By Radha Mohan Dasa
In the Bhakti tradition within the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), the concept of māyā—the Lord’s illusory energy—is not merely a metaphysical idea but a lived psychological and spiritual reality. Māyā does not always present herself as gross material temptation. More often, she works through the refinement of identity, belief, and perception, subtly reshaping how a seeker views the world and even the path of spiritual life itself.
One of the most dangerous manifestations of māyā is sectarian consciousness: the gradual narrowing of vision from universal spiritual understanding into rigid identity, exclusion, and ultimately dehumanization of others. This process can arise in any religious tradition, political ideology, or social movement. It is not the fault of a particular faith, but a universal vulnerability of the conditioned mind when it becomes attached to group identity rather than truth and humility.
The scriptures repeatedly warn that advancement in spiritual life is measured not by external affiliation but by the purification of consciousness. When the heart is not purified, even a spiritual path can become a vehicle for pride, division, and unconscious harm. For this reason, vigilance over the subtle stages of distortion is essential for every sincere practitioner.
The reflections presented here are informed not only by Vaiṣṇava theology concerning false ego (ahaṅkāra), offenses (aparādha), and the loss of equal vision (sama-darśinaḥ), but also by broader insights from psychology, sociology, and the study of ideological movements. Researchers such as Henri Tajfel, Irving Janis, Albert Bandura, Jonathan Haidt, Gordon Allport, and Erich Fromm have examined how group identity, conformity, and ideological attachment can gradually reshape perception and behaviour. While the language of māyā belongs to the Bhakti tradition, the underlying dynamics described here have been observed across religious, political, and social movements throughout history. The purpose of this analysis is therefore not to criticize any particular group, but to encourage self-examination regarding universal tendencies of the conditioned mind.
Below is a sequence that describes how sectarian consciousness can develop when the influence of māyā goes unrecognized. This is not a mechanical inevitability, but a warning pattern offered for reflection and self-examination.
Read more: https://iskconnews.org/the-subtle-power-of-maya-and-the-danger-of-sectarian-vision/
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