Yoga Maya And Maha Maya

July 8, 2003

Part 8 of "Essence of Pure Devotion"

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura has written of the principle of energy. The three modes of material nature is material energy called 'Maha-Maya and is responsible fore the material activities like creation and destruction. As long as the living entity is engrossed in sense gratification; till then he comes under this influence of illusory energy. He is able to escape from this abominable material energy only on realization of his innate blissful spiritual identity in relation with transcendence. The question is asked do the devotees come under any energy at all? The answer is yes, we are part of the material energy but having escaped the realm of material energy, we are now under the safe protection of the spiritual energy.

The opposition sometimes raise this question "so are you all the worshippers of the female personification of Divine energy" (sakta)? The answer is "yes" we are under the shelter of the personification of spiritual energy Srimati Radharani. We are practicing devotions entirely under Her direction. We can compare ourselves in this sense as Saktas and are therefore non-different from the devotees (Vaishnavas). On the contrary, those not taking shelter of this spiritual potency but only have attraction for the material aspect are not considered devotees but are simply sense enjoyers. In Narada Pancaratra, Durga Devi says: "I am Your loving partner in your delightful Vrndavana pastimes in the form of Your internal pleasure potency". We perceive from the statement of Durga Devi that this energy is non-dual. In the transcendental feature, this energy is present as Srimate Radhika and in the material form manifests as the material energy. The question is sometimes raised by the opposition that the smarta brahmins say that the energy of Lord Siva is the foremost energy (sakti). Why is this?

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