QA : Verse no. 4.35

Question 1 : What is maya or illusion ? How one can get liberated from its clutches ?

Answer 1 : "The result of receiving knowledge from a self-realized soul, or one who knows things as they are, is learning that all living beings are parts and parcels of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord ?rī K???a. The sense of a separated existence from K???a is called māyā (mā-not, yā-this)."

"The whole teaching of the Gītā is targeted toward this end: that a living being, as His eternal servitor, cannot be separated from K???a, and his sense of being an identity apart from K???a is called māyā. The living entities, as separate parts and parcels of the Supreme, have a purpose to fulfill. Having forgotten that purpose, since time immemorial they are situated in different bodies, as men, animals, demigods, etc. Such bodily differences arise from forgetfulness of the transcendental service of the Lord. But when one is engaged in transcendental service through K???a consciousness, one becomes at once liberated from this illusion."

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Question 2 : What are the faults of mayavadi philosophy as mentioned in this verse ?

Answer 2 : "Some think that we have nothing to do with K???a, that K???a is only a great historical personality and that the Absolute is the impersonal Brahman. Factually, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, this impersonal Brahman is the personal effulgence of K???a. K???a, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the cause of everything. In the Brahma-sa?hitā it is clearly stated that K???a is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the cause of all causes. Even the millions of incarnations are only His different expansions. Similarly, the living entities are also expansions of K???a. The Māyāvādī philosophers wrongly think that K???a loses His own separate existence in His many expansions. This thought is material in nature. We have experience in the material world that a thing, when fragmentally distributed, loses its own original identity. But the Māyāvādī philosophers fail to understand that Absolute means that one plus one is equal to one, and that one minus one is also equal to one. This is the case in the absolute world."

Ref : Bhagavad-Gita 4.35, Purport, Srila Prabhupada

Now, you can get these QA directly on your Android phone. Please download our Android App from Bhagavad Gita Multilingual