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-māyā, 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. 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 if 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 law-giver, he is immune. So that is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā:
- māṁ ca 'vyabhicāreṇa
- bhakti-yogena yaḥ 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, atītya.
So if a devotee becomes nirguṇa immediately, as soon as he is engaged in devotional service of the Lord, how the Supreme Lord can become saguṇa? Just try to understand. Use your logic. If one becomes a devotee of the nirguṇa, he becomes nirguṇa. So why the nirguṇa God can be saguṇa? This Māyāvādī theory is not very logical, that when God comes He is saguṇa, He accepts this material body. No. That is not possible. Why He should accept material body? He is all-powerful. He can . . . He cannot be affected by the material laws. A man is suffering from some disease, infected. That does not mean when the physician comes to treat him he is also infected. He knows how to protect himself, disinfected.
So saguṇa, this word . . . the Māyāvādī theory is saguṇa worship and nirguṇa worship. Saguṇa worship means when you worship a deity, in form, that is called saguṇa worship. And when you meditate upon impersonal, that is nirguṇa. That is their theory. But meditation is not possible unless there is form. Without form, meditation means . . . that is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, kleśaḥ adhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām (BG 12.5): "One who is trying to meditate upon the impersonal Brahman," kleśaḥ, "it is very troublesome," because we are not accustomed to concentrate our mind, meditate upon anything which is impersonal. That is not possible. We simply try to do that under labor, under trouble, kleśaḥ adhikataras teṣām avyaktāsakta-cetasām, whereas devotee, he immediately sees Kṛṣṇa in the temple: "Here is Kṛṣṇa. Here is Rādhārāṇī." Arcā-vigraha. Kṛṣṇa has appeared to be visible. We cannot see Kṛṣṇa, or God, by these material eyes, but as we can be seeing, as we can appreciate, as we can touch, Kṛṣṇa has accepted the form to be touched by us, to be seen by us, to be served by us. This is called arcā-vigraha. It is not idol worship. The Māyāvādī says it is imagination. No, not it is imagination. Arcā-vigraha. Vigraha. Kṛṣṇa is vigraha, sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), His form.
So we should always remember, when we speak of saguṇa, saguṇa means saguṇa Brahman. Saguṇa Brahman means we, the living entities, not Kṛṣṇa, or Bhagavān. He is not saguṇa; He is always nirguṇa. Etat īśasya īśanam. This is the supremacy of the Supreme Person, that although He comes within this material world, incarnates as incarnation, He is not affected by the material qualities. That is īśanam. Otherwise how He is īśvara? Īśvara means controller. If, when He comes in the material world, if He becomes controlled by the material nature, then how He is controller? Huh? He is not controller. Then He becomes controlled. We are controlled. Kṛṣṇa is never controller . . . er, controlled. He is always the controller. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ. Īśvara means controller. So He is the supreme controller. He is the controller of these energies also, māyā. So how He can be under māyā? This is mistaken theory. Kṛṣṇa is always supreme, Adhokṣaja. Kṛṣṇa's another name is Adhokṣaja.