Yogamaya Curtains the Lord

The Lord is not approachable by everyone because He is curtained by His yogamaya potency. But one should not wrongly conclude that the Lord was formerly unmanifested and has now manifested Himself in the human form. This misconception of the formlessness of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is due to the yogamaya curtain of the Lord and can be removed only by the supreme will, as soon as the conditioned soul surrenders unto Him. (SB 2. 5. 20p)

The reason is that the Lord reserves the right of not exposing Himself to the nondevotee who, even after a thorough study of literature like the Bhagavad-gita, remains an impersonalist simply by obstinacy. This obstinacy is due to the action of yogamaya, a personal energy of the Lord that acts like an aide-de-camp by covering the vision of the obstinate impersonalist. (SB 2. 5. 24p)

In the Bhagavad-gita also, it is said that the Lord reserves the right of not being exposed to everyone, and He keeps Himself concealed from the faithless by His yoga-maya potency. (SB 2. 9. 32p)

The Lord, however, does not disclose Himself to a casual or inauthentic worshiper to be exploited. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (7. 25): naham prakashah sarvasya yoga-maya-samavritah. Rather, by yoga-maya, the Lord remains concealed to the nondevotees or casual devotees who are serving their sense gratification. The Lord is never visible to the pseudodevotees who worship the demigods in charge of universal affairs. The conclusion is that the Lord cannot become the order supplier of a pseudo devotee, but He is always prepared to respond to the desires of a pure, unconditional devotee, who is free from all tinges of material infection. (SB 3. 9. 11p)

For the impersonalists and the so-called yogis, the Lord is always hidden by the curtain of yogamaya. Bhagavad-gita says that even when Lord Krishna was seen by everyone while He was present on the surface of the earth, the impersonalists and the so-called yogis could not see Him because they were devoid of devotional eyesight. (SB 3. 15. 50p)

The real purpose of the yoga system is to achieve the favor and shelter of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but this purpose is covered by the illusory energy of yogamaya. (SB 5. 6. 15p)

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