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  • Hare Krishna Avinash prabhu ji,

     

    It is not maya which impells one to commit evil. Maya is friend of those whose mind is well controlled.

    See, for example. I can use this laptop for watching bad content also if my mind is not in KC. If I am not in KC my intellect ( buddhi) will tell my mind to go watch bad content go watch movies. But If I am well situated in KC then my intellect will say NO to the mind and senses and will say NO this is not right, go and watch kirtan, or listen to lecture on youtube. What I want to say here is--

    Maya is always there around us but its how we use it it depends on our intellect and mind.

    Mind is conditioned and influnenced by material modes. satva, rajas and tamas. isn't it?

    the circumstances and situation will be the same but mind in satva would take better decisions and mind in the mode of passion will take another type of decision and the mind in the mode of tamas will take another type of decision.

    Like for suppose...If a person wins a lottery suddenly. A person in satva mode will say, Its all God's will everything is given to us by God and I shall make use of this money for either charity or donate to temple. or use it for good puposes.

    If the same money is won by a person who is situated in the mode of rajas ( passion) he will say.. Oh this is my hard word. It is my luck. I got it I have to double it , tribble it more and enjoy my life nicely.

    If the same money is won by a person who is situated in the mode of tamas, he will say , let me eat nicely, sleep. I got lot of money to waste. I dont even need to earn for rest of my life. just sleep and eat.

    Now people blame it on money.  They say money is maya. If we have money we will be in maya. we cannot reach God.

    is that true?

    NO

    if the money is in the first person's hand ( man in Satva guna) he will use the same so called money ( maya) for good purposes. for building temples or donating to poor. 

    So, what I think is it is not the maya of Lord that makes us do evil things. It is the mind.

    Mind is seat of all evil. that is why Lord says in BG

    A man must elevate himself by his own mind, not degrade himself. The mind is the friend of the conditioned soul, and his enemy as well. ( BG 6.5)

    The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature. ( BG 3.27)

    Lust and greed, desires all these are araising from the Rajo guna.

    Desire is the seed of all evil 

    Basically when we are babies or infants we dont have any desires. as the child grows, he sees things around, starts to desire Oh i want to eat that mango, oh I like to have the icecream, I want to  buy the pencil which  my friend has... I want to get good grades, I want to wear good dresses, i want buy car when I grow up, I want a house... then want a bigger house, I want a bigger car..so all desires are araising because one is in Rajas mode. wants, desires increases greed. they want to accumulate more and more be it wealth or anything for that matter. 

    when one become totally in the mode of rajo guna ....the desires become greed.

    see. .. It is not wrong to have desires. basic needs everyone need them. food, clothing, shelter.. but when craving is more and more to enjoy.... to make it double, tribble it become greed. the person no longer is in satva guna. he is totally drowning in Rajo guna.

    Now the wants and needs--->became desire and greed.

    now he doesn't see what is right or wrong also because his judgemental capacity of mind is lost when it become greed.

    He can kill anyone also to satisfy his greed and lust. He can opt to even do illegal stuff also. steal, kill do anything just fulfil ur greed. then the person is no longer even in Rajo guna it has become tamas ... because now he can kill people or satifying his greed. 

    Seed of all evil lies in mind. And intellect if in KC will discriminate and decide and make the mind chose good over bad. If intellect not in KC then the person will chose only bad things isn't it.

    basically to sum up. I will say Mind in the Rajo guna if unchecked can go to tamo guna in no time. To keep ur mind always in satva is not possible as we conditined souls are acted on by three modes all the time. But atleast if we are situated in KC we will save ourself from rajo guna and tamo guna by a sharper intellect. Krishna will guide us to opt good over bad.

    Hare Krishna

    • Hello Gayatri ji. Mind is definitely the seat of evil as you said in your comment. But don't you agree that mind is a product of pancha-mahabhutas and the pancha-mahabhutas in turn are a product of maya.  So ultimately its maya who gives birth to the mind. What's your opinion? :)

      • maya means? Lord's external energy. It gives birth to maha tattva, pancha mahabhutas Yes, and pacha mahahootoas are product of maya. right!

        Mahadev is the father of material world and Mata parvati is maya/ durga devi she is the cause of maha tattva, pancha mahabhootas and everything whatever material is made by external energy of Lord. Yes.

        So, you mean that maya is the one who is misguiding us deluding us from our path. Mata parvati/durga devi/ external energy of Lord is the cuplrit of ur actions?

        Don't you own up ur actions? when you did something perfectly right you say I did it, I worked for it day and night. but when something is going wrong we say its maya. maya is the culprit?

        actually its our false ego that is the culprit more then mind.

        So mayadevi is responsible for ur wrong decisions? or ur mind is responsible? 

        You are right when you said pancha bhootas are product of maya our mind is also made of pancha maha bhootas. before you go and label maya is responsible for ur wrong deeds.

        Let me tell one more thing. It is our false ego that is making us feel we are the doers and this is what is keeping away from Lord. False ego is also product of maya only.

        Mother gives birth to children. if the child does mistakes who is responsible. is it the mother or the child? 

        maya is acting equally on all of us. maya gave birth you, me, even saint haridas thakur also, prahalada also. ( as all of are made up of pancha bhootas). but some don't have effect of maya on them some are effected by maya. Is this maya partial to some?

        its false ego that responsible and is the culprit which makes us feel we are the doers. Maya is only making the panchabhootas, false ego, and mind only producing them. After that the activities that are happening in ur mind  is under ur control. you are only responsible for ur wrong deeds and choices as... your false ego makes you think you are seperate entity away from Lord.

        Ofcourse they are all products of maya but maya only made the raw products/raw materials.

        don't you think so?

        If maya is responsible for this.. then maya only shuld be punished and must have rebirths. isn't it?

        Just my opinion what do you have to say? :-)

         

        • Hello Gayatri ji. You said Its False ego that makes us think we're doers. Here you're implying that we are actually not the doers but false ego makes us think we are.

          Then you said that activities that are happening in our mind, are under our control.

          I see contradictions in your post. First you said we are actually not the doers. Then you said, whatever happens, it happens because of our control. Could you please explain what exactly are you trying to say here? I mean, who's the real karta? Is it us (jivatma) or is it someone else?

          Can you please explain 

          • Hare Krishna Anirudh Prabhu ji,

            Pls. maintain the forum standards and decorum. 

            Here we are not used to seeing such way of adressing devotees. Instead of saying Hello gayatri ji you could use " Hare Krishna Gayatri mata ji. I am not asking you to respect me say PAMHO or dandavats., just aleast we can say hare krishna mata ji or prabhu ji  instead of  Hey, hello, hi.. as it looks too much casual way of addressing like some friends. 

            anyways,

            just go thru the BG sloka 3.27 

            prakrteh kriyamanani
            gunaih karmani sarvasah
            ahankara-vimudhatma
            kartaham iti manyate

            The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.

             

            If you still have doubt we can discuss futher. read the purport also carefully.

            Hare Krishna

            • Did my comment sound rude? Did i say something wrong? If so, then please do forgive me.

              I just wanted to be sure what you exactly meant in that post of yours and so i asked for a  clear explanation.

              Also I may not type words that are common to the Iskcon community like prabhuji, mataji, dandavats, pranaams etc. but i do respect everybody.

              • Hare Krishna,

                Karta or the doer is only Krishna, we are all part and parcel of Krishna. I mean our souls ( atma). Jivatma and Parmatama are eternal and they are not made of material stuff. But false ego makes us think that the body is the doer. 
                We appreciate anything thru our senses but senses seperate from the soul are just material. can they function by themselves without the powering source?

                Similarly., We ( jivas) being part and parcel of Lord we don't function seperately away from Krishna. Its is not possible. But the bewildered spirit soul thinks his the body is the doer of every action under the influence of three modes of nature. It is because of false ego.

                I hope it is clear now.

                hare krishna

                Its not rude but not nice also to see. Just a small gesture I am not expecting pamho's or dandvats from anyone. 

                hare krishna mata ji is min. basics when we addresses a female devotee and hare krishna prabhu ji to a male devotee. It is not that you are rude or you are following form organisation rules. Its just like you say " namaskaram" or ram ram. Indians basically are used to say this. If I am a roadsider passerby you may say hey, hello to get my attention. It sounded awkward not rude but just awkward. :-) Maybe because I am not used to seeing these type of addressing in a long time. 

                In sri vaishavism we say Adiyen. Pamho and Dandavats are not for the body it is for the spirit soul which is a part of the Supersoul ( parmatma).  

                • I guess i'm not a strict adherent of the Iskcon community that is why i don't use such words. But i love Krishna. :) Its just that i have reserved words like 'prabhu' for Krishna only and not for any mortal men. Same goes for the word 'mata'. I use it only to address mata shakti (durga, kali etc.) But i will always use 'JI' for all human souls :) I hope it is ok to use Ji here.

    • Hare Krishna Mataji.

      You always answer in a way which dispels the darkness of doubt in no time. Very exhaustive and enlightening. Yes, Mind is the biggest friend and also the worst enemy one can ever have. Maya just tests our devotion to the Lord by serving us temptations at every step. She is the servant of Krishna and she is ordered by the Lord to test the living entities in material world. Your answer was very helpful.

       

  • Sevak

    Hare Krsna 

    Who impels man to do evil ?

    This exact question was asked by Arjuna to Sri Krsna in Bhagavad Gita. And Lord Sri Krsna very beautifully answers it. 

    arjuna uvāca
    atha kena prayukto ’yaṁ
    pāpaṁ carati pūruṣaḥ
    anicchann api vārṣṇeya
    balād iva niyojitaḥ

    śrī-bhagavān uvāca
    kāma eṣa krodha eṣa
    rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ
    mahāśano mahā-pāpmā
    viddhy enam iha vairiṇam

    Arjuna said: O descendant of Vṛṣṇi, by what is one impelled to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force? 

    The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: It is LUST only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this world. (BG 3.36-37)

    Lord Sri Krsna further explains about this more in the subsequent shlokas, including how to over come. Requesting to pease study them.

    Hare Krsna

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