Illusory Energy - Maha Maya
Mahamaya Dasi: Prabhupada's books were so transcendental that I couldn't believe there was somebody on this planet that could write them. Although everybody in the temple knew Prabhupada, I was thinking cynically, does the person who wrote these books really exist? The night before I was initiated, we arrived in New York from Washington, D.C. We missed Prabhupada's New York airport arrival because our temple president, Damodar, felt that our business has to stay out on sankirtan. Since Prabhupada was having initiations every morning for a week in New York, every night he lectured on Bhagavad-Gita. So, the hot July night just before my initiation, I went into the temple room, which was packed with devotees, and waited for Prabhupada to come through the doors. I still doubted, "Is he really going to walk through those doors?" Kirtiraj Prabhu was tapping devotees on the shoulder saying, there's not enough room in the temple for everybody and there are people in the hallway who have never seen Prabhupada. So can you please leave?He asked me this, but I had just arrived and, although Prabhupada had been there for a couple of days, I had never seen him. So I didn't budge. When Prabhupada walked through the doors all my doubts completely went out the window. I felt as if I was seeing an old, old friend who I hadn't seen in so long that I had forgotten about him.
When they called me I went to the Vyasasana. Aravinda, standing to Prabhupada's side, said my initiated name 'Mahamaya' and I was bowled over when I heard him say it. Then, when Prabhuda said my name there was shocked silence in the temple room. Prabhupada started laughing and then everyone laughed, including me. Prabhupada said, "The illusory energy is not all bad. For one who does not want to serve Krishna, the illusory energy is there." He gave the example that just as there are phases of the moon, so Mahamaya is a phase of Radharani's energy. Being in front of him I felt that he was seeing me, not the layers of false ego that I thought I was, but the soul, and it was a wonderful experience. He was finitely lifting me to his platform.
Reference: Memories Anecdotes of a Modern Day Saint - Volume 3 by Siddhanta Dasa
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