The Lord cites here a very fine example: In the old days, kings punished criminals by dipping them into a river, then raising them to the surface for a breath of air, after which they again plunged them back into the water. Material nature rewards or punishes beings in an analogous way, by plunging them into the waters of suffering or by extirpating them for a time. The rise to the higher planets (Edenic, paradisiacal) or to a higher standard of life is never permanent, it is always followed by a new submersion. Thus material existence is perpetuated. We are sometimes promoted to higher planetary systems, Edenic, paradisiacal, sometimes thrown into hellish living conditions. Maya, the material nature, causes us to forget our relationship with Krishna. In fact, maya means that which is not, or illusion, that which has no existence. It is therefore wrong to believe that the living being has no connection with the Supreme Lord. He may not believe in the existence of God, or think that nothing connects them, but these are illusions or maya. In the grip of this false conception of life, the human being languishes with endless fears and anxieties. In other words, any conception of life without God comes under maya.

Whoever is versed in holy literature surrenders to the Sovereign Lord with great devotion and recognizes in Him the ultimate goal of their existence. As soon as the being forgets the fundamental nature of his relationship with God, he succumbs to material energy, hence his false ego, his identification with the body, which he mistakes for the self. His entire conception of the material universe arises from this false conception of the body. Attaching himself to the latter, he also attaches himself to all that he can produce. To escape this slavery, he has only to do his duty by relying on the Supreme Lord with intelligence, devotion and a sincere awareness of Krishna, of God.

The conditioned soul mistakenly believes itself to be happy in the material universe, but when blessed by the teaching of a pure devotee it relinquishes its desire for material enjoyment and finds itself enlightened by Krishna consciousness. As soon as she accesses this consciousness, her material desires are annihilated and she gradually gets rid of the bondage to matter. There can be no question of darkness in the presence of light. Now, Krishna consciousness is that light which dispels the darkness of material enjoyment. The Krishna conscious being never subscribes to the mistaken idea that he is one with God. Knowing that he would not be happy working for himself, he devotes all his energies to the service of the Lord and thus sees himself freed from the clutches of the energy of temporal illusion. The material energy composed of the three gunas (the three attributes and modes of influence of material nature; virtue, passion and ignorance) turns out to be so powerful that one can hardly escape it. But whoever surrenders to Krishna is easily freed from the hold of maya.