22 May 2023 evening – How to Free Yourself From the Influence of Maya (English) – Dijon, France | Srila BV Vana Maharaja

  • The spontaneous nature of the soul of every living entity is the practice of bhakti, serving Sri Krishna (Sri Caitanya Bhagavata).
  • Through karma, yoga, tapasya, no one can reach the Lord (Srimad Bhagavatam, 11th canto).
  • The demigods, Brahma, Shiva, Narada, all seek the devotional service of the Lord.
  • Souls are trapped in the cycle of innumerable births and deaths, forgetting their true identity and wandering through different planetary systems.
  • There are 7 levels of higher and 7 lower planetary systems.
  • Those who attain the eternal abode of the Lord never return to the material world.
  • Meaning of bhakti-yoga: how to unite with the Lord through devotional service.
  • When bhakti matures, it is revealed as prema, love.
  • God is the incarnation of love.
  • In the material world love causes unhappiness.
  • Divine love is transcendental.
  • Everything in the material world is the perverted reflection of the spiritual world.
  • Maya is the deluding power of the Lord that influences the hearts of the living entities.
  • Surrender to the Lord brings realisation of truth and liberation from maya (Bhagavad-gita).
  • The tendency to the servitude of souls is never destroyed.
  • The 3 kinds of miseries caused by maya: adhyatmika, adhibhautika and adhidaivika.
  • Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu has instructed how to get rid of maya in this Kali-yuga: chanting the holy names.
  • The difference between Vrinda-devi, Yogamaya, and Paurnamasi.
  • Yogamaya punishes those who turn away from the Lord, and those who chant the holy names she leads to the Lord.