detachment is attachment to Krishna. Unless we have jnana we can not attain vairagya. Unless we have a philosophical conviction, and philosophical understanding, what is material energy and how it is working. We are able to discriminate between the mirage and the real substance. At every moment in our life we must make this discrimination. That is jnana. And on the basis of that jnana, we understand what is real and what is unreal. What is Krishna and what is Maya. Then we must detach ourselves. Maya through the three modes of material nature, those gunas are tying us to the object of the senses. And that tie is through attachment. Therefore the only way out is through the process of detachment. To the extent we are detached, to that extent we are not being puppets repeatedly suffering in the hands of Maya.
 
Krishna explains in Gita, and Prabhupad explains, this is one of the most important verses of Gita: täni sarväëi saàyamya yukta äséta mat-paraù | vaçe hi yasyendriyäëi tasya prajïä pratiñöhitä (BG 2.61). One must and intelligent man. Jnana means intelligent. An intelligent man must restrain his senses from the objects and fix his consciousness upon Me.
 
This essentially is what Krishna Consciousness means! These two principles – restraining our senses from their objects and fixing our consciousness on Krishna. And you can not do one without the other.
 
If you simply try to restrain your senses from their objects. Vishwamitra muni, he did this to the ultimate extent. But the nature of the soul pleasure seeking, eventually you have to fall down. Vishwamitra muni how much he detached himself from the objects of senses. He would not eat, he would not sleep. He was performing tapasya in such a way that, in the summer he would go into the blazing desert, and light eight fires around him. Without sleeping and eating, he would sit in meditation. And in winter, he would go the Himalayan peaks. The areas of gomukh and he would break the ice and would go into water up to his neck, and he would sit. What kind of sense enjoyment you would derive in such conditions of life. He totally detached himself from the senses. But he did not experience the higher taste: paraà dåñövä nivartate (BG 2.59). Krishna says in the Gita, no matter how much you detach yourself from the senses, if you do not experience the higher taste; you can not maintain that position - detachment. So when Menaka, the heavenly damsel came by, this beautiful apsara. Just by hearing the twinkling of the anklet bells, his propensity for sense enjoyment was awakened. So simply by restraining the senses, it is not possible to maintain our spiritual dignity. And at the same time simply by fixing your consciousness upon Krishna is not possible, so you must be restraining your senses. Unless we very diligently detach our senses from the objects of senses, we can not attach our consciousness to Krishna. So, therefore these two principles go side by side. Forcibly, restraining the mind and senses away from the objects of the senses, which is only possible in the long, on the eternal basis through bhakti – fixing our consciousness on Krishna.
 
Therefore, Vairägya-vidyä-nija-bhakti-yoga [Cc. Madhya 6.254]. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is teaching knowledge of the nature of the soul, the nature of Krishna and nature of Maya - how to discriminate. Vairagya - how to detach ourselves on the basis of this jnana, knowledge from material energy, mirages, from the reflections and bhakti combination. On the basis of this knowledge to keep our mind and senses engaged in Krishna’s lotus feet.
 
Srila Prabhupad sometimes compares Maya to a ghost. When a person is haunted by ghost, then he is no longer himself. He says all nonsense things, he does all crazy things. So the pure spirit soul: jévera 'svarüpa' haya—kåñëera 'nitya-däsa' (CC Madhya 20.108-109) The eternal servant of Krishna. When the ghost of Maya comes into our heart, and we allow that ghost of Maya to come. We behave in such a way that we even not recognize the pure spirit soul anymore. When a family member is haunted by a ghost, the family, they see that this person is not himself. So that is our condition. That represents the ghost of Maya. We are behaving, we are speaking, doing all crazy things, the same things, we are not ourselves. Spiritual master is like the expert teacher, teaches us how to liberate ourselves from this ghost of Maya as original natural position. And that is why it is very very important that we must have association of advanced devotees of the Lord. A bound person can not disentangle himself, and drowning man can not save himself. If you bound by ropes, you must call upon help for someone who is not bound by ropes. If you are drowning in the ocean, you don't know how to swim, you have to call upon someone, who knows how to swim, who is not drowning. If you are haunted by a ghost, you can not call upon somebody else haunted by ghost to help you.
 
Therefore, all the endeavors in this material world for liberation from suffering are just a grand illusion. The only way to alleviate the suffering, the bondage of this world is, we must attach ourselves to the lotus feet of the Lord's divine representatives. Because Maya cannot cover Krishna. ‘Mayädhyakñeëa prakåtiù süyate sa-caräcaram’ (BG 9.10). Krishna is controller of this material world; Krishna is never under the influence of Maya. And His representatives who are here in this world on His behalf, they are bringing us to peaceful disposition. Krishna says, he is the true friend of all living being, he is the only one who can help us. If you are drowning, a friend is a person who can take you out, if you are starving for water, a friend is one who can give you water, if you are bound by ropes, a friend is someone who can disentangle you from the ropes. Krishna is the only friend. Krishna is the only one that is eternally above the illusory energy. And anybody who brings us to Krishna, he is equally a friend of Krishna. They are simultaneously one and equal to each other. Therefore, we must submissively; this is the process of disentangling ourselves from the complexities of Maya. Through our own mind and through our own endeavor it is impossible. We must submissively attach ourselves to hearing and rendering service to Krishna's representatives. This is the one and only process which can save us from this material condition, the condition of birth and death.
 
Is there any questions? We would like to read from the Gita. Arjuna said to Krishna in the 36th verse of the 3rd chapter. Arjuna said: O descendant of Våñëi, by what is one impelled to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force?
 
çré-bhagavän uväca
käma eña krodha eña
rajo-guëa-samudbhavaù
mahäçano mahä-päpmä
viddhy enam iha vairiëam
 
The blessed Lord said, It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world.
 
As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, or as the embryo is covered by the womb, similarly the living entity is covered by different degrees of this lust.
 
The lust or käma means the material attachment. The three modes of material nature that we are speaking of, all are based on the principle of käma or the lust or attachment.
 
Thus a man’s pure consciousness becomes covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust, which is never satisfied and which burns like fire.
 
The senses, the mind and the intelligence are the sitting places of this lust. Through them lust covers the real knowledge of the living entity and bewilders him.
Therefore, O Arjuna, best of the Bhäratas, in the very beginning curb this great symbol of sin [käma] by regulating the senses, and slay this destroyer of knowledge and self-realization.
 
And then Krishna goes on to explain, what we are discussing, how to discriminate. The working senses are superior to dull matter. The mind is higher than the senses; the intelligence is higher than the mind. And ego is even higher than the intelligence. Thus knowing oneself to be transcendental to the material senses, mind and intelligence, one should control the lower self by the higher self. Thus by spiritual strength conquer this insatiable enemy i.e. lust.
 
Now, what I would like all of you to do is, Bhagvad Gita are available here, I would like that the devotees to study translations and purports to these verses. The chapter 3, text 37.
 
Is there any questions?
 
Q. There is a specific mention in this section which you were supposed to speak on that.
 
A. There is no necessity first of all. Any questions and discussion we had today.
 
Q. Maharaj, you said that only detachment is not enough and real attachment should be to Krishna, do we have to make additional efforts to be detached after we get attached to Krishna's devotional service? or it is included in it.
 
A. It is said in the Bhagvatam.
 
väsudeve bhagavati
bhakti-yogaù prayojitaù
janayaty äçu vairägyaà
jïänaà ca yad ahaitukam
 
That means when one achieves bhakti then one automatically achieves all knowledge and detachment, they are included but the problem is jiva bhakti. Once you are attached to Krishna there is no need to detach yourself from anything else. But in the process of attaching ourselves to Krishna, we have to detach from those things which are not Krishna Conscious. Why do we take vow to follow four regulative principles? If we are already situated in pure attachment to Krishna, there is no need for such a vow. We won’t have slightest inclination to these things.
 
The process of devotional service is jnana and vairagya. As well it is included within the process of devotional service. Why has Srila Prabhupad has written so many books? To teach us how to discriminate between what is Krishna and what is service to our senses, and to convince our mind constantly. Why do we follow the four regulative principles? It is detachment. So, therefore in the advanced stage, there is simply love of Krishna, there is no influence of Maya. And in the beginning stages we must simultaneously ‘Täni sarväëi saàyamya yukta äséta mat-paraù’ (BG 2.61) we must struggle to restrain our senses from the objects and struggle to keep our senses fixed on Krishna. They must go side by side.
 
That is why Srila Prabhupad, so many gurus they just speak of Krishna's Lila. Prabhupad speaks more of the miseries of material world than he does about Krishna’s Lila. He heard his tapes, we read his books. He speaks more about how this material world is miserable place than he does about Krishna’s Lila direct. Why? I remember, one time he was giving a lecture, he explained, ‘Because Krishna’s Lilas are above your head. You can’t really. Until you detach yourself from the aspirations to enjoy this material world, you can’t really appreciate Krishna’s Lila.’ Therefore he told Krishna’s Lila, but unless hearing Krishna’s Lila along with understanding the miseries of this material world, detaching from it, you can’t really appreciate. We take it something of this material world, something else to enjoy, something else to be entertained by. So therefore, the great acharyas are teaching more about miseries of the material world, than they about the pleasures of the spiritual world, because unless we are convinced that this material world is a miserable place, we are never going to take seriously taking shelter of spiritual world.
 
When understand the truth and reality of this material world, we will aspire to attach ourselves. So, they must be cultivated simultaneously. Detachment and Attachment. Detachment from Maya and Attachment for Krishna. Everyone understands this principle.
 

Q. What is the best way of detachment? Because we see most often in this world, we feel detached. But from internal point of view of consciousness, we are somewhat attached. So what is the test just that we can go on testing ourselves that we are detached from that consciousness?
 
A. mäà ca yo 'vyabhicäreëa
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa guëän samatétyaitän
brahma-bhüyäya kalpate [BG 14.26]
 
Test is that your service to Guru and Krishna is never interrupted. This is what Bhagavad Gita teaches. This particular verse is really the answer to your question.
We will read that verse. mäà ca yo 'vyabhicäreëa bhakti-yogena sevate |
 
mäà ca yo 'vyabhicäreëa
bhakti-yogena sevate
sa guëän samatétyaitän
brahma-bhüyäya kalpate
 
One who engages in full devotional service, who does not fall down in any circumstances, at once transcends the modes of material nature and thus comes to the level of Brahman.
 
When our devotional service to Guru and Krishna is never interrupted, that is the test. So therefore, this should be our striving to always be engaged in devotional service.
 

Q. In spite of having this knowledge, if we are still attached, and still conditioned more, so much conditioned still not come? And the second thing may be our desire is not strong. But it is said, if we are already take initiation, all the past karmas are taken away. If that is so then is it our advancement is sign of our desire and why we are still, in spite of that desire is not ?
 

A. Everything rests on your desire. It is fact that we are conditioned. What is that conditioned? It is what is polluting our desire. Conditioning means due to previous sinful activities our desire has become very corrupted and impure. If we are not conditioned, then our desire will be pure devotional service 24 hours a day. Conditioning is what that pollutes our desire. Because Krishna in your heart and sees. Due to weakness of heart because of previous conditioning, desire may be very weak. If we desire that desire for devotional service, Krishna will fulfill that desire. Ultimately Krishna will fulfill whatever desire you have. The problem is that we don’t desire. That is result of our conditioning. Therefore we have to recondition ourselves. This is what Vaidi bhakti means. Vaidi bhakti means reconditioning. You accept a different lifestyle; you accept different type of association. You accept completely different subject matter to meditate upon. So in this way, you are reconditioning your whole life. So that natural tendency to serve Krishna will arise.
 
Spiritual life means reconditioning ourselves. Extracting ourselves away from that previous conditioning we are in and putting ourselves in place completely where we can become reconditioned. That is why the association of devotees is so vital our earlier discussion.
 
 
Q. Conditioning is due to past karma. And it is said that all the past karma are taken away. Why is it still?
 
A. It is just like, if a car is going 200 kmph, and it went out of gas, does it stop? It depends on how fast one is going; it is going to take that long. It is take 2 km, 3 km before it stops. So when we take initiation what happens is that conditioning that was pushed, you are out of gas in that sense, if you put more gas in, you get initiated, then you are going to continue your conditioning. In another way all the sins you have performed Krishna go on takes it by causeless mercy. But still the inertia of those sins is still with you. Understanding what I am saying. And if you put more gas in and you keep going again. So therefore, by strictly following the principles given by the spiritual master we are not putting anymore karma into our life. It is taken away, but the problem is we still have that inertia. What is that? Prabhupada also gives the example of fan. If you plug out of a fan, the fan still keeps going. There is no more electrical current in it, to push more. But just by the conditioning of moving it, it continues to move. It is the same principle. When we take initiation, the plug is cut off. There is no more karma to push in to you do that. But the traces of that karma…