Conspiracy theories abound: COVID-19, G5, the New World Order, and, of course, the deep state.  I remember a time when life was simpler. There was only one conspiracy in town: Maya, the illusionary energy,  assigned to keep us conditioned souls enamored in a world that is endlessly mutable (something akin today, I guess, to Facebook). 

In this age of greed and hypocrisy, of the cheaters and the cheated, where countless,  unfortunate beings struggle in this material world, a world that is confusing and unfulfilling,  where mundane happiness and wealth are fleeting experiences, we have the greatest opportunity.  

Just imagine this profoundly deep conspiracy. We think we’re free, free to choose any one of the hundreds of cereals in the supermarket; free to go anywhere and everywhere,  as seemingly free as the birds in the skyway. But as we run here and there, our chains sometimes give us a jerk and we are tugged back into reality (even if only for a moment). An intelligent person understands he or she is not really  free.  There are the onslaughts of disease and old age, of birth and death.   

The deep state can’t even wrap their minds around this. We are bound up by the modes of material nature. Maya keeps us in illusion; in prison, if you will. And karma is going to get you, me, us, them and they, the Boomers and the Z generation.  Showing no mercy, karma spins us off into endless cycles of birth and death. There’s nowhere to hide. No place to escape to. It’s diabolical.  

But  greater than the deep state of maya is Lord Krishna and His unlimited potencies. Krishna is actually the biggest Conspirator. Krishna is the most secret of secrets, the source of the most confidential dossiers.  He’s everywhere, all around us, and yet unseen. And He’s in the deepest recesses of our hearts, waiting for us to turn to Him. 

Krishna gives us a hint in Bhagavad-gita 7:25 –“I am never manifest to the foolish and unintelligent. For them I am covered by My internal potency, and therefore they do not know that I am unborn and infallible.”  

Krishna is known by many names in sacred traditions all over the world. He is all seeing, all pervasive, all knowing. His eyes are everywhere. He is the Supreme Maintainer of infinite universes. He is smaller than the smallest and larger than the largest, the supreme, prolific, inscrutable Mover. No one can fathom His powers.  

Krishna explains in the next verse of the Bhagavad-gita 7:26: “I know everything that has happened in the past, all that is happening in the present, and all things that are yet to come. I also know all living entities; but Me no one knows.” 

Here is the supreme Father, Mother, Friend and Guide to all living beings: to the animals in the forest, the birds of the skyway,  the insects on the earth, the aquatics in the sea,  even to the foolish humans in their glass houses.

The Lord knows all about the deep state. He’s also in their hearts. He knows what they’re going to do even before they do. But Krishna is supremely compassionate. He’s rooting for them, and for all of us.  Even when we’re running scared, hunted down by karma, Krishna would give us all shelter in an instant if we gave up our misdeeds and turned to Him.   

This is Krishna’s special mercy as he declares in Bhagavad-gita 9:29. “I envy no one, nor am I partial to anyone. I am equal to all. But whoever renders service unto Me in devotion is a friend, is in Me, and I am also a friend to him.” 

Now, about the “opportunity” I spoke of earlier – we can easily attain Krishna’s  mercy and friendship by chanting His  Holy Names: Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Krishna  has appeared in this age, the Kali-yuga, in the form of His Holy Names. He is the Supreme Conspirator. And He wants  to free us from maya and karma, and help us get out of the prison cells we’re in, each of us in a prison of our own making.  

Krishna is eager to break us out. But ONLY if we want to get out, since many of us are content with our cells. But Krishna is so kind that He is even ready to trick us so that we might gradually desire get out; just like a  mother  might trick her child into taking some medicine for their own good.  In this Kali-yuga, we are so fortunate to have such a sweet medicine as the chanting of the Holy Names.  

What a Conspirator Krishna is! What a Trickster! What a kind benefactor and well-wisher! It’s good to have such a Friend in high places. 

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Sankirtana Das is a longtime resident of New Vrindaban and an award-winning author and storyteller. He recently published Hanuman’s Quest, acclaimed by scholars and authors.  For more info about his work see www.Mahabharata-Project.com