This is illusion (Lectures)

Expressions researched:
"That is Maya's illusion" |"That is another illusion" |"This is Maya's illusion" |"This is actually illusion" |"This is all illusion" |"This is also illusion" |"This is another illusion" |"This is moha, illusion" |"This is our illusion" |"This is the illusion" |"This is the illusion" |"This is their illusion" |"that is also illusion" |"that is an illusion" |"that is an illusion" |"that is illusion" |"that is our illusion" |"that is the illusion" |"that is the illusion" |"that is the illusion" |"that is their illusion" |"this is an illusion" |"this is an illusion" |"this is illusion" |"this is the illusion"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Introduction to Bhagavad-gita As It Is -- Los Angeles, November 23, 1968 :

In the gross material concept of life we are under the impression that "I am this body." Therefore we are concerned with the senses. If our senses are gratified, we think we are now satisfied. So this is the gross type of existence, I mean to say, existence of ignorance. Illusion. Māyā. When one is under the thought that "I am this," this is illusion. Illusion means you accept something, something is presented as reality, and you accept it.

Lecture on BG 1.30 -- London, July 23, 1973:

So somewhere it is severe cold and somewhere it is severe scorching heat. This is nature's law. You have to suffer. While you are in cold country, you think that "India is very warm. They are very happy." (laughs) And in India they are thinking, "In England they are very happy." This is the way. This is illusion. Nobody thinks that there is no happiness within these three worlds, beginning from Brahmaloka down to the Pātālaloka.

Lecture on BG 1.30 -- London, July 23, 1973:

So Arjuna also is playing like an ordinary foolish person. Nimittāni viparītāni. "Where is my happiness? I came here to fight, to get happiness, and I have to kill my own kinsmen. Then where is my happiness? I cannot enjoy the property or the kingdom alone. There must be relatives, brothers. I will be very proud: 'Just see how I have become king.' So if they are dying, then who, whom I shall show my opulence?" This is the psychology. Nimittāni ca viparītāni paśyāmi. Just the opposite. This is illusion. This is illusion.

Lecture on BG 1.31 -- London, July 24, 1973:

So Kṛṣṇa is there, but he is thinking in terms of material role, that "If my kinsmen are dead, I kill them, then where is my good? It is no good. What shall I do with the victory and happiness? Where is happiness? I cannot live without them." This is the conception. Ataḥ gṛha... Ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam (SB 5.5.8). This is illusion. Everyone is trying to become happy with society, friendship and love, children, wife, friends, money and house and land. This is the conception of material.... So Arjuna is thinking in material concept of life.

Lecture on BG 2.1 -- Ahmedabad, December 7, 1972:

Gṛha-kṣetra, suta, then children; āpta, friends; vitta, then money, because without money, nothing can be maintained. Ataḥ gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya mohaḥ. He becomes more and more illusioned. And ahaṁ mameti: (SB 5.5.8) "Oh, this is my country. This is my family. This is my house. This is my children." So on, so on. Mama. "Mine." And "I am this person. I am this body." This is illusion.

Lecture on BG 2.8-12 -- Los Angeles, November 27, 1968:

Without understanding our real position we are perplexed with these all worldly problems, which are all false. Janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). Moha, moha means illusion. This is the illusion. So everyone is under this illusion. So one who is intelligent, if he can understand that this worldly position is simply illusion... The, all the thoughts which I have concocted, based on the principle of "I" and "mine," this is all illusion. So one, when one is intelligent to get out of the illusion, he surrenders to a spiritual master.

Lecture on BG 2.9 -- London, August 15, 1973:

Everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, but we are thinking, "Everything belongs to me." This is illusion. Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). Ahaṁ mameti. Janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti. This is illusion. Everyone is thinking, "I am this body, and everything, whatever we find in this world, that is to be enjoyed by me." This is the mistake of civilization. The knowledge is: "Everything belongs to God. I can take only whatever He gives me, kindly allows."

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Manila, October 12, 1972:

A nice motorcar with nice machine, first class, it has value so long it is driven by a living entity. Otherwise, who cares for it? Nobody cares for it. Jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedam (BG 7.5). Therefore matter, however valuable it may be, it is inferior to the spirit. The spirit is superior energy of God. Matter is inferior energy of God. So the material energy is external energy, and we are trying to become happy by adjusting this external energy. That is illusion.

Lecture on BG 2.13 -- Hyderabad, November 19, 1972:

And we also, we are illusioned. Illusioned. Just like I am not this body. I am spirit soul. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. But we are giving identification with this body. "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am śūdra." So this is illusion.

Lecture on BG 2.20 -- Hyderabad, November 25, 1972:

So we are all Kṛṣṇa's part and parcel, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). So our relationship is eternal. Now we have forgotten. We are thinking that "I am not Kṛṣṇa's; I am America's." "I am India's" This is our illusion.

Lecture on BG 2.24 -- Hyderabad, November 28, 1972:

Now, under the influence of nature, I am thinking, "I am the servant of my wife," "I am servant of the society," "I am servant of my nation," "I am servant of my cat," "I am servant of my dog." And we are doing that, actually. Everyone is working under this impression. Ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). This is illusion. You have to come to the platform of sanātana. What is that eternal? "I am eternally servant of Kṛṣṇa." That is sanātana-dharma.

Lecture on BG 2.24 -- Hyderabad, November 28, 1972:

The Vedic literature teaches us that "Don't think that you belong to this matter. You are Brahman." Kṛṣṇa is Parabrahman, and we are subordinate Brahman. Nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa. We are servant Brahman. He's master Brahman. So, so instead of, instead of understanding that I am servant Brahman, I am thinking I am master Brahman. That is another illusion. That is another illusion.

Lecture on BG 2.28 -- London, August 30, 1973:

Śaṅkarācārya theorized this: brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā. Brahman means the soul is actually the fact, not the material manifestation. Material manifestation, of course, he says false. We don't say false. We say temporary. So our main concern is that I am not temporary. My body is temporary. Now I am working for the body. That is illusion. Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). Then what is real fact? Real fact is that I am spiritual particle, and the whole spirit is Kṛṣṇa, or God. Therefore, as part and parcel of God it is my duty to serve God. That is spiritual life, bhakti-yoga, That is called svarūpa.

Lecture on BG 2.28 -- London, August 30, 1973:

And after creating in bodily relationships so many unwanted things, I am absorbed in thought, that "I am, I belong to such and such nation. Therefore I have got my duty to do this, do that for the nation, or to the society, or to the family, or to my personal self, or to my wife, my children." This is, according to Vedic conception, this is illusion. Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). Janasya moho 'yam. Moha means illusion. I am creating illusory circumstances and becoming entangled. This is my position.

Lecture on BG 2.40-45 -- Los Angeles, December 13, 1968:

Guest: Well, is everybody who is a devotee of Kṛṣṇa, initiated, do they all have perfect enlightenment?

Prabhupāda: Yes. That I just now explained. That is liberation. I am identified just now with this matter. "I am this body, I belong to this country, I belong to this world." This is illusion. And as soon as I can understand that I belong to none of these, I belong to Kṛṣṇa, that is enlightenment. Simply changing the understanding.

Lecture on BG 2.55-58 -- New York, April 15, 1966:

So we should be conscious in this way, that "I am Your eternal servitor. I am not the Lord." As soon as we make mistake that "I am the Lord, I am the Supreme," then this illusory energy entraps us. This is also illusion. This is the last snare of illusory energy, that "I am God."

Lecture on BG 4.1 and Review -- New York, July 13, 1966:

When you ask me, "Swamiji, what you are?", oh, I'll say, "I am Indian." What sort of Indian I am? Because my this body is Indian, made in India or got in India. But I am not this body. I am not this body. So this, this is illusion. So second imperfection. First imperfection, that we must commit mistake. The second imperfection is accepting something which is not real.

Lecture on BG 4.1-2 -- Columbus, May 9, 1969:

People have taken it that "Everyone can become God. Every one of us God." This is another illusion, another māyā, because we do not know what is God. Here is God. He says that "Many, many millions of years ago I spoke to sun-god. I remember it." This is God. Simple truth. This is the proof that He is God.

Lecture on BG 4.9 -- Bombay, March 29, 1974:

You are trying to make adjustments to become happy here. It is not possible, because this place is recommended by Kṛṣṇa: duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15), it is a place of miseries. How you can become happy here? This is illusion. You can never be happy in this material world, but you are trying to become happy in so many politician, social workers, this and that, simply wasting their time. They cannot be. You have to accept the leadership of Kṛṣṇa. Then you will be happy.

Lecture on BG 4.21 -- Bombay, April 10, 1974:

So you will find these pigs, they are very much fatty, but what they eat? They eat stool and live in a filthy place. But they think that "We are very happy." So that is māyā's illusion. Anyone who is living in a very abominable condition of life, māyā, by illusion, he is thinking that he is all right, he is living very perfectly. But a person who is on the higher stage, he sees that he is living in a very abominable condition.

Lecture on BG 4.22 -- Bombay, April 11, 1974:

That is Vedic instruction, to come to the transcendental platform, ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am not this body. I am spirit soul, Brahman." This is called brahma-bhūtaḥ situation. Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54). When one is actually situated, that is called jñāna, knowledge. Actually, this is ignorance. So long in the bodily concept of life, gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam. This is not jñāna. This is moha, illusion.

Lecture on BG 6.1 -- Los Angeles, February 13, 1969:

Everyone is trying to find out pleasure. That is our business only. Why you are working so hard day and night? Because you know, at night, "I shall mix with that girl" or "I shall be mixed with wife, I shall enjoy." The whole, everyone is accepting all kinds of trouble to find out that pleasure. Pleasure is the ultimate goal. But you do not know where is the pleasure. that is illusion. Real pleasure is in the transcendental form of Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 7.1 -- Bhuvanesvara, January 22, 1977:

Illusion. Illusion means it is temporary. Just like you dream something. That is called illusion. But dream is actually not illusion. Because although in dream you see some tiger, he's attacking, that is illusion. And you are crying, "Save me! Save me! Here is a tiger!" But one who is awakened, he say, "Why you are crying?" "There is a tiger." "Where is tiger?" This is illusion. But when you are dreaming that there is a tiger, you are crying, that is not illusion. It is acting. Similarly, this material manifestation, it is not illusion, but for the time being it is illusion.

Lecture on BG 7.2 -- Nairobi, October 28, 1975:

So these are the signs of becoming perfect man, that he does not commit mistake, neither he is illusioned. Illusion means to accept something as something. That is illusion. Just like we are accepting this body as myself. If you ask me, "What you are?" "I am Indian. I am brāhmaṇa. I am this. I am that." So what are these? These are all bodily concept of life. This is illusion.

Lecture on BG 7.28-8.6 -- New York, October 23, 1966:

Dvandva-moha. Dvandva-moha, this duality, that "You are..., you have got different interest, I have got different interest," this is called dvandva-moha. "Your interest is clashing with my interest." This is illusion. This illusion can be removed only by this Kṛṣṇa consciousness.

Lecture on BG 9.15 -- New York, December 1, 1966:

To err is human. So this is one imperfectness. And to become illusioned. To accept one thing which is not. Illusion means to accept something for something. Just like we accept this body. We identify with this body, every one of us. If we ask you what you are, "Oh, I am American." What is your American? This body is American. But it is not... You are not this body. So this is illusion.

Lecture on BG 9.18-19 -- New York, December 4, 1966:

The destination of life is to reestablish his lost relationship with the Supreme Lord. That is his destination. Unfortunately, people do not know what is the destination. They are simply thinking, destination of life, to have the greatest amounts of sense gratification. This is illusion. Because we are materially absorbed and materially concept of life means these senses—we have no other information—so we are trying to squeeze out all kinds of pleasure from sense. This is called illusion. They have no other information. They are earning, working very hard, and the ultimate goal is sense gratification. This is illusion.

Lecture on BG 10.3 -- New York, January 2, 1967:

Yo mām ajam anādiṁ ca vetti, "knows, one should know," loka-maheśvaram. And because He is not cause, therefore He is the proprietor of all manifestations. He is the proprietor. Asammūḍhaḥ. Asammūḍhaḥ means one who understands this simple philosophy, he is not illusioned. Every one of us is illusioned. This is illusion. Just like we are claiming this land as our land. "We are Americans. It is our land." "I am Indian. Oh, India is my land." This is illusion.

Lecture on BG 10.3 -- New York, January 2, 1967:

So one has to be disillusioned, means out of illusion. So whatever we are doing in this material conception of life, that is illusion. Therefore we cannot understand God. One who is not under the spell of illusion he can understand, asammūḍha. He can understand God. So first of all we have to understand whether we are not illusioned.

Lecture on BG 13.1-2 -- Bombay, December 29, 1972:

So because we wanted to imitate Kṛṣṇa, kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha hañā bhoga vāñchā kare, the Kṛṣṇa has given us a place which is illusion. Which is not fact. Temporary. Illusion. Just like we sometimes see water in the desert. That is illusion. Practically there is no illusion, uh, there is no water. But we see: "Oh, here is water, vast water." The animals, they run after the water. Similarly we are also running after this illusion. "There is happiness. There is happiness." Therefore there is no happiness.

Lecture on BG 13.1-2 -- Bombay, December 29, 1972:

So we are under this illusion. This is called māyā. We should understand that we are not this body. We are not this body. Our bodily enjoyment, sense gratification, that is illusion. In another place in the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find, it is said: sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tat atīndriyaṁ grāhyam. Find out that verse. Sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriyaṁ grāhyam. We are trying to enjoy life with these material senses, but that is illusion, that is temporary. Temporary and illusion. Real enjoyment is with our spiritual senses.

Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Paris, August 12, 1973:

During night, so many different types of insects come to the fire, to the light. This is another illusion. These insects, they are coming, being attracted by the beauty of the light. The electric light, it is not open. Otherwise, these insects come in the burning fire and die. Beauty. Captivated by the beauty of the fire. So actually it is going on. We are attracted by the beauty of māyā and exactly we are falling to the fire and dying.

Lecture on BG 13.4 -- Hyderabad, April 20, 1974:

Then we are illusioned. Illusioned means we accept something for something. Just like we are accepting this body as myself. This is illusion. The whole world is illusioned. Everyone is thinking in terms of the body. And according to Vedic knowledge, anyone who is under the concept of this body as self, he is no better than the cow and the asses. Sa eva go-kharaḥ (SB 10.84.13).

Lecture on BG 13.6-7 -- Bombay, September 29, 1973:

So this whole earth is creation of these five elements, gross elements. So it is Kṛṣṇa's property. How we can claim, "This is our property?" That is illusion. We are claiming, "This portion is American," "This portion is Indian," "This portion is Pakistani," but we do not know that no portion belongs to us; everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 13.20 -- Bombay, October 14, 1973:

We are all prakṛtis. And because, being prakṛti, we are trying to become puruṣa, that is called māyā, or illusion. Just like if a woman dresses like a man and wants to act as man, as that is illusion, similarly, we are differently dressed in the material ingredient, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). Everyone's body is made of these five elements and mind, intelligence, they are also subtle material elements, and with this combination we have got this body, and I am the spirit soul. I am trying to enjoy. This is material world. We have forgotten that we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on BG 18.45 -- Durban, October 11, 1975:

Kṛṣṇa certifies about this world as duḥkhālayam, "the place of miseries," and we are trying to be happy. This is our illusion. You cannot be happy in this material world. Tell me if anyone is happy. Nobody is happy. The problem, only problem, beginning from the womb of mother up to the again, next death, simply problems—this is material life. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, mām upetya tu kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam (BG 8.15), nāpnuvanti: "He does not come again." That is the solution.

Lecture on BG Lecture -- Ahmedabad, December 8, 1972:

Puruṣa means the predominator, and prakṛti means the predominated. So we are predominated. We are not predominator. If the predominated wants to become predominator, that is false. That is illusion. That is going on. Everyone, all our, all living entities, we are trying to become predominator instead of being predominated.

Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures

Lecture on SB 1.1.2 -- London, August 16, 1971:

Illusioned. What is that illusion?

yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke

sva-dhīḥ kalatrādiṣu bhauma ijya-dhīḥ

yat-tīrtha-buddhiḥ salile na karhicij

janeṣv abhijñeṣu sa eva go-kharaḥ

(SB 10.84.13)

This is illusion. Go-kharaḥ. Go-kharaḥ means animals: cows and asses. What is the fault of the animals? The animals, they cannot take nice instruction. They do not know that the soul is, they are spirit soul. They are not this body. They do not know. So this is called illusion.

Lecture on SB 1.1.3 -- London, August 19, 1971:

So Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement means that we have to change the account, not for sense gratification. Because real proprietor is Kṛṣṇa. When I think I am proprietor, I am enjoyer, that is illusion. That is illusion. Janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). So in the cintāmaṇi-dhāma, (Bs. 5.29) Kṛṣṇa's abode, everything is there, but the account is different. That is spiritual world.

Lecture on SB 1.2.10 -- Delhi, November 16, 1973:

Karmī is also wanting, and jñānī is also wanting, and yogi is also wanting. Karmī wants the comfortable position of life. That is also want. And jñānī, he is also wanting mokṣa, to merge into the existence. Because after becoming big, big man within this material, when he is frustrated, he wants to become God. That is another illusion. And how you can become God, sir? But the jñānīs they want, merge into the existence.

Lecture on SB 1.3.17 -- Los Angeles, September 22, 1972:

Our material bondage is due to an illusion. What is that illusion? That "I am this body." Dehātma-buddhi. "I am this body, and anything which is required for this body or which I possess for the comfort of this body, that is mine." Both of them are illusion, because I am not this body; I am soul, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. But the illusion is everyone is thinking, "I am this body." "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am white," "I am black," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am śūdra," "I am this," "I am that." So this is illusion.

Lecture on SB 1.5.9-11 -- New Vrindaban, June 6, 1969:

Economic development. What is this nonsense? You are losing yourself. You do not know what life you are going to get next life. You don't care for this. "Never mind whatever life I get. This life I have got. Let me work hard and accumulate money." And where the money will be? "Oh, in the bank. My sons and my daughters will enjoy." This is conception. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). Bodily, all bodily conception. Ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam (SB 5.5.8). This is illusion. This is illusion. Simply working like ass without knowing what is the end of life, what is the destination of life—all asses, all these karmīs.

Lecture on SB 1.5.13 -- New Vrindaban, June 13, 1969:

What is the bhakti, Kṛṣṇa consciousness? That one has to purify the senses. Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). Now I am claiming that "This hand is my hand. This is mine. This is my. This is I. This is my. This is..." This is the disease. Ahaṁ mameti janasya moho 'yam (SB 5.5.8). What is illusion? Illu... This is illusion: "my and mine." Everyone. Everyone is claiming, "It is my body. It is my wife. It is my child. It is my country. It is my society, my this, my, my, my..." And "I." Unless "I," there is no "my."

Lecture on SB 1.5.13 -- New Vrindaban, June 13, 1969:

Because I am part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, then what is my duty? To serve Kṛṣṇa. There is no other duty. Any other duty I manufacture, that is illusion. That is māyā, any duty I manufacture. So under illusion, I am manufacturing duties. This is called conditional life.

Lecture on SB 1.5.32 -- Vrndavana, August 13, 1974:

So in this way māyā is always entrapping him. We are always suffering three kinds of suffering—adhyātmika, adhibhautika, adhidaivika—and we think, "Now we are very happy. Now we have got this electric fan, or air-conditioned room. So Yamarāja will not be able to enter, and I am secure. I have got good bank balance and good wife, good children..." No, no, no. This is illusion. Na sādhu manye yata ātmano 'yam asann api kleśada āsa dehaḥ (SB 5.5.4). So long you will possess this material body, so you'll have to suffer.

Lecture on SB 1.7.6 -- Vrndavana, April 23, 1975:

So people are suffering in this way. Although they do not know, they are taking it as enjoying. That is illusion. Moha, that is called moha. So we are in the śoka, always in lamentation. But we are accepting this śoka position as enjoyable. Śoka-moha. And the result is that we are always fearful.

Lecture on SB 1.8.21 -- New York, April 13, 1973:

So if you associate with Kṛṣṇa, you enjoy your senses affluently. Just like the gopīs are dancing with Kṛṣṇa. So there is no scarcity of sense gratification also. But that is not this sense gra..., gross sense gratification. That is spiritual sense. That is spiritual sense. Ānanda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya (Bs. 5.32). We chant every day. That sense, you get, sense gratification is ānanda-cinmaya, cinmaya, in the spiritual world. Not this third-class ānanda with these bodily senses. This is not ānanda. This is an illusion. This is illusion. We are thinking that "I'm enjoying," but that is not ānanda. This ānanda is not fact, because we cannot enjoy this material sense pleasure for long. Everyone has got experience. It is finished. It is finished. But spiritual enjoyment does not finish. It increases. That is the difference.

Lecture on SB 1.8.26 -- Mayapura, October 6, 1974:

Everyone is thinking that "I have got something." I have seen long, long ago, maybe fifty years ago in Howrah station. I was going somewhere. So one man, his luggage was the half-burned some fuel wood and some rejected things. He was carrying as luggage half-burned fuel wood. He thought that "This is my possession. I have saved this." So he was taking to his home. That means everyone, even though it is very insignificant, still, everyone thinks that "I have got something." This is the material disease. So this is the illusion.

Lecture on SB 1.8.26 -- Mayapura, October 6, 1974:

Just these sparrows—they are trying to make some nest on this chandelier to enjoy sex and lay eggs. Therefore they require some place. The basic principle is sex. First of all sex life, then other necessities. First of all, seeing, man and woman. Then, when they unite, puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etaṁ tayor mitho hṛdaya-granthim āhuḥ (SB 5.5.8). When they unite and they get children, then the hard knot of heart—"She, my wife. She's (He's) my husband. We cannot separated..." Hard knot. Hṛdaya-granthi. Already there is attraction. Now this attraction becomes more and more tight, after unity. Then we require a place to live together, "Home, sweet home." Yes, very sweet. The whole day and night, work. And this is moha. He is working hard day and night. There is not a single moment leisure, and still, he's: "Sweet home." This is illusion.

Lecture on SB 1.8.26 -- Mayapura, October 6, 1974:

Therefore for spiritual advancement, if one is interested, they should not be too much attached to material things if you want to advance in spiritual life. Janmaiśvarya... Because this will be entanglement. The more and more we shall think, "This is mine. This is mine." Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). This is illusion. Nothing belongs to him, but by illusion, he will think, "This is mine. This is mine." Just like we have got this nice, grand building in this district. If we think, "This is my building" or "My building," then there will be mishap.

Lecture on SB 1.8.27 -- Los Angeles, April 19, 1973:

Dependent, we can understand, if Kṛṣṇa does not supply us food, we starve. That's a fact. We cannot produce anything. Eko yo bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. So Kṛṣṇa is maintaining, and we are being maintained. Therefore Kṛṣṇa shall be the predominator, and we shall be predominated. That is our natural constitutional position. Therefore if we want to become predominator falsely in this material world, that is illusion, That we must give up. That we must give up. We shall always try to become predominated by Kṛṣṇa.

Lecture on SB 1.8.41 -- Los Angeles, May 3, 1973:

So atha viśveśa viśvātman viśva-mūrte sva-keṣu me. Sva-ka. Sva-ka means kinsmen, own. We are thinking, "This is my own, this is my own." Ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam (SB 5.5.8). This is moha, illusion.

Lecture on SB 1.8.41 -- Mayapura, October 21, 1974:

So the whole process is how to get out of the affection of this family, community, nationalism. This is the process. This is illusion. But at the present moment, this illusion is being increased. They criticize the..., that "What is this nonsense? So many people, they have been entrapped by this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, and they are nothing, they are doing nothing for the society, nothing for the nation, nothing for the family. So they are useless parasite." They are thinking like that.

Lecture on SB 1.8.47 -- Mayapura, October 27, 1974:

Actually, the perfection of life is no more affection for anything material: brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54). That is the beginning, when we have lost complete affection for... We are not cruel; that is not another... But we know, we should know, that this is not required. This is simply moha. This is simply moha. This is illusion. It has no meaning. It is simply entanglement. That one must know. That is called vairāgya.

Lecture on SB 1.15.37 -- Los Angeles, December 15, 1973:

Sukham ātyantikaṁ yat tad atīndriyaṁ grāhyam: (BG 6.21) "What is real happiness, that is to be understood beyond sense gratification." Not sense gratification. Therefore you will find nobody is happy, even he has got facility for sense gratification. Ask anybody, "If you are satisfied fully?" No, that is not possible. Because that is not happiness. That is illusion. That is illusion. We are accepting false thing as happiness. That is not happiness.

Lecture on SB 1.15.40 -- Los Angeles, December 18, 1973:

Because as I have already explained, that because we are too much absorbed in the conception of ahaṅkāra, "I am this body, and anything in relationship with this body that is mine," this is illusion, moha. This is called moha, illusion. Janasya moho 'yam. Moha means illusion. This is illusion.

Lecture on SB 1.15.45 -- Los Angeles, December 23, 1973:

You are not controller of nature. You are under the control of nature. That we forget. This is our illusion. We are under the control of material nature fully, cent percent, and still, we are declaring independence.

Lecture on SB 1.16.8 -- Los Angeles, January 5, 1974:

We don't prohibit sex, but illicit sex is most sinful. Most sinful. Unfortunately, they are so rascals, one sex to another, another sex to another, another sex... That is māyā's illusion, influence.

Lecture on SB 1.16.19 -- Los Angeles, July 9, 1974:

"It appears that you are within very sorry." Ālakṣaye bhavatīm antar-ādhim. "Some distress within yourself." Dūre bandhuṁ śocasi. Because in this material world we are always distressed. It is not that we are happy. That is an illusion. That is not fact. We are always distressed.

Lecture on SB 1.16.22 -- Hawaii, January 18, 1974:

Just like the so-called rascal scientists, they'll never accept that within this body there is the soul because they're always thinking there is no such thing as soul. Only the material, that's all. This is illusion. They cannot explain how this body is moving, why the dead body does not move, what is the difference, what is the thing that is missing. These rascals will not understand.

Lecture on SB 1.16.22 -- Hawaii, January 18, 1974:

Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā. "Now I am on the saved..." Brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati (BG 18.54), that when one is in full knowledge that "I have nothing to do with this material world, that everything made by the material nature, that is illusion, I have nothing to do with anything of them, I am spirit, ahaṁ brahmāsmi. I am spirit soul. Now I have my business with the spiritual world," that is liberation. That is liberation.

Lecture on SB 1.16.24 -- Hawaii, January 20, 1974:

You are spirit soul, I am spirit soul, every one of us, but we have no death. That is another illusion. Tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati (BG 2.13). This so-called death, it is not death. Dhīra, one who knows, one who is sober, he knows that "This man or this boy or this father is dying... He's not dying. Dehāntara-prāptiḥ: he is just changing another body. He's changing an..." So actually we have no death. The change of body.

Lecture on SB 1.16.24 -- Hawaii, January 20, 1974:

So we are accepting this change of body as death. That is another illusion. Dhīras tatra na muhyati. One who is sober, he is not bewildered. He knows that... Suppose we are sitting here. We are sitting here, and after a few minutes we shall go away. That does not mean we are dead. We are in this apartment; we go to another apartment. Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ (BG 2.13). Similarly, nobody dies. It is change of body, from this body to another body. So we have no death. This is illusion.

Lecture on SB 2.1.4 -- Delhi, November 7, 1973:

Ato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam (SB 5.5.8). Moha means illusion. What is that illusion? "I am this body, and I belong to this material world. This is my society. This is my country. This is my wife. This my children." This is illusion. Why illusion? Because these are false things. Nobody is your wife, nobody is your children. They have simply assembled together by the waves of time. Just like we have seen in the waves of the river, so many straws assembled together. And again, on the waves, they are separated. One straw goes this way, another straw goes... Finished. You see? So this is position.

Lecture on SB 2.1.7 -- Paris, June 15, 1974:

What he's thinking, independence, that is illusion. Where is, where is your independence? Illusion. Māyā. When you are under the strict rules and regulations of the material nature, how you are independent? Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). They think that to surrender to Kṛṣṇa, this is slave mentality. "I shall remain free." But where is your freedom, sir? That is illusion.

Lecture on SB 2.1.7 -- Paris, June 15, 1974:

Anante, eternal enjoyment. Ramante yogino 'nante. And that is satyānande, that is real ānanda. That is real bliss. When your ānanda does not stop, it continues, that is real ānanda. And the ānanda, or the pleasure, which is for few seconds or few minutes, that is not ānanda. That is illusion. Real ānanda is it will continue.

Lecture on SB 2.3.20 -- Los Angeles, June 16, 1972:

I am worshiping the land, nationalism. What is this land? Does it belong to you? No. Because I have got this designation, title, "I am American, I am Indian," therefore I am fond of land. Just see how much illusory things are going on. I have got a false designation. On account of this designation, I am thinking, "This is mine." This is illusion. Actually, it is God's.

Lecture on SB 2.3.20-21 -- Los Angeles, June 17, 1972:

Actually, when you take your birth, you do not bring anything with you. And when you go away, you do not take away anything. The things were there, and things will be there. You come and go. But then where is the question of sacrifice? Where is the question of renouncement? This is illusion. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). Everything belongs to God; nothing belongs to you.

Lecture on SB 2.3.24 -- Los Angeles, June 22, 1972:

We live under the protection of the Supreme Lord; otherwise that is not a living condition. Just imagine within the womb. So this we forget, and being taken care of, affectionate father and mother, on the lap, we think life is very nice, this life. But this is māyā, this is illusion. Actually, this bhava, to take birth, is very, very unpleasant task. It is blazing fire, bhava-mahā-dāvāgni.

Lecture on SB 2.4.2 -- Los Angeles, June 26, 1972:

As soon as we are united, male and female, then these things are required: nice home or apartment, some field for producing food, then some friends, suta, then children. Children, friends... Then money also. Without money... because without money, everything will be zero. In this way, just like a tree gradually expands his root, so our attraction, that male-female attraction, becomes deeply rooted by these things. Gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair janasya moho 'yam. This is illusion. This is illusion. Janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). This mamatā. "This is 'I,' this is mine."

Lecture on SB 2.9.1 -- Tokyo, April 20, 1972:

So Kṛṣṇa gives them opportunity, some yogic success. Just like in India there is a rascal. He makes like that, and there is immediately some gold. And people become after him: "Oh, he is God. He is God." By producing a little gold, he becomes God. Another yogi, he gives immediately two rasagullā. So by producing two rasagullā, four annas' worth, he becomes God. You see? This is illusion.

Lecture on SB 2.9.1 -- Tokyo, April 20, 1972:

Trivikrama: Śrīla Prabhupāda? You were just saying that we are not fallen. Actually this is an illusion thinking that we are fallen. Yet I read...

Prabhupāda: The same example. In dream I am not attacked by the tiger, but I am thinking, "Oh, tiger is there." It is simply dreaming condition.

Trivikrama: But so many Vaiṣṇavas are praying...

Prabhupāda: So as soon as you understand that "This is not... I am not in contact with tiger. It is all a dream," then you are delivered. Similarly, as soon as you understand, "All this material condition of life we are simply dreaming; I am actually servant of Kṛṣṇa," then you are liberated. That is Kṛṣṇa conscious.

Lecture on SB 2.9.1 -- Tokyo, April 20, 1972:

Trivikrama: This feeling that we have, that we are fallen, that we are very fallen...

Prabhupāda: That is also illusion. That is also illusion. You are fallen means you have got some certain desires except service of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore the conclusion is that if you keep yourself tightly in Kṛṣṇa's service, there is no question of falling down or there is no question of māyā. You see?

Lecture on SB 2.9.1 -- Tokyo, April 20, 1972:

Prabhupāda: You are not experiencing. Your body is experiencing. You are feeling cold due to this body. You are not feeling cold. You are not feeling cold.

Devotee: But I think I am feeling cold.

Prabhupāda: You are thinking. That is illusion. That is illusion.

Devotee: So rise above that.

Prabhupāda: Yes. But not artificially, but this is the fact. You have to gradually rise to that platform.

Lecture on SB 3.25.10 -- Bombay, November 10, 1974:

So atha deva sammoham apākraṣṭum: "I am attached to this material world. That is illusion." Sammoham apākraṣṭum: "Now You dissipate this sammoham." So guru means repeatedly his business is to enlighten the disciple how to become detached to this material world.

Lecture on SB 3.25.10 -- Bombay, November 10, 1974:

After all, our senses are employed for satisfaction of somebody, myself or somebody else. Actually, somebody else. That is kāma, krodha, lobha, moha, mātsarya. That is illusion. We are not serving ourself; we are serving our lusty desires, kāma, krodha. I am angry; therefore I am killing somebody. So that is not mine. But I am servant of the anger. I am servant; I am not master.

Lecture on SB 3.25.11 -- Bombay, November 11, 1974:

Ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). We have discussed this verse. This is illusion. Nothing belongs to us, but unnecessarily we are claiming, "This is my land," "This is my country," "This is my home," "This is my family," "This is my, my, my..." Mama. This is illusion.

Lecture on SB 3.25.41 -- Bombay, December 9, 1974:

By foolishness, being spelled by māyā, he's think that "I have got my home, very nice home, gṛha. I have got my property," gṛha-kṣetra, ato gṛha-kṣetra-suta, "I have got very nice children, sons and daughters," ato gṛha-kṣetra-suta-āpta, "I have got my relatives, my friends, so nice, and vitta, so much bank balance, so much money. Then I am the most happy man." But this is moha. Janasya moho 'yam. This is illusion.

Lecture on SB 3.25.41 -- Bombay, December 9, 1974:

As it is said by Kapiladeva, visṛjya sarvān anyāṁś ca mām evaṁ viśvato-mukham, bhajanty ananyayā. We have to forget all these so-called sources of happiness. This is misleading. Māyā. So who can, I mean to say, understand that this is illusion, māyā? Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te (BG 7.14). When one becomes a devotee, then he can understand that "The position which I am now taking for granted, that 'It is very happy,' that is mistake. That is māyā."

Lecture on SB 3.26.3 -- Bombay, December 15, 1974:

This body is just like dress. Just like your coat has got hand, your pant has got leg, but either the pant or coat has no leg, no hand. Because you have got leg and hand, therefore the coat has got leg and hand. You can... Everyone can understand. It is very easy. So the original, the spirit soul, has got form. Therefore the cloth has been cut into form. It is very easy to understand. Otherwise how you get the form? And in this form the spirit soul is trying to enjoy this material world. But it is not puruṣa. It cannot enjoy. That is false. That is illusion.

Lecture on SB 3.26.7 -- Bombay, December 19, 1974:

Ramante yoginaḥ anante satyānande. That is real happiness which increases. Which decreases, that is not real happiness. That is illusion.

Lecture on SB 3.26.30 -- Bombay, January 7, 1975:

The Māyāvādī philosopher says that "We are accepting snake..., er, rope as a snake. But there is no snake." But we, Vaiṣṇava philosopher, we say, "No, there is snake, and there is rope. But when we accept the rope as snake, that is māyā." Similarly, there is spiritual world and there is material world. But when we accept the material world as everything, that is māyā. That is illusion.

Lecture on SB 3.26.30 -- Bombay, January 7, 1975:

Kṛṣṇa is not so cheap thing that one can become Kṛṣṇa. One can become Kṛṣṇa's most confidential servant—that is possible. But one cannot become Kṛṣṇa. That is another illusion, māyā.

Lecture on SB 5.5.8 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1976:

Śāstra says, Veda says, īśāvāsyam idam sarvam: (ISO 1) it is God's property, everything. We are claiming, our country, "This is my country," but as soon as you go on the beach of the sea, your country finishes, the land. Then whose, the water, whose water that is? But the foolish person: "No, it is in my throne(?), it is mine." So this is moha, illusion. We have heard so many times about illusion, this is illusion. Ahaṁ mameti: (SB 5.5.8) "I am this body and everything in my bodily relationship, that is mine."

Lecture on SB 5.5.8 -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1976:

Puṁsaḥ means the bhokta, the enjoyer. Here the male and female, both of them are puṁsaḥ, puruṣaḥ, because everyone has got that feeling that "I shall enjoy." Nobody is feeling that "I shall be enjoyed." Everyone is thinking, "I shall enjoy." Nobody wants to be predominated; everyone wants to be predominator. This is the illusion.

Lecture on SB 5.6.5 -- Vrndavana, November 27, 1976:

Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu teaching, yugāyitaṁ nimeṣeṇa cakṣuṣā prāvṛsāyitaṁ śūnyāyitaṁ jagat-sarvam. This is illusion. Śūnyāyitam. Jagat is not śūnyaṁ. Just like we have got practical experience. If somebody's beloved has died, he sees everything zero. Nothing is appealing to him. Similarly, if we have developed our love for Kṛṣṇa and if we do not see Kṛṣṇa, that is śūnyāyitaṁ jagat-sarvaṁ govinda-viraheṇa me.

Lecture on SB 6.1.12 -- Los Angeles, June 25, 1975:

So Ṛṣabhadeva says, na sādhu manye: "This is not good." "Why it is not good? I am enjoying life." No, you are not enjoying. Because you have got this material body, there is no question of enjoyment. It is simply suffering. And you are thinking it is enjoyment. That is illusion. That is māyā. You are accepting something which is not.

Lecture on SB 6.1.25 -- Chicago, July 9, 1975:

So when we are attached to the shadow, that is called ignorance, illusion. This is illusion. So here in the material world we are all engaged in shadow attachment. Therefore it is called illusion.

Lecture on SB 6.1.34-39 -- Surat, December 19, 1970:

Only master is Kṛṣṇa, and everyone is servant. Who can challenge this statement? Is there anyone within this hall, that "I don't serve anyone"? Is there anyone? And somebody is claiming that "I am God." Just see. This is called illusion, māyā. This claim is made by the illusioned living entity. Here, this material world means everyone is trying to become the master. And there is competition between one master to another. Because nobody is master, that competition, that "I shall become master," that is illusion.

Lecture on SB 6.1.34-39 -- Surat, December 19, 1970:

You are trying to serve the daridra-nārāyaṇa, but actually the number of daridra-nārāyaṇas are increasing daily. So that is the position. Here, practically, Nārāyaṇa cannot be daridra. That is another illusion. Nārāyaṇa is the husband of the goddess of fortune, Lakṣmī. How He can be daridra? It is also manufactured word.

Lecture on SB 6.2.1-5 -- Calcutta, January 6, 1971:

There are two kinds of servants: the māyā's servant and Kṛṣṇa's servant. Nobody is master. That is illusion. Everyone is servant. Every living entity is a servant. As enunciated by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa: (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109) "The real constitutional position of the living entity is eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa." When he does not render service to Kṛṣṇa, under false prestige... Just like somebody says, "The Vaiṣṇava religion is slave mentality." "Vaiṣṇava religion is slave mentality. They want to be servant." But the rascals do not that (think) "What you have gained by master mentality?" You are simply servant of your senses. But they criticize that Vaiṣṇava is a slave men. Everyone is slave. Somebody is slave of the senses, and somebody is slave of Kṛṣṇa. Nobody is master. That is illusion.

Lecture on SB 7.6.1 -- Montreal, June 10, 1968:

So this is illusion that I think that I am maintaining this body. You are not maintaining this body. The nature's law, nature's supply, nature's arrangement, that is Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ (BG 3.27). The nature is acting according to the different qualities. And ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā, being puffed up, one thinks that "I am doing this." Nonsense, you cannot do it anything. You are being forced to do by the laws of nature.

Lecture on SB 7.6.3 -- Montreal, June 16, 1968:

This should be the, I mean to say, objective of human life: how to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness and how to get away from this uncongenial atmosphere of material existence. Unless we understand that... But people, they think that they are very happy. This is illusion. This is māyā.

Lecture on SB 7.6.3-4 -- San Francisco, March 8, 1967:

Now, suppose I am not this body. Then does it mean that the spirit has no activity? So this is now wrong theory. Spirit has various activities, but you do not know. That is illusion.

Lecture on SB 7.7.40-44 -- San Francisco, March 20, 1967:

Paraṁ satyaṁ dhīmahi: "I offer my obeisances to the Absolute Truth, paraṁ satyam." And what is that paraṁ satyam? Nirasta-kuhakam. Nirasta-kuhakam means "which is devoid of all illusion." Here everything is full of illusion. I am thinking, planning something, and at any moment, oh, it is all vanished, all finished. So we do not understand that this is illusion, and there is a permanent life.

Lecture on SB 7.9.8 -- Montreal, July 1, 1968:

Knowledge does not mean that how you can manufacture nuclear weapon. That is not knowledge. That is illusion. Real knowledge is to know the simple fact that "I am not this body." That's all.

Lecture on SB 7.9.41 -- Mayapura, March 19, 1976:

Therefore Prahlāda Mahārāja said, paśyañ janaṁ sva-para-vigraha-vaira-maitram. And in each and every life there will be this distinction, "This is mine, and this is your," "You are my friend" or "You are my enemy" and "I am your friend. I am..." This contradiction will go on. You cannot... Therefore you see the whole world, they are sometimes fighting as enemies, and sometimes they are trying to make the United Nation. You see practically. Sometimes vaira, enemies, and sometimes maitram, friend. But this is all illusion.

Lecture on SB 11.3.21 -- New York, April 13, 1969:

At the present moment I am identifying with this body, with this dress. (child disturbing) That is illusion. Yasyātma-buddhiḥ kuṇape tri-dhātuke (SB 10.84.13). Bhāgavata says anyone who is identifying himself with this body, he's an ass. He's not even a human being. Actually it is so, because I am not this body.

Nectar of Devotion Lectures

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 26, 1972:

You cannot see Kṛṣṇa, but by being satisfied with your service, Kṛṣṇa sees you. Just like you cannot see sun at night. But when the sun sees you, you can see the sun and yourself, both. Similarly, when Kṛṣṇa sees you, being satisfied with your service, then you can see Kṛṣṇa, you can see yourself and you can see the whole world. Now, whatever you are seeing, this is all illusion. You are not seeing, or we are not seeing. Because our senses are blunt to see things as they are.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Bombay, January 11, 1973:

So we are in this condition now, in māyā. We can practically experience. I have several times explained. Just like while we are asleep we forget everything of our day's life, and during daytime, we forget everything, what we saw in dream. So these two stages... So this is also dream, this is also dream, and I am observer of the dream. Therefore I am the fact, and this is illusion. Both the conditions.

The Nectar of Devotion -- Vrndavana, October 30, 1972:

We are meant for being enjoyed, not to take the post of enjoyer. Here, in this material world, everyone is artificially trying to become enjoyer, both men and women. But that is illusion. Nobody's enjoyer.

Sri Caitanya-caritamrta Lectures

Lecture on CC Adi-lila 7.8 -- Vrndavana, March 15, 1974:

Sometimes the rascals imitate rāsa dance. "Kṛṣṇa had rāsa dance; then we can have also rāsa..." But they do not understand that Kṛṣṇa's rāsa dance is not ordinary ball dance like that. No. It is an imitation, perverted imitation. Because the tendency's there in Kṛṣṇa, therefore we have also got the tendency. But we do not know how to enjoy that dancing spirit. That is our illusion. We think this ordinary dance and Kṛṣṇa's dance is the same thing.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 20.358-359 -- New York, December 29, 1966:

You find, you sometimes find in store, storefront of big mercantile firm, there is nice girl standing with dress. So that is kuhakam, illusion. That is illusion. Those who know, "Oh, it is a doll." Similarly, that is the difference between a man in knowledge and man in ignorance. They are accepting this material doll as reality. That is materialism. And those who are in knowledge, they know, "No, it is doll." The reality is different. So sadā nirasta, there is no, kuhakam... That doll illusion is not there. Sadā nirasta-kuhakam. There, satyaṁ param, and there exists the Supreme Truth.

Lecture on CC Madhya-lila 21.1-10 -- New York, January 3, 1967:

In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, brahma-bhūtaḥ. Brahma-bhūtaḥ means he's already Brahman, but he forgot himself. He thought himself that "I am matter." That is illusion. So every living entity, by constitutional position he is Brahman, but his forgetfulness—he thinks that "I am something of this matter." So brahma-bhūtaḥ, when one becomes spiritually realized that he is not anything of this material world, he is spirit soul, brahma-bhūtaḥ, this is called brahma-bhūtaḥ. So long he does not understand that he is spiritual entity, he is jīva-bhūtaḥ.

Sri Brahma-samhita Lectures

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Verse 35 -- New York, July 31, 1971:

Vairāgya-vidyā means how to become unattached with this material world. That is called vairāgya-vidyā. Because our, we are accepting different types of body on account of our attachment. Because we are attached to this material world... We want to enjoy. That is illusion. We cannot enjoy, we are simply suffering, but we are accepting it as enjoyment.

Lecture on Brahma-samhita, Verse 35 -- New York, July 31, 1971:

Prahlāda Mahārāja said māyā-sukhāya bharam udvahato vimūḍhān (SB 7.9.43), actually they are taking so much trouble for loading these big, big cases, but because they're getting, say $40.00 a day, they say, think, "I am enjoying. I am enjoying." Actually he's working so hard, just like ass or hogs, day and night, but because getting some money and with that money because he is gratifying his senses, he thinks "I am happy." This is illusion. Illusion. He does not know what is real happiness for a second. The illusory material world happiness means sex life, that's all. How long does it stay? Say for minutes. But they're working so hard. This is called illusion. Actually he is being killed, but he thinks that "I am enjoying." This is illusion. Opposite.

Festival Lectures

Sri Vyasa-puja -- New Vrindaban, September 2, 1972:

On this bodily concept of life the whole trouble is there in the whole trouble is there in the world. I am thinking "Indian"; you are thinking "American"; he is thinking "dog"; he is thinking "cat"; because on this bodily concept of life. So this is illusion because I am not this body, you are not this body.

Initiation Lectures

Initiation of Satyabhama Dasi and Gayatri Initiation of Devotees Going to London -- Montreal, July 26, 1968:

It is not possible to enjoy this material world nicely. This is called illusion. Everyone is trying to enjoy this material world very nicely. That is illusion. There is no nice enjoyment. You can rise up to a very nice post, just like the President Kennedy. Oh, with great endeavor he rose up to that post, and all of a sudden he was shot down. So this material world is like that. You cannot have, I mean to say, undeterred, without any impediment, pleasure.

General Lectures

Lecture -- Montreal, June 26, 1968:

You have come here and have divided Kṛṣṇa's property and you have named "This is Canada, this is North America, this is South America," and you are claiming proprietorship. But if you are asked, "Are you really proprietor?" No. You have come here, encroached upon others' property. So originally, you are thief. Actually this is the position, that anyone who is unlawfully claiming something, "It is mine," that is illusion.

Lecture -- Montreal, June 26, 1968:

Ato gṛha-kṣetra-suta āpta. Āpta means relatives. Gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittair (SB 5.5.8). Vittair means wealth, some bank balance. In this way go on increasing. Janasya moho 'yam. This is the moha, this is illusion. So this illusion is so strong that we are going on increasing, increasing, increasing, increasing. Nobody is thinking that "I am increasing the requisites of the body, but I am not this body; I am soul. What is the requisition of the soul?"

Conway Hall Lecture -- London, September 15, 1969:

Prabhupāda: Illusion in this way, that when you take it as a fact, but it is something else. It is not a fact. Māyā. Myā means mā-yā: "It is not this." Just like you are thinking that you'll be happy in this material world by adjustment, but you'll never be happy. That is called māyā. So whatever you are struggling for, that is illusion.

Guest (4): If this is an illusion, then why is it here? What's it doing here?

Prabhupāda: Illusion is temporary existence. This is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). It comes into existence, just like cloud. Of course, we Vaiṣṇava philosopher, we do not say actually illusion. We say temporary.

Lecture 'Nobody Wants to Die' -- Boston, May 7, 1968:

Just like in Bible it is said, "God said, 'Let there be creation,'—immediately there was creation." So His energy is so perfect that He wanted to see this material cosmic manifestation—immediately there was. But because we haven't got such energy we think this is all illusion or fictitious or something like that.

Lecture (Day after Lord Rama's Appearance Day) -- Los Angeles, April 16, 1970:

This body is not eternal, neither it is blissful, neither it is full of knowledge. It is full of ignorance, it is temporary, and always miserable. And if you say, "Now we are very happily living," that is māyā, that is illusion.

Speech to Maharaja and Maharani and Conversations Before and After -- Indore, December 11, 1970:

Abodha means no knowledge, and jāta means born. By birth he is fool, and he is claiming, "I am God." By birth he's a fool, and he's claiming, "I am God." Just see. This is illusion. This is the māyā. He cannot... He does not know how the hairs are growing, and he is God. Just see. "I am God." This has become a fashion, dangerous fashion.

Lecture -- Gorakhpur, February 18, 1971:

Not only he has given us Vedas and Purāṇas to remind us that "Your position is different than you are thinking. You are thinking that you are a material product. That is illusion. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. You are brahma-vastu. You are part and parcel of Brahman..." Therefore there are so many literatures-vedaiś ca sarvair aham eva vedyaḥ (BG 15.15)—just to draw your attention to come to Kṛṣṇa. Just to draw your attention, that "You are My part and parcel. You are My eternal son. Why you are rotting in this miserable condition of life, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi (BG 13.9)?"

Lecture -- Tokyo, May 1, 1972:

We are trying to conquer over the stringent laws of material nature, and that labor, that useless spoiling our life, we are thinking that we are..., this is happiness. This is called māyā. We are actually giving service to the māyā instead of giving service to Kṛṣṇa. This is illusion.

Hare Krishna Festival Address -- San Diego, July 1, 1972, At Balboa Park Bowl:

Because here in the material world, everyone is a criminal. Just like in the prison house, when a criminal is there, in every state there is law. He cannot violate the laws of the prison house. Similarly, here also, in this material world, who have come here to enjoy... There is no enjoyment. There is simply suffering. But we take sufferings as enjoyment. That is called illusion. Anyway, the Vedic principle has allowed everything. Because here we have come to enjoy so-called sense gratification. That is illusion.

Rotary Club Lecture -- Hyderabad, November 29, 1972:

Because every one of us, in this material condition, we are trying to become master, ultimately to become God. That is māyā. That is illusion. We cannot become master. We are servant by constitution. Every one of us sitting here is a servant to somebody. Nobody can deny it. Either he may be servant of his family or his community or his country or... So many things... If one has no master, then he keeps a dog to become his servant. That is the nature.

Rotary Club Lecture -- Ahmedabad, December 8, 1972 'The Present Need of Human Society':

Illusioned means accepting something for something else. Just like we accept this body, material body, as self. That is the conception of the general people at the present moment, especially. "I am this body." "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am śūdra." Like that. Bodily conception of life. This is illusion. Actually, I am not this body. But because we are lacking knowledge, imperfect, insufficient knowledge, therefore we are accepting this body as self. This is called illusion.

Lecture -- Jakarta, February 26, 1973:

Just like the example is sometimes given to mistake a rope as snake. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they give. They say it is māyā. But it is not māyā. When you mistake a snake as..., mistake a rope as a snake, that is not māyā. That is illusion. You can call it māyā. But the snake is there. You cannot say, because it is rope, therefore there is no snake. No. Snake is there. Otherwise, how it comes to the idea of snake? The snake is a fact, but you are mistaking the rope as snake. That is your mistake. But snake is not illusion; snake is a fact.

Lecture at Upsala University Faculty -- Stockholm, September 7, 1973:

And the..., anyone who possessing this material body, he must be illusioned. Illusioned means that accepting something for something. Just like we are accepting this body as self. But this is illusion. I'm not this body. I am spiritual spark, part and parcel of God. That is my position. But anyone identifying himself, he thinks that he's this body...

General Lecture -- (location & date unknown):

We are eulogizing nationality so much, but actually, if you study these principles of nationality, it is most ignoble. Why? Because Īśopaniṣad says, Veda, that īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam: (ISO 1) "Everything belongs to God." How you are claiming that "It is our" or "It is mine"? Janasya moho 'yam ahaṁ mameti (SB 5.5.8). This is illusion. What is not yours, you are claiming, "It is mine."

Philosophy Discussions

Philosophy Discussion on Hegel:

Prabhupāda: So our philosophy is that everything is manifestation of Kṛṣṇa's energy. The energy and the energetic, they're one. So Nārada explains idaṁ hi viśvaṁ bhagavān ivetaro. The whole universe is bhagavān, Kṛṣṇa, but ivetaraḥ, it appears like separate. So how it is not separate, that can be understood through this Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Otherwise, ordinary man, they think Kṛṣṇa and non-Kṛṣṇa. Actually there is no non-Kṛṣṇa, that is illusion, everything is Kṛṣṇa.

Philosophy Discussion on John Stuart Mill:

Prabhupāda: If your knowledge is limited, then you cannot generalize. Therefore our conclusion is that we don't take knowledge from anyone whose power is limited. There are four defects of the ordinary man—he may be John Stuart Mill or something—because he's to commit mistakes, he's illusioned. Just like he's talking of that induction, studying all men. This is an illusion. He cannot study. Suppose you have hundreds and thousands of men you have studied. That does not mean the whole set of human being is finished. That is, therefore, this theory is illusion. And because he's an ordinary man, he's illusioned that it is possible.

Philosophy Discussion on Arthur Schopenhauer:

Śyāmasundara: He says that real love means sympathy, not sex life.

Prabhupāda: No, sex life is animal. That is not love; that is lust. We always repeatedly say, sex life is lust. That is not love. Here is real love, that "They are suffering for want of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Let us do something so that they may understand the values of life." Here is love. Sex, simply means you satisfy your senses and the other party satisfies her senses. That is sex. That is lust. You are lusty, she is lusty, that is all. There is no love. That is going on in the name of love. Rascaldom. That is not love. It is lust; they do not know it. Lusty thing has been accepted as love. Mistake. Bhrama, pramāda. Bhrama, mistake. Illusion. Illusion is accepted as something else. Lust is accepted as love. This is illusion.

Philosophy Discussion on Johann Gottlieb Fichte:

Śyāmasundara: It is that the supreme principle of world order is freedom.

Prabhupāda: Yes, freedom. Our present condition is not freedom. We are completely under the laws, te 'pi svatantra rudhāṇī vardhya (?). They are tied up by the ropes of material nature, hands and legs, and still they are thinking, "I am free." That is illusion. Nobody is free. Daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). We are seeking freedom but nobody is free. Nobody is free. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni (BG 3.27), they are pulled by the ear, "Do this." Prakṛteḥ. You have to do this.

Philosophy Discussion on Samuel Alexander:

Prabhupāda: Because there is nothing but God, so how he can be without God? Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma. Everything is God's expansion. How it can be sometimes in God and sometimes not in God? When he is not in God, that means he is māyā. Now māyā is also God, mama māyā. So how he can be without God? That is illusion. Just like these criminal. He thinks, "I can be independent of the government." No. That is not possible. Either he will remain in jail or outside the jail, you are under the government. But he thinks that "I am free." That is foolishness. He is not free at anytime.

Purports to Songs

Purport to Gaura Pahu -- Los Angeles, January 10, 1969:

Spiritual life means to develop real love. The... Everyone says love. There are so many signboards, so many papers, "love, love." But there is no love. This is illusion. It is all lust. Love for intoxication, love for sex, love for this... This is going on. So actual love means... Love, this word, can be applicable only with Kṛṣṇa, with God. Because we are created for that purpose. To love means to love Kṛṣṇa. So that is wanted. That is spiritual love.

Purport to Parama Koruna -- Atlanta, February 28, 1975:

So in the Kali-yuga there is scarcity of brāhmaṇa. Brāhmaṇa is vairāgya. A brāhmaṇa is not interested with pounds, shilling, pence, "Get money and enjoy." That is not brāhmaṇa's business. What us enjoyment? That is illusion. You cannot enjoy because you are conditioned by the stringent laws of nature, and where is enjoyment? There is no enjoyment. But they are thinking, "I am enjoying." This is called illusion, māyā. There cannot be any enjoyment. When you are not free, when you are conditioned under the stringent laws of... You do not like to die. You are forced to die. You must die. You cannot say, "No, I will not die." No, that is not possible. So where is your freedom? But we are declaring, "Now we are independent." This is all illusion.