Text 11] Further Inquiries by Vidura 273
These activities are performed under the dictation of the illusory energy.
The experience is compared to the experience of one’s having his head cut
off in a dream. The man whose head has been cut off also sees that his head
has been cut off. If a person’s head is severed he loses his power to see.
Therefore if a man sees that his head has been cut off, it means that he
thinks like that in hallucination. Similarly a living entity is eternally sub-
ordinate to the Supreme Lord, and he has this knowledge with him, but,
artificially, he thinks that he is God himself and that although he is God he
has lost his knowledge due to maya. This conception has no meaning, just
as there is no meaning to seeing one’s head being cut off. This is the pro-
cess by which knowledge is covered. And because this artificial rebellious
condition of the living entity gives him all troubles, it is to be understood
that he should take to his normal life as a devotee of the Lord and be
relieved from the misconception of being God. The so-called liberation of
thinking oneself God is that last reaction of avidya by which the living
entity is entrapped. The conclusion is that a living entity deprived of
eternal transcendental service to the Lord becomes illusioned in many
ways. Even in his conditional life he is the eternal servant of the Lord. His
servitude under the spell of illusory maya is also a manifestation of his
eternal condition of service. Because he has rebelled against the service
of the Lord, he is therefore put in the service of the maya. He is still serv-
ing, but in a perverted manner. When he wants to get out of service under
material bondage, he next desires to become one with the Lord. This is an-
other illusion. The best course, therefore, is to surrender unto the Lord and
thus get rid of the illusory maya for good, as confirmed in Bhagavad-gita:
daivi hyesa gunamayt mama maya duratyaya
mam eva ye prapadyante mayam etam taranti te (Bg. 7.14)
TEXT 11
TN TS THAT: THUR M TT |
CETASTAY TET ATH TM: 112 2
yatha jale candramasah
kampadis tat-krto gunah
drsyate’ sann api drastur
atmano ’natmano gunah

yatha—it is so; jale—in the water; candramasah—of the moon; kam-
padih—quivering; tat-krtah—done by the water; gunah—quality ; drsyate—
