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Krṣṇa,  the Supreme Personality of Godhead
said that the last snare of  māyā  is to dictate to the living entity to try to become equal to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Māyāvādī philosopher claims to be equal to God, but he cannot reply to the question of why he has fallen into material entanglement. If He is the Supreme God, then how is it that he has been overtaken by impious activities and thereby subjected to the tribulations of the law of  karma ? When the Māyāvādīs are asked about this, they cannot properly answer. The speculation that one is equal to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is another symptom of sinful life. One cannot take to Krṣṇa consciousness unless he is completely freed from all sinful activities. The very fact that the Māyāvādī claims to become one with the Supreme Lord means that he is not yet freed from the reactions of sinful activities.  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  says that such persons are  aviśuddha-buddhayā , which means that they falsely think themselves liberated, although at the same time they think themselves equal with the Absolute Truth. Their intelligence is not purified.
The personified  Vedas  said that if the  yogīs  and the  jñānīs  do not free themselves from sinful desires, then their particular process of self-realization will never be successful. “My dear Lord,” the personified  Vedas  continued, “if saintly persons do not take care to eradicate completely the roots of sinful desires, they cannot experience the Supersoul, although He is sitting side by side with the individual soul.  Samādhi , or meditation, means that one has to find the Supersoul within himself. One who is not free from sinful reactions cannot see the Supersoul. If a person has a jeweled locket in his necklace but forgets the jewel, it is almost as though he does not possess it. Similarly, if an individual soul meditates but does not actually perceive the presence of the Supersoul within himself, he has not realized the Supersoul. Persons who have taken to the path of self-realization must therefore be very careful to be uncontaminated by the influence of  māyā . Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī says that a devotee should be completely free from all sorts of material desires. A devotee should not be affected by the resultant actions of  karma  and  jñāna . One simply has to understand Krṣṇa and carry out His desires. That is the pure devotional stage. Mystic  yogīs  who still have contaminated desires for sense gratification never become successful in their attempt, nor can they realize the Supersoul within the individual self. As such, the so-called  yogīs  and  jñānīs  who are simply wasting their time in different types of sense gratification, either by mental speculation or by exhibition of limited mystic powers, will never become liberated from conditional life and will continue to go through repeated births and deaths. For such persons, both this life and the next life becomes sources of tribulation. Such sinful persons are al-