THE UNIVERSE

The universe is woven, over and under, back and forth, out of the fabric 
of the illusory energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Sri Krishna. 
What games do you think you can play here? For as a spider spins its web to 
catch insects, so the great cosmos has been spread out to capture your mind 
in the network of samsara: repeated birth and death. Sages of old saw through 
this deadly fantasy, and proclaimed that spirit is real, and that this universe 
is but a passing dream.

However, nowadays scientists consume billions of dollars yearly in a bid to 
eventually hold this universe in their hands. They hope to conquer space, time, 
and matter, and thus establish humanity as the only lord of existence. As their 
first step towards this goal they declared themselves independent of the control 
of nature’s laws. Nicolas Beardiev, a Russian physicist, was once lecturing to 
a group of students about the unreality of time. He argued that time is only 
a product of our minds; and that as such, human beings could easily master time 
through practical application of scientific theories. Suddenly however, he glanced 
at his watch and exclaimed, “I’m late for an appointment!” Thus he broke off his 
lecture and left his students dumbfounded.

When we say that the universe is an illusion, we do not mean like professor Beardiev – 
that cosmic phenomena is dependent upon our mental attitudes. We mean that our 
minds have been simply hypnotically overwhelmed by the kaleidoscopic, ever-changing, 
endlessly complicated tapestry of illusory material energy; and thus we are simply 
bewildered and trapped within contradiction.

Science hopes to attain a definite understanding about this material existence or 
‘maya’, but maya means eternally indefinite. As His Divine Grace Srila 
A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has explained, the scientific study of maya is 
like trying to count the drops of water in a mirage of the ocean. There cannot be, 
and will not be any arrival at the truth by this process.