Maya deludes the soul into bodily identification; only bhakti-yoga delivers transcendence and love of God.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
YaYaa SaMMaaeihTaae Jaqv AaTMaaNa& i}aGau<aaTMak-Ma( ) Parae_iPa MaNauTae_NaQa| TaTk*-Ta& cai>aPaÛTae )) 5 )) Prabhupāda: yayā sammohito jīva ātmānaṁ tri-guṇātmakam paro 'pi manute 'narthaṁ tat-kṛtaṁ cābhipadyate [SB 1.7.5] Vyāsadeva saw three things: the jīvātmā, and the Supreme Personality of Godhead and māyā. Māyā means what is not. Mā-yā. So that māyā begins from what is not.
I am not this body, but I am thinking I am this body. This is māyā. I am not this body, that's a fact. But I am thinking, "I am this body." This is māyā.
This is the beginning of māyā. This is the conception of the animals, less than human beings. Nowadays even a human being, he's also thinking like that. This is anartha.
That is the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā lesson, to impress, "Arjuna, you are not this body." Tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ [Bg 2.13]. So many ways. So this is anartha. To accept this body and in bodily relationship everything, ahaṁ mameti [SB 5.5.8], this is māyā.
So this is anartha. Anartha means meaningless, no artha. Artha means meaning. So if we want to stop this anartha, misconception of life, then we have to take to bhakti-yoga.
It is explained in the next verse. But for the time being we are misled. The māyā, or the material nature, is misleading us. We are trying to adjust things according to the dictation of māyā, that we shall be able to stop our struggle for existence in this way and that way.
That is not possible. Daivī hy eṣā guṇa-mayī mama māyā duratyayā [Bg 7.14]. If you make some plan... You can make plan, but that plan will never be successful. This is the...