Only the Supreme Lord grants self-realization; all material attachments are temporary illusions binding the eternal soul.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
] Pradyumna: [leads chanting of verse] śrī-śuka uvāca ātma-māyām ṛte rājan parasyānubhavātmanaḥ… Prabhupāda: Parasyānu. Parasya anu, parasyānu. Pradyumna: Parasyānu.
Prabhupāda: Bhavātmanaḥ Pradyumna: Parasyānubhavātmanaḥ. na ghaṭetārtha-sambandhaḥ svapna-draṣṭur ivāñjasā bahu-rūpa ivābhāti māyayā bahu-rūpayā ramamāṇo guṇeṣv asyā mamāham iti manyate yarhi vāva... [SB 2.9.1–3] Prabhupāda: Yarhi vāva... [indistinct] Not only we living entities have assumed various forms, bahu-rūpa, but māyā is also bahu-rūpa. She is also before us, just like I was explaining this morning, gṛha-kṣetra-suta-āpta-vitta [SB 5.5.8].
Māyā has taken the form of house, the form of land, form of children, form of friends, the relatives, form of money, riches. These are all māyā. But they are attracting us. Not only we have assumed different forms, but māyā has also assumed.
Therefore it is said, māyayā bahu-rūpayā. Māyā…, māyā means this material energy. The material energy is called mahat-tattva. That is one. Then when the māyā, being agitated by the guṇās, that mahat-tattva divides into twenty-four.
Burst. The material scientist confirms it that there was a chunk and it burst, like that. That chunk is mahat-tattva, burst into twenty-four—five gross matter, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ; three subtle matter, mind, intelligence and ego; then five objective: just like rūpa, rasa, form, taste, smell; rūpa, gandha, touch; śabda, sound. These are five elements for our enjoyment. And we have got ten senses: tvak [indistinct]-nāsikāḥ vāk karau caraṇau pāyur.
In this way ten senses; five sense objects, fifteen; eight gross and subtle elements, twenty-three; and... What is there else? Mind. Anyway, the mahat-tattva turns into twenty-four parts[?], including the jīvātmā.
The jīvātmā is also twenty-six, and paramātmā twenty-six, or sometimes jīvātmā is twenty-four, paramātmā [indistinct]. So anyway, māyā is also bahu-rūpayā, māyayā bahu-rūpayā. Somebody is attracted by something; somebody is attracted by something else. The senses are there, the sense objects are there; in this way the soul is entrapped, ramamāṇo guṇeṣu. Entrapped means he is trying to enjoy all the different forms of material energy, ramamāṇo, but what he is enjoying?