Thoughtful people know that our perceptions can illusion us.
Such illusions are, say, mirages or the apparent bending of a stick kept
partially in water. Warnings about perceptional illusions are embodied in
well-known sayings such as, “All that glitters is not gold.” For protecting
ourselves from such misperception, we need intelligence. But the intelligence
to avoid misperceptions is not enough to see through the foundational illusion
that binds us to material existence. This deep-rooted illusion, which is
brought about by the illusory energy known as Maya, is not illusion in
perception – it is illusion in conception. What is this misconception? The
notion that things exist independent of Krishna, that they have their own
attractiveness separate from him, and that they can in and of themselves
provide us happiness. The Bhagavad-gita (10.41) states that all things owe
their attractiveness to the all-attractiveness of Krishna. In fact, all things
owe their very existence to him (10.39). Srimad-Bhagavatam underscores this
understanding of Maya as illusion in conception. In its four verses celebrated
as the Chatur-shloki-Bhagavatam (2.9.33-36), the second verse (2.9.34) declares
that whatever is disconnected from Krishna and is still seen as meaningful is
Maya. Echoing this understanding from the opposite perspective – the
perspective of those free from illusion – the Gita (06.30) states that those
who see everything in Krishna and Krishna in everything are never lost to him.
As Maya is the misconception that makes us see things separate from their
source, the best process for countering Maya is the process that focuses our
consciousness on the source. That process is bhakti-yoga. Devotional practices
infuse our consciousness with remembrance of Krishna, thereby enabling us to
see everything in connection with him. When our foundational misconception is
thus uprooted, we march straight and strong towards enlightenment and
liberation.
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