sÄdhu-Å›Ästra-ká¹›pÄya yadi kṛṣṇonmukha haya
sei jÄ«va nistare, mÄyÄ tÄhÄre chÄá¸aya
sÄdhu - of saintly persons; Å›Ästra - of scriptures; ká¹›pÄya - by the mercy; yadi - if; kṛṣṇa-unmukha haya - one becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious; sei - that; jÄ«va - living entity; nistare - becomes liberated; mÄyÄ - the illusory energy; tÄhÄre - him; chÄá¸aya - gives up.
“If the conditioned soul becomes Kṛṣṇa conscious by the mercy of saintly persons who voluntarily preach scriptural injunctions and help him to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, the conditioned soul is liberated from the clutches of mÄyÄ, who gives him up.
A conditioned soul is one who has forgotten Kṛṣṇa as his eternal master. Thinking that he is enjoying the material world, the conditioned soul suffers the threefold miseries of material existence. Saintly persons (sÄdhus), Vaiṣṇava devotees of the Lord, preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness on the basis of the Vedic literature. It is only by their mercy that the conditioned soul is awakened to Kṛṣṇa consciousness. When awakened, he is no longer eager to enjoy the materialistic way of life. Instead, he devotes himself to the loving transcendental service of the Lord. When one engages in the Lord’s devotional service, he becomes detached from material enjoyment:
bhaktiḥ pareÅ›Änubhavo viraktir
anyatra caiá¹£a trika eka-kÄlaḥ
(BhÄg. 11.2.42)
This is the test by which one can tell whether he is advancing in devotional service. One must be detached from material enjoyment. Such detachment means that mÄyÄ has actually given the conditioned soul liberation from illusory enjoyment. When one is advanced in Kṛṣṇa consciousness, he does not consider himself as good as Kṛṣṇa. Whenever he thinks that he is the enjoyer of material advantages, he is imprisoned in the bodily conception. However, when he is freed from the bodily conception, he can engage in devotional service, which is his actual position of freedom from the clutches of mÄyÄ. This is all explained in the following verse from the Bhagavad-gÄ«tÄ (7.14).
