The False Mastership a Conditioned Soul Wants in the Material World
The root cause of material existence is the misdirected desire of the living entity to usurp the position of the Supreme Lord. By analyzing the teachings of Śrīla Prabhupāda, we can understand that the soul is naturally meant to serve, but artificially wants to become the master of all it surveys. This rebellious attitude forces the soul to remain within the cycle of birth and death, endlessly chasing mirages of happiness in the desert of material existence.
The Illusion of Independence and Control
Instead of serving the Supreme Whole, the bound entity mistakenly believes it can act as the supreme controller. This false ego drives the jīva to struggle constantly against the formidable laws of material nature. It is heavily stressed by Śrīla Prabhupāda that this illusion of independence is the very essence of the material disease, ensuring the soul remains deeply entangled in worldly affairs.
- In the material world, no one wants to be a servant; everyone wants to become the master because false mastership is the basic disease of the conditioned soul. The conditioned soul in the material world wants to lord it over others.
- Deluded by material energy, the conditioned soul wants to lord it over material energy, just as a moth wants to enjoy a fire. This illusion is the net result of the conditioned soul's forgetfulness of his eternal relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
- One must act according to the direction of the Lord within the heart, but because the conditioned soul wants to act independently, the Lord gives him the facility to act and experience the reactions.
- Conditioned soul means we wanted to enjoy this material world, not to serve anyone. Although our constitutional position is to serve, but artificially we want to give up service and we want to enjoy. That is material disease.
- He (a conditioned soul) wants to go to the moon or Venus to exploit resources there. But the Lord has warned us in the Bhagavad-gita about the worthlessness of all the innumerable planets of this universe, as well as those planets within other systems.
Imitating the Supreme Enjoyer
Forgetful of its tiny, fragmental nature, the individual soul tries to artificially take the seat of God. The entire cosmic play is a stage set for the living entities who wish to mimic the supreme enjoyer. We are reminded by Śrīla Prabhupāda that because the soul cannot actually become God, this imitation only leads to severe frustration and a perpetual cycle of unfulfilled desires.
- Unwilling conditioned souls are not allowed to enter into the liberated life of spiritual existence because at heart they are not willing to serve. Instead, they want to enjoy themselves as imitation Gods.
- Srutadeva said, "Your (Krsna) Lordship, apparently also in a sleeping condition, enters this material world to create a temporary manifestation, not for Your personal necessities but for the conditioned soul who wants to imitate Your Lordship as enjoyer."
- The cause of the material creation is described here (in SB 3.20.2) very lucidly. The first cause is daiva, or the destiny of the conditioned soul. The material creation exists for the conditioned soul who wanted to become a false lord for sense enjoyment.
- This material world is not for the purpose of the Lord Himself, but is for the conditioned souls who wanted to be controllers due to misuse of their God-gifted minute independence. Thus the conditioned souls are subjected to repeated birth and death.
- Deluded by material energy, the conditioned soul, enamored by eighty-one varieties of manifestations, wants to lord it over material energy, just as a moth wants to enjoy a fire.
The Relentless Pursuit of Sense Gratification
To satisfy its rebellious intentions, the soul is awarded various physical bodies specifically designed for different degrees of sense enjoyment. However, the pursuit of worldly happiness is ultimately a painful endeavor. As Śrīla Prabhupāda vividly explains, trying to find joy in material elements is as futile as seeking water in a mirage, leading only to temporary bodily comforts mixed with heavy anxieties.
- The body is made of senses. The conditioned soul wants to enjoy sense gratification, and, according to his capacity to enjoy sense gratification, he is offered a body, or field of activity.
- Due to continuing on the path of danger from time immemorial and not associating with saintly persons, the conditioned soul, under illusion, wants to enjoy this material world.
- Akrura continued, "The conditioned souls want to quench their thirst, but they do not know where to find water. They give up the spot where there is actually a reservoir of water and run into the desert, where there is no water."
- The ambitious conditioned soul wants to be very happy in this material world with his family, but he is compared to a traveler in the forest who desires to climb a hill full of thorns and small stones.
- The conditioned souls are very much attached to the material world, and thus by performing religious rites they want the material benefits known as dharma and artha.
The Facility Provided by the Supreme Lord
Although Kṛṣṇa has no personal need to create the material universe, He manifests it purely out of compassion to fulfill the errant desires of the living entities. The Lord expands His external energy, māyā, to give the souls a playing field where they can act out their fantasies. However, Śrīla Prabhupāda clarifies that this creation is also designed as a reformatory process to eventually guide the souls back to their constitutional position.
- The Supreme Personality of Godhead does not wish to create this material world just to inflict suffering on the living entities. The Supreme Lord creates this world only because the conditioned souls want to enjoy it.
- The cosmic manifestation gives the conditioned souls a chance to go back home, back to Godhead, and that is its main purpose. The Lord is so kind that in the absence of such a manifestation He feels something wanting, and thus the creation takes place.
- Although he created the different influences of nescience, Lord Brahma was not satisfied in performing such a thankless task, but he had to do it because most of the conditioned souls wanted it to be so.
- The mahat-tattva cloud of the material creation, in which the conditioned souls, who want to lord it against the will of the Lord, are put into play as they desire under the control of the Lord by the agency of His external energy.
- The conditioned soul is allowed to reside in Devi-dhama, the external energy, where goddess Durga carries out the orders of the Supreme Lord as His maidservant because he wants to enjoy the material energy.
The Struggle and the Refusal to Surrender
Caught in the web of fruitive activities and material aspirations, the living entity fiercely resists the path of true liberation. Even when frustrated, the soul often prefers to seek shelter in temporary solutions rather than surrendering to the Supreme. As Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes, this obstinate refusal to return to Godhead keeps the soul locked in a cycle of suffering, mistakenly believing that future material endeavors will eventually bring success.
- This forgetfulness (living entities are meant for going back to Godhead) is so strong due to the influence of maya that the conditioned souls do not at all want to go back to Godhead.
- Mattah smrtir jnanam apohanam ca (BG 15.15). Because the conditioned soul wants to forget You (the Supreme Personality of Godhead), by Your grace You give him opportunities, life after life, by which he can almost perpetually forget You.
- The path of fruitive activities leads to difficult mountains, and sometimes the conditioned soul wants to cross these mountains, but he is never successful, and consequently he becomes more and more aggrieved and disappointed.
- Whoever fully surrenders unto Krsna can be saved from the cruel hands of material nature. The conditioned soul, however, sometimes wants to take shelter of a demigod, man-made god, pseudo incarnation or bogus svami or yogi.
- Sometimes when he (the conditioned soul) is fatigued, when he is tired of material activities, he wants liberation and hankers to become one with the Supreme Lord, but at other times he thinks that by working hard to gratify his senses he will be happy.
Conclusion
The fundamental tragedy of the conditioned entity is the stubborn desire to act as the supreme master in a world designed solely for the pleasure of Kṛṣṇa. By carefully studying the instructions of Śrīla Prabhupāda, we can identify this deeply rooted disease of false prestige and imitation. True peace and lasting happiness can only be achieved when the soul gives up its futile quest for independent lordship and joyfully accepts its eternal, constitutional position as a loving servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category A Conditioned Soul Wants. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.