Everyone is under the control of māyā. Nobody is free. But there are two māyā, yoga-māyā and mahā-māyā. Mahā-māyā, this material world, and yoga-m āyā the spiritual world. If you agree to be under the yoga-māyā, then you are happy. Just like there are two kinds of laws: civil laws and criminal laws. You have to remain under one of these laws. But if you live under criminal law, then you go to the jail, and if you live under civil law, then you are free. But in either condition, you cannot say that "I am free of law." That is foolishness. That is foolishness. The atheist class of men, they say that "We do not believe in God." But that is craziness. You may believe God or may not believe, but you are under the stringent laws of God. That you cannot say, that "I am free." No. Janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9). You may be very big scientist, very big man, very big prime minister and whatever you may be. You are under the control of these criminal laws: janma, birth; mṛtyu, death; old age, and disease. Then how you are independent? Where is your independence? How we can say that "You are free. You don't require to obey the laws, or dharma"?
Dharma means the laws of God. This is the simple definition of dharma. Dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). So when we defy the religious principles... Religious principle means that dharma, not your created dharma. You cannot create law at home. It is given already. What is that? Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekam... (BG 18.66). This is dharma. All other dharmas, so-called dharmas, they are all cheating. Therefore Bhāgavata says, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavaḥ atra: "All cheating type of religious system is kicked out, rejected." Actually, it is not required. It is simply bogus. Real dharma is here, to abide by the laws of God. That is real dharma. Then if you have no conception of God, if you have no knowledge what is the laws of God, then you are adharmika, you are simply transgressing the laws of dharma. And to transgress the laws of dharma, you are sinful, you are punishable. And that is going on. Material life means that. Material life means defying the laws of God, denying the existence of God. And one wants to become himself God. These are the material activities. So we may do so, may defy, but the laws will act. Laws will act.
So the saguṇa Brahman means the living entities. Saguṇa Brahman does not mean the God, Kṛṣṇa, Bhagavān, because even if you become servant of God... Just like there are so many nice example, that if an ordinary man beats another man, slap, he immediately becomes criminal. Law is there, "You cannot do that." But the policeman gives you a slap—it is not criminal. If you kill somebody, then you become criminal. But when a soldier kills hundreds of men, he is not criminal. The process is the same, but because one is acting on behalf of the supreme lawgiver, he is immune. So that is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā,
- māṁ ca yo 'vyabhicāreṇa
- bhakti-yogena sevate
- sa guṇān samatītyaitān
- brahma-bhūyāya kalpate
- (BG 14.26)
"Anyone who is engaged in the service of the Lord, he becomes immediately nirguṇa." Sa guṇān samatītya etān, plural number, etān guṇān, the sattva-rajas-tamo-guṇa, samatītya. Samyak-rūpeṇa atītya.