material

 
Material desires are based on the false ego of the living being and are exhibited by his childish and useless activities to conquer the laws of material nature and by his desire to lord it over the resources of the five elements.
By the strength of scientific knowledge, one should be well situated in absolute realization and thus be able to extinguish all material desires and then give up the material body by blocking the air hole [through which stool is evacuated] with the heel of one's foot and lifting the life air from one place to the other in the six primary places.    (More...)
There are many duratmas who claim to have realized themselves as Brahman and yet are unable to conquer material desires. In the Bhagavad-gita it is clearly explained (Bg. 18.54) that an absolute self-realized soul becomes completely aloof from all material desires. Material desires are based on the false ego of the living being and are exhibited by his childish and useless activities to conquer the laws of material nature and by his desire to lord it over the resources of the five elements. With such mentality, one is led to believe in the strength of material science up to the discovery of atomic energy and space travel by mechanical vehicles, and by such tiny advancements of material science the false egoist tries to challenge even the strength of the Supreme Lord, who can finish all man's tiny endeavors in less than a second. The well-situated self, or Brahman-realized soul, perfectly understands that the Supreme Brahman or the Personality of Godhead is the all-powerful Vasudeva and that he (the self-realized living being) is a part and parcel of the supreme whole. As such, his constitutional position is to cooperate with Him in all respects in the transcendental relation of the served and the servitor. Such a self-realized soul ceases to exhibit his useless activities by attempting to lord it over material nature and fully engages himself in faithful devotion to the Lord, scientifically well informed.    (More...)

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