Page 72 - THE FOURTH DIMENSION

Durga first rewards the bewildered soul with material success. Then, she slowly or abruptly takes away his
material assets that leaves the bewildered soul bereft and extremely frustrated. In this extreme state of
defeat, the living entity may seek spiritual guidance from enlightened teachers who can introduce him to
Lord Krishna and His Bhagavad-gita. Therein Lord reveals the solution to all problems:

daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī / mama māyā duratyayā
mām eva ye prapadyante /māyām etāṁ taranti te

“This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But
those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.” (Bg 7.14)

Bhaktivedanta Swami gives the following commentary to this verse:

The Supreme Personality of Godhead has innumerable energies, and all these energies are divine. Although the
living entities are part of His energies and are therefore divine, due to contact with material energy their
original superior power is covered. Being thus covered by material energy, one cannot possibly overcome its
influence. As previously stated, both the material and spiritual natures, being emanations from the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, are eternal. The living entities belong to the eternal superior nature of the Lord, but
due to contamination by the inferior nature, matter, their illusion is also eternal. The conditioned soul is
therefore called nitya-baddha, or eternally conditioned. No one can trace out the history of his becoming
conditioned at a certain date in material history. Consequently, his release from the clutches of material nature
is very difficult, even though that material nature is an inferior energy, because material energy is ultimately
conducted by the supreme will, which the living entity cannot overcome. Inferior, material nature is defined
herein as divine nature due to its divine connection and movement by the divine will. Being conducted by divine
will, material nature, although inferior, acts so wonderfully in the construction and destruction of the cosmic
manifestation. The Vedas confirm this as follows: māyāṁ tu prakṛtiṁ vidyān māyinaṁ tu maheśvaram.
‘Although māyā [illusion] is false or temporary, the background of māyā is the supreme magician, the
Personality of Godhead, who is Maheśvara, the supreme controller (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 4.10). (Bg 7.14 –
purport)

Lord Krishna proclaims surrender to Him, just as Arjuna did, is the easy way to free oneself from the illusory
energy (Durga or maya, illusion). Without surrender to the will of the Lord it is impossible to be freed from
influence of Durga’s illusion. Durga’s goal, as a devotee of the Lord, is to teach the errant soul that he cannot
find a permanent place in the material world for happiness. The soul is eternal. It has a natural yearning for
eternal happiness which is its inherent nature. But it is impossible to attain an eternal existence in the
material body under the influence of material nature and her illusory enticements.

The impossibility to overcome the influence of Krishna’s illusory energy as understood in the case of Brahma
described above is attested by Narada Muni:

dṛṣṭā māyā te bahuśo duratyayā / māyā vibho viśva-sṛjaś ca māyinaḥ / bhūteṣu bhūmaṁś carataḥ sva-
śaktibhir / vahner iva cchanna-ruco na me ’dbhutam

Śrī Nārada said: I have seen many times the insurmountable power of Your Māyā, O almighty one, by which
You bewilder even the creator of the universe, Brahmā. O all-encompassing Lord, it does not surprise me that

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