22 THE PATH OF PERFECTION Mastering the Mind and Senses 23
oneself by attraction to sense objects. The more one is attracted by apasyat purusam purnam
sense objects, the more one becomes entangled in material exis- mayam ca tad-apasrayam
tence. The best way to disentangle oneself is to always engage the ;
mind in Krsna consciousness. The word hi in verse 5, Chapter Six “When the sage Vyadsadeva, under the instruction of his spiritual
(Bhagavad-gita), is used to emphasize this point—namely, that master, Narada, fixed his mind, perfectly engaging it by linking it
one must do this. It is also said, In devotional service (bhakti-yoga) without any tinge of material-
. - |sm, Vydsadeva saw the Absolute Personality of Godhead, along
mana eva manusyanam with His external energy, which was under full control.”’
karanam bandha-moksayoh ! The word manasi refers to the mind. When one is enlightened
bandhaya visayasangi | |n- bhakti-yoga, the mind becomes completely freed from all
muktyai nirvisayam manah -  €ontamination (samyak pranihite male). When Vyasa saw the Su-
preme Personality of Godhead, he saw maya in the background
‘*For man, mind is the cause of bondage and mind is the cause of | (mayam ca tad-apasrayam). Whenever there is light, there is also
liberation. Mind absorbed in sense objects is the cause of bondage, the possibility of darkness being present. That is, darkness is the
and mind detached from the sense objects is the cause of libera- . Other side of light, or darkness is under the shelter of light, just as
tion.”’ (Visnu Purana 6.7.28) The mind which is always engaged in If | hold my hand up to the light, the top part of my hand will be in
Krsna consciousness is the cause of supreme liberation. When the light, and the bottom part will be shaded. In other words, one side
mind is thus engaged in Krsna consciousness, there is no chance Is light and the other darkness. When Vydsadeva saw Krsna, the
of its being engaged in mayd consciousness. In Krsna conscious- | Supreme Lord, he also saw mdyd, darkness, under His shelter.
ness, we remain in the sunlight, and there is no chance of our ’ And what is this mdya? This is explained in the next verse of
being obscured by darkness. Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.7.5):
Because we have freedom, or liberty, we can stay within a dark
. oom or go out into the broad daylight. That is our choice. Dark- yaya sammohito jiva
ness can be eradicated by light, but light cannot be covered by atmanam tri-gunatmakam
darkness. If we are in a dark room and someone brings in a lamp, 7 paro ‘pi manute ‘nartham
the darkness is vanquished. But we cannot take darkness into the tat-krtam cabhipadyate
sunlight. It is not possible. The darkness will simply fade away. .
Krsna stirya-sama maya haya andhakara. Krsna is like sunlight, “Due to the external energy, the living entity, although transcen-
and maya is like darkness. So how can darkness exist in sunlight? dental to the three modes of material nature, thinks of himself as a
If we always keep ourselves in the sunlight, darkness will fail to act Material product and thus undergoes the reactions of material
upon us. This is the whole philosophy of Krsna consciousness: al- miseries.” Thus the illusory energy has temporarily covered the
ways engage in Krsna conscious activities, and maya will be dissi- Conditioned souls. And who are these conditioned souls? Al-
pated, just as darkness is dissipated when there is light. This is | though finite, the conditioned spirit souls are as full of light as
stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.7.4): Krena. The problem is that the conditioned soul identifies himself
. with this material world. This is called illusion, false indentifica-
bhakti-yogena manasi tlon with matter. Although the individual spirit soul is transcen-
samyak pranihite ‘male dental, he engages in improper activities under the dictation of
