(Click to enlarge photo of Srila Prabhupada and child)
"We are always fearful. And why we are fearful? Because we have taken it that there is no God. There is no God; therefore we are fearful. Just like a forlorn child, when he thinks that 'My... I am... My father and my mother, lost.' You might have experienced. A child lost, he cries. He thinks himself, 'I am helpless. Where is my mother? Where is my...?' Similarly, when we are helpless, we are fearful. And those who are Kṛṣṇa conscious, they are not helpless. They know, 'Above me, there is Kṛṣṇa.' And śaraṇāgati, surrender, means to have firm conviction that 'Kṛṣṇa will protect me. I am engaged in Kṛṣṇa's service, so Kṛṣṇa will give me protection.' If I work in some ordinary man's service, he gives me protection. Don't you think if you work for Kṛṣṇa, He'll not give you protection? Because we have no faith, therefore we are seeking protection from elsewhere. Kṛṣṇa is able. He says, ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi: (BG 18.66) 'I shall give you protection from all sinful reactions.'
But we have no faith. We are thinking, 'Oh, it is written in the Bhagavad-gītā. That's all right, but I must have my protection in a different way.' So dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ. Because he thinks there is anything superior than Kṛṣṇa, therefore he is fearful. Why a conditioned soul is fearful, that is explained in the Bhāgavata. Bhayam dvitīyābhiniveśataḥ syāt. So this māyā, the illusion, when we take shelter of this illusion, then we are afraid. And when we understand that 'Illusion, this energy, is under the control of Kṛṣṇa, because illusion, this material energy, is also Kṛṣṇa's energy, inferior energy. So even if I, I am within this material energy, when I am forgetful of Kṛṣṇa, this material energy is fearful for me, and when I am in Kṛṣṇa consciousness fully, there is no question of fearfulness from material nature.' Therefore tan-māyayā ābhajet tam. Ābhajet tam. And therefore it is our duty to regain our lost consciousness, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That is the duty of this human form of life."
(Srila Prabhupada Lecture, New York, November 23, 1966)
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