Priya Sundari Devi Dasi, 12 Dec 2014
Hare Krsna Prabhus
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
All glories to Gurudev
All glories to Vaishnavas
I was listening to some lectures by HH Radhanath Maharaj and the importance of relishing the holy name and fighting against Maya to ensure we don’t fall prey and continue to increase our love and taste for the Hare Krsna Maha Mantra.
I understand that Maya is the Lord’s external energy, so when she is a part of the Lord himself, why does she try so hard to take us away from Krsna? Is it purely because we’re in the material world?
But it makes me think, do we not have enough miseries in this material world? Birth, Disease, Old Age and Death… so why then does Maya try so hard to take us away from the Lord even when we take shelter of his pure devotees?
Apologies if my question has many parts to it and/or if I have misunderstood Maharaj’s lecture.
Haribol
your servant
Priya Sundari Devi Dasi.
*Krsne matir astu*
Jagannatha Dasa, 12 Dec 2014
to Satsang
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to our beloved spiritual masters.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Thank you for the inspiring question. I hope this reply will begin a chain of others sharing also!
Maya simply does quality control to make sure only pure lovers of the Lord and His devotees are in the spiritual world. Others are filtered out into various regions of this material world to enact our selfish dreams, which are more like nightmares. This can be gross as in the case of the animal forms, or subtle like humans or superhuman beings such as upadevas, demigods etc. The pure devotees act for Krishna’s pleasure only, manifesting that determination according to their situation. This is where duty comes in.
For most of us, duty seems like a burdensome chore. But for the mature devotees, duty is seen as with the eye of knowledge as the dependable means to get a good result for Krishna’s pleasure.
saktāḥ karmaṇy avidvāṁso yathā kurvanti bhārata
kuryād vidvāṁs tathāsaktaś cikīrṣur loka-saṅgraham
As the ignorant perform their duties with attachment to results, the learned may similarly act, but without attachment, for the sake of leading people on the right path. (https://vedabase.io/en/library/bg/3/25/)
Srila Prabhupada explains that the right path, mentioned here is Krishna consciousness. Maya is what we make of her. If we have the eyes of selfishness, greed and false ego, Maya acts as the three modes of nature to drive us circling about this karma chakra to get humiliated into humility. From there we can chant the holy names and get purified.
tṛṇād api su-nīcena taror iva sahiṣṇunā
amāninā māna-dena kīrtanīyaḥ sadā hariḥ
One who thinks himself lower than the grass, who is more tolerant than a tree, and who does not expect personal honor yet is always prepared to give all respect to others can very easily always chant the holy name of the Lord. (https://vedabase.io/en/library/cc/antya/6/239/)
With the eyes of love of Krishna, Maya acts as the “three modes” of spiritual nature:
ānandāṁśe hlādinī, sad-aṁśe sandhinī
cid-aṁśe samvit — yāre jñāna kari’ māni
Hlādinī is His aspect of bliss; sandhinī, of eternal existence; and samvit, of cognizance, which is also accepted as knowledge. (https://vedabase.io/en/library/cc/madhya/6/159/)
In the final paragraph concluding the lengthy purport to this verse (Caitanya-caritamrta Adi-lila 4.62), Srila Prabhupada explains that these three modes are the internal energy of the Lord, and they manifest as the external energy in the forms goodness, passion and ignorance. From the highest angle of vision, everything is coming to help us, even maya, but we need proper vision. The devotees bless us with this vision. These are great treasures, and like any treasure they take time to accumulate.
your servant,
Jagannatha Dasa
Harihara Hota, 12 Dec 2014
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
All glories to Gurudev
All glories to Vaishnava Haribol
The question regarding maya is most important to manage life in a spiritual way which has been idealized by the revered Srila Prabhupada Maharaj.
Thank you for question
your servant
Harihara Hota
Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 13 Dec 2014
Dear Mother Priya Sundari,
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Thank you for bringing this up. You may have heard answers to this and related questions, the answer by Jagannatha Prabhu is quite deep too.
Even thought birth, death, old age and disease affect 100% of the population, what percentage of the population even perceives them as evils? Even among devotees, how easy is it to slip into material consciousness? The pure devotee is giving us shelter, but are we really taking their shelter, or are we turning to our false ego and Maya for false shelter and temporary gratification?
I was scouring Srila Prabhupada’s Bhagavad Gita As It Is yesterday looking for what Krishna says and what Srila Prabhupada says:
1. Krishna mentions Maya in BG 7.14, where He simultaneously calls her “daivi” or divine and “duratyaya”, translated as very difficult to overcome, understand, to follow, or unavoidable, insurmountable, impossible to transcend, etc., except to those who surrender to Him.
2. We are in the material world because of one primary fault is us – we are “unsurrendered to Krishna”. In fact, we are envious of Krishna. The difference between jealousy and envy is that when I am jealous of you, I don’t like that you have what you have, or that you are what you are… but envy is more sinister. Envy means, I don’t like what you have, I don’t like who you are, I want you to not have it, I want it instead, and I don’t want you to be who you are, I want to be who you are instead. In other words, envy of Krishna means that the conditioned living entity wants to BE Krishna, kick Him out, and be Him instead. Seems very drastic, but that is why anyone is here, except of course the pure devotee, who has come here on a transcendental rescue mission. Our understanding is that this is the concept called “the original sin” by the Christians, “the forbidden fruit” is to partake of that envy of God.
3. Srila Prabhupada mentions in several one of his purports, but specifically one of them BG 3.17, that “By such clearing of consciousness, one becomes fully confident of his eternal position in relationship with the Supreme.”
4. So, in other words, the purpose of this “divine difficult” energy of Krishna is to clear the consciousness… so therefore, Maya’s purpose is to purify everyone of that terrible envy of Krishna… So, she promises everyone this land where they can think they are #1, but the problem is, she didn’t tell them there are countless such persons who want to be #1, and they are all fighting each other to be #1, case in point, our world. While they are here, she repeatedly pokes, prods, and gives correction to everyone who is here… Ultimately one among millions finally gets it and begins one’s journey back home, but it is Maya’s thankless job to purify that person also… she keeps poking and prodding to test if the person is “done”. When “done”, the person experiences Maya as “Yogamaya” as described in Jagannatha Prabhu’s email. To do her job effectively, she has to be terrible, scary etc… Vaisesika Prabhu says that Kali devi will not think twice about tearing out someone’s entrails and wearing it as a garland, that’s how “heartless” of a witch she is, as described in the songs of the Acharyas – but it is not that she is not doing her job or that she is not dear to Krishna!
I hope this helps?
your servant,
Mahabhagavat Das
Madumitha, 13 Dec 2014
Hare Krishna!
Please accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
All glories to Guru and Gauranga!
I came across a weekly lesson pertaining to this question. I hope this helps a little.
Here’s an excerpt from it:
I was there in New Vrindavan, West Virginia in the summer of 1972 when a young hippy asked Srila Prabhupada, “If our purpose is to go back to Godhead, why is Maya so strong?” Without the slightest hesitation Srila Prabhupada profoundly and poetically answered, “Because your purpose is not strong.”
In other words Maya, the Lord’s illusory energy, only has power over us to the extent that we are not determined to go back to home, back to Godhead. If we are determined to become fully Krishna conscious and not take birth here again in this material world, the material energy will be powerless to do anything to stop us from achieving our goal.
So instead of being weak in our determination, we must become powerful in our determination.
His Grace Sriman Sankarshan Das Adhikari, Weekly Lesson from the Ultimate Self Realization Course
The whole lesson is very enlightening. Here’s the link to read the entire lesson: http://www.sda-archives.com/tftd/course/C/C68.html
Thanks,
Madumitha
Gabrielė. 15 Dec 2014
Hare Krishna,
Please, accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Gurudeva and His students.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Could you please kindly answer to me, such a neophyte?
If Maya tests if a person is “done”, so she is terrible, scary, etc. – does this process stop when one becomes a pure devotee or only at the moment of death?
Thank You,
your servant,
Gabriele
Shahvir Balaporia, 15 Dec 2014
Hare Krishna!
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
Isn’t Yogmaya akin to the Kundalini shakti (force) which the yogis practicing chakra meditation frequently refer to? It is said that once the Kundalini shakti is awakened & starts rising through the chakra system one attains all kinds of superhuman powers (siddhis) eventually culminating into the final stage of self-realization. I think this is Yogmaya at work. Kindly correct me if i am wrong.
your humble servant,
Shahvir
Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 15 Dec 2014
Dear Mother Gabriele,
Hare Krishna!
Please kindly accept my humble obeisances.
All glories to Srila Gurudeva.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
There is a gradual transformation in the experience of a person as they get gradually purified of material propensities… Srila Prabhupada gives the example of the jaws of a cat… to the mouse, they are the jaws of death, but to the kitten, they are the safest place in the world. In this case, the materialist is compared to the mouse, and the pure devotee is compared to a kitten. The process is very gradual, it is subtle – the individual who is trying notices that they are being tested even though others may not notice… if they don’t clear the hurdle with help of what they have learned so far, then other devotees also notice – a gradually widening circle of devotees, so that the aspiring devotee can get help. This happens to me all the time, I do get help from my friends and mentors if I cannot manage to resolve something by myself, it is a really wonderful process, I can vouch for that.
Sincerely,
Mahabhagavat Das
Mahabhagavat Das SDA, 15 Dec 2014
Dear Sriman Shahvir,
Hare Krishna!
Anyone who is not connected with Krishna has no experience or knowledge or understanding of Yogamaya. By observing the process of kundalini yoga as described by Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita starting with the verse 6.11 through 6.32, there are no kundalini yogis in modern-day society, in fact, a kundalini yogi cannot have cannot have a home, a family, any money, no phone, no job, no arrangements for food and sustenance, no contact with society whatsoever. Anyone who is claiming to practice kundalini yoga in modern day society is, for want of a better word, a fraudster, or cheater.
Sincerely,
Mahabhagavat Das
Shahvir Balaporia, 15 Dec 2014
Hare Krishna!
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
Dear Mahabhagavat Prabhuji,
Thank you very much for your guidance.
your humble servant,
Shahvir
Priya Sundari Devi Dasi, 16 Dec 2014
Hare Krsna Prabhus
Please accept my humble obeisances
All glories to Srila Prabhupada
All glories to Guru and Gauranga
All glories to Vaishnavas
My humble heartfelt thanks to all the devotees that have responded. Thank you Jagannatha Das Prabhu for the elaborate reply. It is my Guru Maharaj’s favorite verses, trinad api sunicena, taror api sahishnuna, amanina manadena, kirtaniya sada harih.
All glories to all your service.
Haribol
your servant
Priya Sundari Devi Dasi
*Krsne matir astu*
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