Overcoming the Disease of Wrongly Thinking

Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the root of all material suffering is the conditioned soul's persistent habit of wrongly thinking. Bewildered by the Lord's external energy, individuals falsely identify with matter, claim independent proprietorship over the world, and even dare to equate themselves with the Supreme Lord, requiring a complete shift in consciousness to achieve true liberation.

The Illusion of Material Happiness

The pursuit of material advancement is driven by a deep-seated illusion. Śrīla Prabhupāda notes that conditioned souls wrongly think that accumulating wealth, enjoying bodily comforts, and attaining worldly power will make them happy, whereas they are actually acting as suffering prisoners within the grim clutches of māyā.

• A fool wrongly thinks that he is happy in this material world, but in fact he is not, for one who thinks that way is only illusioned. At every step, at every moment, there is danger.
• In the grim clutches of maya, the first-class prisoners of this material world wrongly think themselves happy because they are rich, powerful, resourceful and so on.
• People in general, especially in this age of Kali, are enamored by the external energy of Krsna, and they wrongly think that by advancement of material comforts every man will be happy.
• Those who are not engaged in the transcendental loving service of the Supreme Lord wrongfully think that they are accumulating so much money day after day - BG 16.12.

False Proprietorship and Independence

The materialist's claim to ownership is entirely fictitious. Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasizes that individuals wrongly think they own their land, their wealth, and even their physical bodies, forgetting that every resource is an energy of the Supreme Lord and is never meant for independent human enjoyment.

• One's land, home, wealth and all of one's possessions belong to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, although we wrongly think, I am this and These things are mine.
• Only because of illusion do we wrongly think, "I am existing" or "Everything belongs to me." Thus mother Yasoda completely surrendered unto the Supreme Lord.
• One should not wrongly think that the body belongs to him. To maintain a false possession, why should one indulge in killing? Why should one kill innocent animals to maintain the body?
• The living entities wrongly consider the physical elements to be resources meant for their enjoyment, and they think themselves to be the enjoyers. However, neither of them is independent; they are both energies of the Lord.

The Māyāvādī Misconception

The greatest pitfall of misdirected intelligence is impersonalism. Śrīla Prabhupāda strongly refutes the Māyāvādī philosophers who incorrectly think that the tiny living entity is on an equal level with God, warning that this blasphemous mentality keeps one entirely in darkness and ruins any chance of performing devotional service.

• They (Mayavadis) wrongly think that everyone is God or that everyone is equal to God. Therefore, since the real position of the living entity is not clear to them, how can they advance further.
• Impersonalists and monists have misguided their followers because they incorrectly think that the Supreme Lord and the individual souls are equal in all respects.
• One who wrongly thinks that the living entity's position and the Lord's position are on the same level is to be understood to be in darkness and therefore unable to engage himself in the devotional service of the Lord.
• Mayavadi philosophers wrongly think that because the Supreme Person has entered the body of a poor man, the Supreme Lord has become daridra-narayana, or poor Narayana. These are all blasphemous statements of atheists and nondevotees.

Misunderstanding the Supreme Lord's Form

Due to a poor fund of knowledge, unauthorized thinkers completely misunderstand the transcendental nature of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that impersonalist scholars and asuras wrongly think that the Lord's form is made of material elements, or that He loses His original identity when He expands Himself.

• Since the members of the Mayavada school cannot understand the spiritual form of the Lord, they incorrectly think the Lord's form is also made of material energy.
• Those who think that the Supreme Lord appears in different forms by accepting a body made of material elements are wrong; their vision is imperfect because they do not understand how the Lord's internal potency works.
• The Mayavadi philosophers wrongly think that Krsna loses His own separate existence in His many expansions. This thought is material in nature.
• The Asuras wrongly think that Krsna took birth like an ordinary child and passed away from this world like an ordinary man. Such asuric conceptions are rejected by persons in knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Conclusion

Śrīla Prabhupāda thoroughly diagnoses the disease of the conditioned soul as a pervasive habit of wrongly thinking. Enamored by the external energy, living entities fabricate the illusion that they are independent proprietors capable of achieving happiness through material wealth and power. This deep-rooted ignorance reaches its dangerous climax in the Māyāvādī and āsurika philosophies, which audaciously reduce the Supreme Lord’s eternal, spiritual form to mere material elements and falsely elevate the tiny living entity to the status of the Supreme. To be cured of this diseased mentality, one must abandon all false concepts of ownership and absolute oneness, accept proper spiritual education from the paramparā, and recognize one's actual, eternal position as a humble servant of Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

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Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category Wrongly Thinking. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.

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