Prabhupāda: Republic party. So many things are going on, ajñāna. This is ajñāna. Philosophy means to see intelligently, darśana. The translation of philosophy means darśana. Darśana means seeing. Philosophy means to see the actual fact. That is called philosophy. So if we philosophically take all these things, we are working for others out of ignorance, and I am thinking that, "It is my interest. It is my self-interest."
Actually, you have to work for others. That is your business. And that other is Kṛṣṇa, not this material world. I have to work for others, because I am servant originally. Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (CC Madhya 20.108-109). That is the constitutional position of every living entity: a servant. He cannot be master. If you don't become servant of Kṛṣṇa, then you have to become servant of māyā. You cannot be master of māyā. That is not possible. Master of māyā is Kṛṣṇa. Mama māyā. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā (BG 7.14). A master can control māyā, but we are not master; we are servant. How we can control māyā? It is impossible. But if you become servant of Kṛṣṇa, māyā will not touch you. That's all. Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). You cannot control māyā. That is not possible, because you are servant. If you don't become servant of Kṛṣṇa, you must become servant of māyā.
So we are falsely trying to enjoy māyā. Enjoyer means master. That is not possible. Tribhir guṇamayair bhāvaiḥ (BG 7.13). This is the influence of the three modes of material nature. We are falsely thinking that . . . the so-called scientific advancement, they are also trying to control over māyā, nature. That cannot be. It is not possible. But they will go on trying for it. The māyā, there is a nice example I have seen in somewhere, in India. There was a mirror, and a bird, a sparrow, was coming.
And as soon as he comes before the mirror, there is another sparrow on the other side. So he'll strike the mirror, that "There is another bird," and he would also strike. In this way he was struggling. That shadow sparrow was striking, and he was trying. He was trying. He thought that, "I shall defeat the other sparrow." But that is not possible. (laughter) That is not possible. I have seen it practically. (laughs) . . . indistinct) . . . this is foolishness. The bird is thinking that, "There is another sparrow. Strike it." And he is also striking. That perpetual striking is going on. That is called struggle for existence. Because he has no sense.
So, so long we are nonsense, we have to go, struggle for existence, struggle for existence in this life. Suppose I am struggling, I am thinking, "If I could have possessed the strength of an elephant or a tiger, I would have been successful." Then next life he gets the body of lion, tiger or elephant. Nature will give. Ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11). Kṛṣṇa is very kind. Whatever you want, He will give you, up to mukti. The Māyāvādī philosophers . . . mukti means to merge into the existence of Brahman. Kṛṣṇa will give you very easily. But He is very strict to give you bhakti. That is His special . . .
Because to the bhaktas, Kṛṣṇa, although the Supreme, He becomes within the grip of the bhaktas. Vedeṣu durlabham adurlabham ātma-bhaktau (Bs. 5.33). Adurlabha. For bhakta He becomes . . . He becomes controlled by the bhakta. The topmost bhakta is Rādhārāṇī. So although Kṛṣṇa is the īśvaraḥ paramaḥ, the supreme controller, He is controlled by Rādhārāṇī, because She is bhakta. Nobody can excel Her devotion, Her service. In sixty-four ways . . . these are described in the Bhakti-rasa . . . Nectar of Devotion, how Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī excels in Her devotional service everyone. Everyone. There are stages, differently. Just like the Pāṇḍavas, they are also bhaktas. But the gopīs excel them. And the gopīs are also bhaktas, but Rādhārāṇī excels all of them.
So there are stages of bhaktas. Therefore Kṛṣṇa is very cautious to endow one with this devotional service. He can give mukti very easily. Mukti, to achieve mukti, liberation, that is not very difficult job. But if one becomes a bhakta, devotee, mukti will stand before him with folded hands. Muktiḥ mukulitāñjali sevate asmān (Kṛṣṇa-karṇāmṛta 107). For a devotee, mukti is not very important thing. Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate (Caitanya-candrāmṛta 5). Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says that mukti, kaivalyam, one with the supreme, kaivalyam, kevalam, narakāyate: "What is this? It is as good as the hell." That is the opinion of the bhakta. They don't want mukti.