Why is it essential to free ourselves from material slavery?

Let us free ourselves from material slavery and, by the grace of God, attain true freedom.

All great sages have engaged in the service of the Supreme and Absolute Lord, who is beyond the three attributes and modes of influence of material nature—virtue, passion, and ignorance—to achieve the greatest benefit, to become free from material conditions themselves.

Whoever follows in their footsteps qualifies to, in turn, attain liberation from the material world. The ultimate goal of religious or spiritual practices is not to obtain some material benefit, nor to acquire the simple knowledge that allows one to distinguish the spiritual from the material. It consists of freeing oneself from material slavery and returning to an existence of pure freedom in the spiritual world, where God reigns as the Absolute Master. This is why the Lord Himself sets forth the principles and laws of religion, the purpose of which only great souls and great masters, learned in the knowledge of God and in the spiritual realm, know. The great saints, qualified agents of the Lord, all practice devotional service; thus, those who desire their own good will follow in the footsteps of these sages, for they will thus obtain the ultimate benefit.

Material slavery arises from placing oneself under the domination of matter due to the false ego (the identification of oneself with one's body, and the desire to dominate material nature).

Two tendencies manifest in the being. The first is the desire to dominate material nature, or to become as great as the Supreme Lord, because everyone in this world wants to be the greatest, and when one becomes envious of Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, one then comes to ask, “Why should it be only Krishna? I am just as great as Krishna.”

Now, these two factors, desiring to become the Lord and envying the Lord, represent the primary cause of material slavery.

As long as a philosopher, a nihilist, or a man seeking salvation has any desire to become supreme, to be everything, or to deny the existence of God, the cause of his enslavement remains, and there can be no question of liberation for him. The spiritual being embodied and conditioned by matter may claim, through theoretical analysis, that he is liberated by the power of knowledge, but in truth, as long as the cause of imprisonment persists, there can be no question of freedom. Atheists may achieve great material progress and create a situation of extreme comfort for their senses, but because they remain dominated by them, they cannot be satisfied. Such is the result of present-day civilization. Materialists have become very adept at obtaining money, power, fame, and women for their pleasure, yet discontent is widespread in society, for man cannot be happy or peaceful without being Krishna conscious. They may indeed increase their material enjoyment to the limits of their