The cause of all miseries is our perception ….....…....

Nectarean Mellows The living entity is actually part and parcel of Krsna, sat-chit-ananda vigrahah. However the living entity in this material existence misidentifies himself for something he is not. Srila Prabhupada defines the word maya as that which is not. Maya means the illusory energy of the Lord. This illusory energy of the Lord causes the pure souls, full of knowledge, to identify himself with something or someone he is not, it is not that the soul is polluted; that soul can only be pure as it is part of Krsna, but the soul's identification with something, that is not, is the pollution. When we are chanting Hare Krsna, we are not purifying our soul; the soul is pure, we are purifying the mind, which is causing the misconception of the soul; like a mirror, you may be perfectly, perfectly clean but if you look in the mirror that is dirty, it doesn't make you dirty but your perception of yourself is dirty; does that make sense? Hare Krsna. So the problem, that is the cause of all miseries, is our perception; we are looking through the mirror from our mind, which is filthy, dirty with material desires and attachments and we are thinking that, that is I. Just as Maitreya Rishi gives the example; if you dream that your head is being cut off, is your head being cut off? In the dream you are watching with your own eyes that someone else with a sword is cutting off that head. Now how could you see it? Your eyes are on your own head but you are seeing your own head somewhere else being cut off and you are actually coming in terrible misery 'my head is being cut off'! We don't think that how am I seeing it if it's over there? Hare Krsna. It is an illusion, it is a dream, it is a misconception, it is not really your head somebody else's head is being cute off but you are thinking that it is your head and therefore you are suffering.H H Radhanath Swami Maharaj