When a person is born, the three gunas create, maintain, and dis- solve this relative world that Krishna calls maya (illusion), because it is not permanent. It is the gunas that cause the mind to become deluded into forgetting the eternal God.
When a person begins to desire something that they already are, pairs of opposites are then born. For example, you see a car and are happy. If you want that car — and cannot get it — you become sad.
If you think that obtaining the car will bring lasting happiness, you then try to obtain the car.
But people of virtuous deeds, who take refuge in God, only aim for freedom from all relative bonds caused by the gunas. They strive instead for God-Realization or Brahman. When a person realizes that all is One, they can then know anything about the relative creation, because they finally see it as a part of themselves. So if you want anything, you must first know the creator of all things.
For the person who knows God in the physical, spiritual, and sacrificial realms of life, God is steadfast in their heart. They remember and know God even at the time of physical death. They know them- selves (the Soul) to be eternal. So for them, there is no death; they become imperishable.
