Māyā responds to our ideas about the material world, and then starts giving us: "You want this, you want that. How about this? How about what if I put this and that together and both of them, and know a little more, like that?" She tries to come up with the perfect package for us. Māyā can sneak into our life. Māyā means "that which is not." And for those who are awake, somebody who's in māyā, they notice that they've been captured.But for those who are captured, it's very hard to even see what's happening.

So, the first—can you go back? One or two? Yeah, how māyā sneaks in. This is how māyā sneaks in, and she's looking to get in. The first way that māyā can come in is when we become prideful. That opens the door: "Come on in." Next, laxity. We become lax in our sādhanā, in our practice, we let our guard down. We're not vigilant. Then it's an invitation for māyā: "Yeah, it's no big deal. Come on in." The third one is justification, which welcomes māyā as a permanent resident. When you justify your condition, make excuses for the way you are: "Oh, it has to be like that. It's not my fault. The dog ate my homework. The sun got in my eyes."

There are risky attitudes that open us to this peril, and here's one of them: "I'm advanced." When one thinks like that, we're opening ourselves. This is pride, and it invites māyā in. Another one is: "I am liberated. I can cut corners." This is entitlement, this idea that, "Well, I've done this long enough, therefore it's not important for me to do it. Everybody else can do it, all the neophytes or whatever. I've been here six months, so it's not so important. I'm independent. I shouldn't follow all those Maṅgala Ārati-going; they're just sheep. I'll do my own thing and be independent."

So, here's how to lock the door on māyā. Would you like to do that? All right? 'An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.' This one did come from Benjamin Franklin. I found it was rightly attributed, and incidentally, he started the volunteer fire department. So, the two things kind of go together, don't they? Anticipate there's going to be a fire, and make sure you're prepared.

So, if you change your attitude, and Prabhupāda writes in the Nectar of Instruction, that the quality of your attitude will determine the quality of your devotional service. So, the old saying, "attitude is everything," that applies in devotional service. Śrīla Prabhupāda said: "Advancement in Krishna consciousness depends on the attitude of the follower." Does anybody here have an attitude? How do you know? What does attitude mean?

(excerpt from the talk)

Link to The talk 'The Anatomy of Falldown' mentioned in the class: https://youtu.be/lPMkNKzdc58?feature=shared

How To Make a Comeback (older presentation where slides can be seen) : https://youtu.be/C5lXLuqSwzU?feature=shared

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To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/

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