Srila Prabhupada explains why we must hear transcendental messages from realized souls.
Lecture given by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in Los Angeles on August 18, 1972
There is a way to cut the knots of karma that keep us spirit souls bound to material existence.

yad-anudhyasina yuktah

“With sword in hand, intelligent men cut through the binding knots of reactionary work [karma] by remembering the Personality of Godhead. Therefore, who will not pay attention to His message?” – Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.2.15

Karma-granthi. Granthi means knot. If a man’s hands and legs are tied very strongly with ropes, he cannot move independently. Similarly, we are tied up by the laws of material nature. Another example: We are always bound up by the laws of the state, either criminal or civil. But the criminal law is stronger. When we are punished under criminal laws, then it becomes very painful. We cannot violate the state laws, either criminal or civil; it doesn’t matter. But if we violate the civil law, there is no such strong punishment. If we violate the criminal laws, the reaction is very strong.

This body itself is a punishment. People do not know that. They are trying to enjoy this body by satisfying the senses of the body. Even the hog is doing that. The soul has forgotten that he has got the body of a hog so that he is bound to eat stool and live in a filthy place, but because he has got the facility for sense gratification with female hogs – never mind whether sister, mother, or daughter – he is happy.

This is the hog’s life. The hog is satisfied. He doesn’t care about his condition. We are seeing that it is an abominable condition – living in a filthy place and eating stool. We are conscious of what his condition of life is, but he is very happy: “Oh, what a very nice, happy life. I am eating very nicely first-class food and having sex without any restriction. This is life.”

This is called maya, illusion created by the material energy.  It is of two kinds: avaranatmika-shakti and prakshepatmika-shakti. When a living entity is living a very condemned life but still he’s thinking “I am very happy” or “We are all right,” that is called avaranatmika, covered. Real knowledge is covered. And another shakti is prakshepatmika. Suppose somebody is coming to Krishna consciousness. Maya will dictate, “Oh, why are you coming here? There are so many restrictions and so many rules and regulations. Better to give it up.” “Why yes, what is this nonsense? Give it up.” This is called prakshepatmika. Maya is dragging him away.

The more one is sinful, the more one is a miscreant, the more one is the lowest of the mankind, then the more maya will not allow him to take to spiritual life. “Oh, why is this rascal here at the temple? He must suffer under me some time more; then he may be allowed.”

That is maya’s thankless business. Her position is like that of the police. The police are nobody’s enemy, but they put the criminal in the jail and beat him with a rod. That is the business of maya, thankless. Nobody will thank the police. When the police beat the criminal, no criminal will say, “Thank you very much.” No. Nobody is happy. Similarly, maya’s business is a very thankless task, but she is engaged by the supreme authority to punish.

The Cause of Our Bondage

As long as one is not consciously asking, “What is the position of my life? What am I doing?” that means he is tied up very tightly with the knot of maya. So here is the medicine. What is that? Yad anudhyasina yuktah. If there is a very hard knot, you take a sharp knife and you can cut it. Then the knot will open immediately. Similarly, this knot, this materialistic way of life, is very strong. And the beginning of the knot is sex life. We are tied up by sex life. Even in the lowest condition, in the life of a hog, there is sex life.

Why are we bound up with the material laws of nature? Because we have got strong desire for sex. Not only human society, in animal society also, the central point is sex. People are working so hard because they have got the aim, “I will enjoy sex life.” In your country the hippies have given up everything, but sex is there. They cannot give it up. They have renounced everything – their father’s property, their happy life, everything – but sex is there. They cannot leave it. That is the central point of the knot. “Where shall you go, sir? Here is your knot.”

Therefore this knot is very difficult to cut, but here it is suggested, “If you take this sword . . .” What is that sword? Yad anudhyasina – remembrance of Krishna. Always chanting Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare / Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. Take this sword. This sword is the only remedy. Yad anudhyasina yuktah. If you take this sword, then karma-granthi-nibandhanam, this hard knot of karma will be cut.

Karma means fruitive activities. I am doing something now, so I am creating another body. If I am acting like a dog, then I am creating another body, a dog’s body. Or I am creating a hog’s body, a tree’s body, or even a demigod’s body. If you act piously then you create a demigod’s body. But that is also a knot; that is not freedom. You American boys and girls are born in a richer nation than us Indians. We are born of poor fathers. But that does not mean that you are free from this knot.