Hare Krsna,
“Māyā has two phases of activities. One is called prakṣepātmikā, and the other is called āvaraṇātmikā. Āvaraṇātmikā means “covering,” and prakṣepātmikā means “pulling down.” In any condition of life, the materialistic person or animal will be satisfied because his knowledge is covered by the influence of māyā.” (SB 3.30.4 Purport)
We are witness to the subtle workings of prakṣepātmikā and āvaraṇātmikā in our everyday lives. One place where we see the application of them is with respect to the atheists. In BG 7.15, Lord Krsna declares that four kinds of people do not surrender unto Him.
“Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons, do not surrender unto Me.”
The atheistic class of people are called mayayapahrta-jnana, or those persons whose erudite knowledge has been nullified by the influence of illusory material energy. They are the impersonalists of Mayavadis who are very proud of exhibiting their Vedanta knowledge through grammatical jugglery. Therefore, they are bereft of real spiritual knowledge being covered by the avaranatmika potency of maya. These people deride the Personality of the Supreme Lord and consider Him merely another human being. They do not know that the blessed form of human life is designed after the eternal and transcendental feature of the Supreme Lord.
prakṣepātmikā and āvaraṇātmikā also applies to conditioned souls like me. Because of my desire to enjoy in this material world, praksepatmika threw me into this material world and avaranatmika keeps me covered by ignorance that I am enjoying here despite all the miseries I go through. This human body is a punishment if we do not practice bhakti. But we go on craving for sense gratification living in ignorance that this material body can give us unlimited material happiness. Srila Prabhupada gives us a beautiful example of Indra in SB 3.30.5. Due to avaranatmika potency, Indra, in the form of a hog, forgot everything of his royal position in the heavenly kingdom, and he refused to go back when invited by Lord Brahma. Similarly, we are also so attached to our bodily relationships that we do not want to give them up. Krsna declares in BG to surrender unto Him and abandon everything else. But still, we are so stubborn that we do not want to do so. This is how maya cruelly binds us in this material world through her two energies – prakṣepātmikā and āvaraṇātmikā.
We need to be careful of these two potencies of maya. Sometimes when performing bhakti and struggling to reach our spiritual goals, maya may dictate, “why are you trying so hard? You have been chanting the Holy Name for so many years but still you are struggling in this material world with the three-fold miseries. Give them up and go back to your early sense gratificatory life.” This is how maya may try to distract us from our true goals. This is called prakṣepātmikā. Maya is dragging and distracting us.
Therefore, we need to be extremely careful of maya and her tendency to distract us from bhakti and keep us entangled in ignorance. We must take shelter of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityananda who are just like the sun and moon who have arisen on the horizon of Gauḍa to dissipate the darkness of ignorance and thus wonderfully bestow benediction upon all. (CC Adi 1.2) This material world is a dark well of ignorance. The fallen soul in this dark well must take shelter of the lotus feet of Gaura-Nitāi, for thus he can easily emerge from material existence. Without Their strength, simply attempting to get out of the clutches of matter by speculative knowledge will be insufficient.
“Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu drive away the five kinds of ignorance of the conditioned souls. In the Mahābhārata, Udyoga-parva, Forty-third Chapter, these five kinds of ignorance are described. They are (1) accepting the body to be the self, (2) making material sense gratification one’s standard of enjoyment, (3) being anxious due to material identification, (4) lamenting and (5) thinking that there is anything beyond the Absolute Truth. The teachings of Lord Caitanya eradicate these five kinds of ignorance. Whatever one sees or otherwise experiences one should know to be simply an exhibition of the Supreme Personality of Godhead’s energy. Everything is a manifestation of Kṛṣṇa.” (CC Adi 1.102 Purport)
“Therefore, this knot is very difficult to cut, but here is suggested, “If you take this sword…” What is that sword? Yad anudhyāsinā. Always chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Take this sword. This sword is only remedy. Yad anudhyāsinā yuktāḥ. If you take this sword, then karma-granthi-nibandhanam, this hard knot of karma (can be cut).” (SP lecture on SB 1.2.15)
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Krsna Katha 