Category:Artificially Thinking

Theme Analysis

Śrīla Prabhupāda identifies "artificially thinking" as the root cause of the conditioned soul's immense suffering. By constitutional nature, every living entity is an eternal, subordinate servant of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. However, when placed under the spell of illusion, the soul artificially thinks he is the master, independent, and free from the obligation to bow down to anyone. Caitanya Mahāprabhu heavily stressed that recognizing our original svarūpa (identity) as Kṛṣṇa's servant is the only way to escape this conditioned state. Clinging to artificial bodily designations—such as identifying oneself as American or Indian—only thickens the covering of ignorance.

This false ego manifests in severe philosophical deviations, primarily Māyāvāda impersonalism and prākṛta-sahajiyāism. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that impersonalist philosophers and sannyāsīs artificially think they have achieved liberation simply by meditating on the void or declaring themselves to be God. However, the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.2.32) confirms that because they refuse to take shelter of the Lord's lotus feet, their intelligence remains impure, and their artificial liberation ultimately fails. On the other side of the spectrum are the pseudo-devotees, or prākṛta-sahajiyās. These individuals artificially think they have reached the spontaneous platform of pure love (rāgānugā-bhakti). They prematurely discuss the intimate aṣṭa-kālika-līlā, imitate the rāsa-līlā, and even dress up as sakhīs, mistakenly believing this will cure their materially diseased hearts. Śrīla Prabhupāda strictly condemns this imitation, asserting that genuine spiritual advancement is never artificial; it demands sincere submission, the following of regulative principles, and practical devotional service.

• The False Ego of Mastery: Conditioned life begins when the living entity artificially thinks he is the independent master rather than the eternal servant of the Supreme Lord.
• The Impersonalist Delusion: Māyāvādīs artificially think they are equal to God or have attained liberation, but without surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, their peace and realization are entirely false.
• The Trap of Sahajiyāism: Imitator devotees artificially think they are qualified to enter Kṛṣṇa's most intimate pastimes without first undergoing the rigorous purification of following regulative principles.
• Shedding Artificial Designations: True Kṛṣṇa consciousness means stripping away all artificial bodily, national, and philosophical identities to realize one's original spiritual nature.

• Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Artificially Thinking - The Illusion of Māyāvāda and Sahajiyāism.