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The false consciousness is exhibited under the impression that, "I am one of the product of this material nature." That is called false ego

Expressions researched:
"the false consciousness is exhibited under the impression that" |"I am one of the product of this material nature" |"That is called false ego"

Lectures

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Our consciousness is materially contaminated, we should know. Now, when we are such materially contaminated, that is called our conditioned stage. Conditioned stage. And the false ego, the false consciousness . . . the false consciousness is exhibited under the impression that, "I am one of the product of this material nature." That is called false ego.

The theory that consciousness develops under certain circumstances of material combination is not accepted in the Bhagavad-gītā. They cannot. Consciousness may be pervertedly reflected by the cover of material circumstances, just like light reflected through a colored glass may seem according to the color. Similarly, the consciousness of Lord, it is not materially affected. The Supreme Lord, just like Kṛṣṇa, He says that, mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ (BG 9.10).

When He descends in this material world, His consciousness is not materially affected. Had His consciousness been materially affected, He was unfit to speak about the transcendental subject matter in the Bhagavad-gītā. One cannot say anything about the transcendental world without being free from the materially contaminated consciousness. So the Lord was not materially contaminated. But our consciousness, at the present moments, is materially contaminated.

So whole thing, as the Bhagavad-gītā teaches, we have to purify the materially contaminated consciousness, and in that pure consciousness, the actions will be done. That will make us happy. We cannot stop. We cannot stop our activity. The activities are to be purified. And these purified activities are called bhakti. Bhakti means they are . . . they appear also just like ordinary activity, but they are not contaminated activities. They are purified activities.

So a ignorant person may see that a devotee is working like an ordinary man. But a person with poor fund of knowledge, he does not know that the activities of a devotee or the activities of the Lord, they are not contaminated by the impure consciousness of matter, impurity of the three guṇas, modes of nature, but transcendental consciousness.

So our consciousness is materially contaminated, we should know. Now, when we are such materially contaminated, that is called our conditioned stage. Conditioned stage. And the false ego, the false consciousness . . . the false consciousness is exhibited under the impression that, "I am one of the product of this material nature." That is called false ego. The whole material activities, yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13).

Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke: one who is absorbed in the thought of bodily conception. Now, the whole Bhagavad-gītā was explained by the Lord because Arjuna represented himself with bodily conception. So one has to get free from the bodily conception of life. That is the preliminary activity for a transcendentalist who wants to get free, who wants to be liberated. And he has to learn first of all that he is not this material body.

So this consciousness, or material consciousness, when we are freed from this material consciousness, that is called mukti. Mukti, or liberation, means to become free from material consciousness. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavata also the definition of liberation is said, muktir hitvānyathā rūpaṁ svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ (SB 2.10.6).

Svarūpeṇa vyavasthitiḥ. Mukti means liberation from the contaminated consciousness of this material world and to become situated in pure consciousness. And the whole instruction, instruction of Bhagavad-gītā, is targeted to awaken that pure consciousness.

We'll find in the last stage of the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā that Kṛṣṇa is asking Arjuna whether he is now in purified consciousness—whether he was in purified consciousness. The purified consciousness is to act according to the direction of the Lord. That is purified consciousness.

That is the whole sum and substance of purified consciousness. Consciousness is already there, but because we are part and parcels, therefore we are affected. There is affinity of being affected by the material modes. But the Lord, being Supreme, He is never affected. He is never affected. That is the difference between the Lord and the Supreme . . . Supreme Lord and the . . .

Now this consciousness is . . . what is this consciousness? This consciousness is that "I am." What I am? When in contaminated consciousness this "I am" means that "I am the lord of all I survey." This is impure consciousness. And "I am the enjoyer." The whole material world is moving that every living being is thinking that, "I am the lord and I am the creator of this material world." The consciousness has got two psychic movement, or two psychic division. One is that "I am the creator," and the other is "I am the enjoyer."

So the Supreme Lord is actually the creator and He is actually the enjoyer. And the living entities, being part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, he's not actually the creator or the enjoyer, but he's a cooperator. Just like the whole machine. The part of the machine is the cooperator. Is the cooperator.

Page Title:The false consciousness is exhibited under the impression that, "I am one of the product of this material nature." That is called false ego
Compiler:SharmisthaK
Created:2022-08-23, 11:12:47
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=1, Con=0, Let=0
No. of Quotes:1