On the Waves of Maya

[ethos]

From Dialectic Spiritualism:

 

Syamasundara dasa: But we have no fixed nature in the sense that today I may be happy and tomorrow unhappy.

Srila Prabhupada: That is true to some extent. When you are placed into the sea, you have no control. You move according to the waves. This means that there is a power that is controlling you. However, if you put yourself in better circumstances, you will be able to control. Because you have placed yourself under the control of material nature, you act according to the modes of material nature.

 

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

 

Becasue you are conditioned, your freedom is checked. When you are thrown intot he ocean of material existence, you essentially lose your freedom. Therefore it is your duty to get yourself liberated.

Syamasundara dasa: Because we are one thing today and something else tomorrow, Sartre says that our essential nature is ?no-thingness.?

Srila Prabhupada: You are nothing in the sense that you are under the full control of a superior power, being carried away by the waves of maya. In the ocean of maya you say, ?I am nothing,? but actually you are something. Your something-ness will be very much exhibited to you when you are put on land. Out of despair, you conclude that your nature is that of nothingness. Sartre?s philosophy is a philosophy of despair, and we say that it is unintelligent because despair is not the result of intelligence.