domain, know the purpose. 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 comes from the fact that one places oneself under the domination of matter because of the false ego (of the identification of being with its body), or the desire to dominate material nature. There are two trends in being. The first corresponds to the desire to dominate the material nature, or to become as great as the Supreme Lord, because everyone in this world wishes to be the greatest, and when one becomes envious of Krishna, God, the Supreme Person, one he then wonders, “Why should there be only for Krishna? I am worth as much as Krishna”.

Now, these two factors, the desire to become the Lord and the envy of the Lord, represent the primary cause of material slavery. As long as a philosopher, a nihilist or a man seeking salvation has some desire to become supreme, to be everything or to deny the existence of God, the cause of his chain remains, and there can be no question for him of release. The spiritual being embodied and conditioned by matter can claim, through the theoretical analysis that it 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 can make great material progress and create a situation of extreme comfort for their senses, but because they remain dominated by them, they cannot be satisfied. This is the result of current civilization. Materialists have become very adept at obtaining money, power, fame, women for their pleasure, and yet discontent is general in society, because man cannot be happy or peaceful without being aware of Krishna. They can certainly increase their material enjoyment to the limits of their imagination, but without being satisfied, because beings thus conditioned by matter are slaves of their senses.

Relations between individuals seeking the satisfaction of the senses certainly lead to slavery. But the same type of relationship with a holy person, even if it takes place unconsciously, leads to the path of liberation. The company of a holy man, in one way or another, always bears the same fruit. Anyone who is not led by his acts to turn to religion, who is not led by his ritual religious practices to choose renunciation of material nature, or whose renunciation does not lead to the service of devotion offered to the Supreme Lord, must be held dead, even if she is breathing.

We should never want material pleasures to multiply. On the contrary, they must be accepted only according to the basic necessities of existence, no more, no less. To increase material pleasure, we increase the chains which bind us to the sufferings of material existence. If more wealth, women and aristocratic relationships are among