Under the Influences-of Maya

June 25, 2017 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa

June 13 1975 Philadelphia-conversations

Father: Does that mean to say that you can’t live a happy life without being religious?
Prabhupāda: Yes, certainly.
Father: I am eons away from this whole thing because I don’t believe any religion. My son knows this.
Prabhupāda: You do not follow any religion?
Father: None at all. I will give philosophical discussions…
Prabhupāda: And still you are happy?
Father: Yes, I’m very happy. I have my moments when I’m not, of course. Basically I’m happy with my family, with my work…
Prabhupāda: Do you think your father is happy?
Devotee: No. (laughter)
Father: I don’t feel very happy. (laughter) But…
Devotee: Prabhupāda, earlier today you were speaking in Bhāgavatam class about Ajamila and how by circumstances he fell down, and that because it wasn’t intentional, Kṛṣṇa forgave him. So, but still, at one point or another, he agreed to the desires of the prostitute. So isn’t that free will?
Prabhupāda: That is free will, but under the point of revolver. So māyā is very strong. māyā is very strong. So when you are under the māyā’s clutches, she dictates and you have to do. This is called māyā, daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā dura… [Bg. 7.14], very, very strong. So mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taran… If one is staunchly Kṛṣṇa conscious, he can avoid. Otherwise not possible.
Ravīndra-svarūpa: But if someone purposefully sins, also that is māyā.
Prabhupāda: That may not be māyā. That is my discretion. But that is also māyā in another way, indirect way. So one must be strong in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Then he is not a victim of māyā.
.(the conversation now goes in a different direction)
 
Some conclusions- I am not sure what to make of this conversation where Srila Prabhupada says
to act sinfully may not be maya, but up to somebody’s discretion. If Ajamila had been strong in Krsna Consciousness originally, then he never would have fallen for the prostitute. But he did, and his ongoing desires were the results of a previous karmic mentality. These kinds of statements by Srila Prabhupada convince me all the more that at least for myself, I am not beyond the third chapter of Bhagavad Gita-Karma yoga. If some devotee thinks he or she is beyond  Karma yoga and its intricate understandings, then I bow to your lotus feet. As Lord Krsna tells us in His fourth chapter, “Even the intelligent are bewildered in determining what is action and what is inaction.” (BG 4.16)
 
So for me, I just continue to grovel in the dirt (pictures below) or in this case its called silage-mostly broken down grass mixed up with dirt and cow manure), and hope against hope that someday I will understand a small bit of what is there in His Bhagavad Gita.
 
damaghosa das
 
Today my dairy farmer friend across the road delivered here a large truckload of his silage which as you can see I began spreading around some of the winter squash plants. This will provide fertilizer and smother weeds as well.
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