Māyā is illusion. Just like cloud. Cloud is another production of the sun. By the heat of the sun, the sea water is evaporated and it is transformed into clouds. So cloud is nothing but a transformation of the energy of the sun. Similarly, māyā-śakti is also another energy of Kṛṣṇa. Daivī hy eṣā guṇamayī mama māyā duratyayā (BG 7.14). Mama māyā. Mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ sūyate sa-carācaram (BG 9.10).
So māyā is controlled by Kṛṣṇa; Kṛṣṇa is never controlled by māyā. Kṛṣṇa is never controlled by māyā. That is not very good theory. That is due to poor fund of knowledge. Kṛṣṇa cannot be covered. Just like Vyāsadeva, by his bhakti-yoga meditation he saw Kṛṣṇa and māyā. Māyā apāśrayam, just on the background. Background, just like you find the shadow of the man; not in the front. Similarly, māyā cannot cover Kṛṣṇa. That is wrong philosophy. Māyā can cover the individual soul.
Therefore because the individual soul is apt to fall down sometimes under the clutches of māyā, it is called taṭasthā-śakti. Taṭasthā-śakti. Just like in the seaside the shore, the beach, sometimes you see it is covered by water and sometimes it is land; similarly, when we are covered by māyā, that is our jīva-bhūta stage, and when there is no more covering, that is brahma-bhūta stage. When we are Kṛṣṇa conscious, then we are brahma-bhūta (SB 4.30.20), and when we are not Kṛṣṇa conscious, we are materially conscious, that is māyā.
Therefore as soon as we are freed from the clutches of māyā, brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā (BG 18.54), we become prasannātmā, very happy, joyful. Just like if a man is freed from the contamination of a certain type of disease, he feels happy: "Now I am feeling all right," similarly, these coverings of māyā of the jīvas, not of the Supreme Lord . . .
The Supreme Lord cannot be covered by māyā. That is wrong. The jīvas. That is called ya . . . apareyam itas tv anyāṁ prakṛtiṁ viddhi me parām, jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho (BG 7.5). Arjuna is addressed as mahā-bāhu, the great fighter. Great fighter can understand. Who is great fighter? Who is acting under Kṛṣṇa, he is great fighter. Just like Arjuna is fighting.
So when you take shelter of Kṛṣṇa and fight with these material opposing elements . . . these preachers, they are also mahā-bāho. They are fighting with persons who are not Kṛṣṇa conscious. They are pushing on Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement by fighting. But this fighting is in different way.
This was taught by Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Kṛṣṇa-varṇaṁ tviṣākṛṣṇaṁ sāṅgopāṅgāstra-pārṣadam (SB 11.5.32). Sa aṅga upāṅga astra. Astra means weapons. Just like these Pakistanis are fighting with machine gun, Caitanya Mahāprabhu fought with māyā not with machine gun but with His most confidential associates.
- śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu nityānanda
- śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda
His fighting weapons were Śrī Advaita Prabhu, Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda, and other many devotees. So Lord Caitanya's movement is also fighting, but it is a fight in a different way.
So the soldiers, Nityānanda Prabhu, soldier, was sent to deliver Jagāi-Mādhāi. This is also fighting. Therefore all the devotees, all the preachers of Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, they are mahā-bāho, strongly armed by the weapons of Kṛṣṇa. They cannot be defeated. They will push on the fight with māyā, this illusion. What is that illusion? The living entity under illusion is thinking that he will be happy by material comforts. That is not possible.