Returning to the Eternal Religion 255
is not an easy thing, and maya, or the illusory, material energy, tries es-
pecially hard to again entrap those who have left her service to become
devotees. Therefore, in order to withstand the attack of mdyd and remain
strong under all conditions of temptation, young or inexperienced devo-
tees in the neophyte stage of devotional service will sometimes adopt an
attitude against those things or persons which may possibly be harmful or
threatening to their tender devotional creepers. They may even over-
indulge in such feelings just to protect themselves, and thus they will ap-
pear to some nondevotees, who are perhaps themselves still very much
enamored by the material energy of maya, to be negative or pessimistic.

But the actual fact is that this material world is a miserable, negative
place, full of danger at every step; it is duhkhdlayam asasvatam, a tempo-
rary abode of death, birth, disease, and old age, a home of suffering and
pain only. To come to the platform of understanding these things as they
are is not very common, and therefore persons who attain to it are de-
scribed as “‘great souls.”

mam upetya punar janma
duhkhalayam asasvatam’
napnuvanti mahatmanah
samsiddhim paramam gatah
This means that those who have understood that the material worlds are .
places of misery and temporality (duhkhdlayam asdsvatam) never return
here again, and because they are mahdatmanah, the great souls, Krsna
keeps them with Him because they have qualified themselves to escape
this nasty place by becoming His pure devotees. This verse is spoken by
Krsna, or God Himself, in the Bhagavad-gita [Bg. 8.15]. Who can be a
more final authority? The point is that to make advancement in spiritual
life, one must view everything material with a pessimistic eye unless it is
utilized to serve and please Krsna. We are not very much hopeful for any
lasting pleasure or satisfaction for our deepest cravings within this realm
of gross matter.

You refer to the word ‘“‘love’’ several times in your letter, but the ac-
tual fact is that there is no love in this material world. That is false pro-
paganda. What they call love here is lust only, or desire for personal

. sense gratification:
kama esa krodha esa
rajo-guna-samudbhavah
