Destroying all impurities
One of the effects of the material illusion is to make us believe we are not with Krsna and are not connected with Him. When we believe we are not connected, we also see this world as not connected.
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Destroying all impurities
Turning our back to Krsna means seeing ourselves as separate enjoyers, under the covering of the false ego. Just as a person locked in a room can't see the sun, as long as we maintain this false conception, we can't perceive Krsna, even though He is right beside us.
One of the effects of the material illusion is to make us believe we are not with Krsna and are not connected with Him. When we believe we are not connected, we also see this world as not connected, which leads us to try to enjoy or reject it. Real knowledge means to see everything as connected with Krsna, as it is in reality. I am an eternal servant of Krsna, and everything should be used in His service, means to reconnect with yoga-māyā, Krsna's internal potency.
The Lord is satya, pure. His pure devotees are also satya, the spiritual world is satya and the path to Him is also called satya. Ultimately, truth means our eternal relationship with the Lord. Surrender and devotional service to the Lord is kalyāṇa, the utmost auspicious activity. One who is engaged in this truth never faces degradation.
Text 3.1.5
satyena labhyas tapasā hy eṣa ātmā
samyag jñānena brahmacaryeṇa nityam
antaḥśarīre jyotir mayo hi śubhro
yam paśyanti yatayaḥ kṣīṇa-doṣāḥ
This Supreme Self is attainable through the practice of truth, austerity, perfect knowledge, and constant discipline. Within the body, pure and luminous, the Lord is seen by the ascetics whose impurities have been destroyed.
Commentary: The soul is eternally connected with Krsna. He is not just the origin and the maintainer, but also the closest friend. If one has to go to jail, probably none of his friends will offer to go with Him, but Krsna does. Even if one goes to the body of a hog due to his impious actions, Krsna is still there together with him as Paramatma, life after life. Not only the soul is eternally connected with Krsna, but Krsna is always with us. Since there is nothing apart from Krsna, it is not possible to be separated from Him at any stage. Just like the sun shines everywhere, Krsna is also everywhere. The problem is not that Krsna is not present, but that we are turning our backs on Him. As long as we show our back to a person, seeing him or her is impossible. To see we need to first turn in the other direction.
What exactly does "turn or back to Krsna" mean? It means to accept the covering of the false ego, seeing ourselves as enjoyers of this material world. As long as we live under this conception, we remain covered by material illusion and it is impossible to see Krsna, just like a person locked in a room without windows can't see the sun.
What exactly does it mean to be covered by the material illusion and what is the cause of it? Krsna explains it in the second verse of the catur-sloki in the Srimad Bhagavatam:
ṛte ’rtham yat pratīyeta, na pratīyeta cātmani
tad vidyād ātmano māyām, yathābhāso yathā tamaḥ
"O Brahmā, whatever appears to be of any value, if it is without relation to Me, has no reality. Know it as My illusory energy, that reflection which appears to be in darkness." (SB 2.9.34)
Maya means "what is not". Everything that exists is Krsna, and Maya means to see things as separate from Him. The material manifestation is made from one of Krsna's potencies and is in essence spiritual. However, when we see it as separated from Krsna, it becomes material. Reality becomes thus covered by our own faulty consciousness. Everything that is seen as separated from Krsna is Maya, and everything that is seen as connected with Krsna and used in His service manifests in its true spiritual nature.
As Srila Prabhupada explains in his purport:
"Misconceiving one thing for another thing is called illusion. For example, accepting a rope as a snake is illusion, but the rope is not false. The rope, as it exists in the front of the illusioned person, is not at all false, but the acceptance is illusory. Therefore the wrong conception of accepting this material manifestation as being divorced from the energy of the Lord is illusion, but it is not false. And this illusory conception is called the reflection of the reality in the darkness of ignorance. Anything that appears as apparently not being “produced out of My energy” is called māyā. The conception that the living entity is formless or that the Supreme Lord is formless is also illusion."
Krsna is called "the absolute truth" because there is nothing separate from Him. Anything that exists, at any stage, be it at the creation, maintenance, or destruction of the cosmos, exists in relation to the Lord. Krsna has two energies, yoga-māyā and mahā-māyā. When we see things in the proper perspective, as being connected to the Lord, we act under yoga-māyā, the energy of union. On the other hand, when we try to separate things from the Lord we act under mahā-māyā, material illusion.
Both yoga-māyā and mahā-māyā are energies of the Lord. The difference is that yoga-māyā assists the souls who are connected with the Lord in loving service, while mahā-māyā controls the souls who want to forget Him. Both light and darkness are effects of the sun. Light is the direct effect of the sun, and darkness appears when the light of the sun is absent. Darkness is thus relative to the sun, just like light. Everything is part of the Lord. Things appear to be separated or independent from the Lord only under the influence of mahā-māyā, the Lord's illusory energy.
One may see the light of the sun reflected on a mirror inside a dark room and think that it is separated from the sun, but this is just an illusion. The reflection can't exist separately from the sun, and it appears to be valuable only as long as one is unaware of the sun shining outside. Similarly, the light of the brahmajyoti, the effulgence of Krsna's body is reflected in this world as the light of the sun, fire, electricity, and ultimately as everything attractive. Nothing of it is false, but to see it as separated from Krsna is illusion.
Maya can't cover the Lord, but it can cover the individual soul who desires to forget the Lord. The souls who are thus covered can't see the Lord, or they may think that the Lord is also covered by Maya, but the ones who are liberated, free from the grip of Maya, can see that He is beyond the material covering. Maya is thus a cover that can block the light of the sun only for the people who are under it.
To think there is no God is Maya, to think we are independent from Him is also Maya. To think we are God is Maya, and to think we are not eternally connected with the Lord is Maya. These are all false concepts that are the fruit of a lack of knowledge.
The soul is eternally part and parcel of Krsna, and can't be factually separated from Him. However, under the influence of illusion, we think we are separated from Him, or that we are independent from Him, or that we were never connected with Him. Similarly, we see this material world as separated from Him, a place that exists for our enjoyment. To see things in the proper perspective, that I am an eternal servant of Krsna, and that everything should be used in His service means to gradually reconnect with yoga-māyā, His internal potency, gradually uncovering our eternal nature.
As the verse explains, by following the proper spiritual process and cultivating perfect spiritual knowledge, received through the disciplic succession, we become gradually purified and can eventually directly see the Lord. All spiritual realization manifests automatically as we develop our devotion.
Text 3.1.6
satyam eva jayate nānṛtam
satyena panthā vitato devayānaḥ
yenākramanty ṛṣayo hy āptakāmāḥ
yatra tat satyasya paramam nidhānam
Truth is always victorious. It always prevails over untruth. By practicing the truth one takes the ascending path called devayāna, by which great sages who have exhausted all their material pursuits attain the Supreme destination.
Commentary: Ordinarily, the truth means the opposite of a lie. However, truth in the material world is relative. I may say that I'm the father of such and such, but for how long will I be his father? The statement may sound true now, but it was not true in the past, and it will not be true in the future after I take a new birth. It is thus just a relative truth.
In the Bhagavad-gita (2.16) Krsna defines sat (truth, existing) as everything that is spiritual and eternal, and asat (untruth, non-existing) as everything that is material and thus temporary (nāsato vidyate bhāvo nābhāvo vidyate sataḥ). In his commentary, Srila Madhvācārya deepens our understanding by explaining that Lord Vishnu is called satya because he possesses all auspicious (sat) qualities, and similarly, a devotee who is intensely dedicated to Him is also called satya. On the other hand, asuras are called asatyas because they possess the opposite qualities. This is confirmed in the first verse of the Srimad Bhagavatam: satyam param dhīmahi (I meditate upon Him, for He is the Absolute Truth.)
The Lord is the absolute truth because He is supreme and eternal. Different from the relative truths of this material world, which are true only for a limited period of time, the Lord is always true. The Lord is satya, His pure devotees are satya, the spiritual world is satya and the path to Him is also called satya. The truth mentioned in this verse is the ultimate truth of our eternal relationship with the Lord, and not just some relative temporary truth of this material world.
Truth is always positive and should be practiced at all levels, starting from the ordinary principle of not telling lies. However, we should gradually attain the Absolute truth, speaking about the Lord, meditating on the Lord, working for the Lord, and ultimately reaching the Lord. Surrender and devotional service to the Lord is kalyāṇa, the utmost auspicious activity, and as Krsna promises in the Gita (6.40), one who is engaged in this truth never faces degradation.
This is confirmed by Srila Prabhupada in his purport to SB 6.1.19: "Elsewhere in the Gītā (6.40) the Lord says, na hi kalyāṇa-kṛt kaścid durgatim tāta gacchati: "one who performs auspicious activity is never overcome by evil." The highest kalyāṇa (auspicious) activity is to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. That is the only path by which to save oneself from falling down into hellish life."