Yes one can be in maya even in the temple. Maya is illusion things that are only temporary in this world. They are never eternal. Maya leads us to believe we can be happy in this material world But that is one of her major traps to catch innocent souls who really belong to Lord Krishna who is God Himself.
But also I found out maya's other traps as well. It is not just sense gratification that she grabs us but also inner feelings we have in our hearts or just thinking of ourselves. Pride, envy, stress, anxiety, depression, anger, etc all are maya for sure in my opinion. We put ourselves in these conditions due to our forgetting Krishna. Krishna had mercifully and gradually made me come to realize this. Why couldn't I have seen this before when I was living in New Vrndavan? Was it because I was ignorant, thinking of myself? Or just plain worrying too much? Too much pride? Not remembering Krishna enough caused me all these problems is definately one issue. I wasn't depending on Him. So I have to carefully watch out where I step because I could fall into maya's trap. It's as if she has unlimited traps. We're all walking on egg shells in this world and we have to be careful with our spiritual life so as not to get an animal body the next life.
So Krishna has revealed to me what I must work on. I definately need to work on being a bit more humble, I need to be a little more open to others as I do feel so closed up a lot of the time. Need to get rid of my shyness is another. Shyness can also be maya too.Tolerance is another major issue for me and also anxiety. I can also be very quiet a lot of time also. I was probably being offensive too at times but others would disagree with me on that more than likely.
But most of all I want to avoid negativity. And everything I mentioned above what Maya's traps are all lead to depression and it's happened to me so there is your proof. Depression I think is Maya's greatest weapon of all which can destroy a living entity fatally if one is not careful.
So I have set some goals for myself hopefully I can try to keep them. I don't want to take vows as those are more permanant than goals. Goals can fade away if not worked on. My goals are these : be more humble when serving Krishna's devotees even when they are in a bad mood or are arguementative, and try to memorize some sanskrit verses that relate to my problems. Maybe I can practice on them this week if I can remember too. I need to fit it in my busy seva schedule somehow. But my advice to all devotees out there watch out where you step you could be walking into one of maya's traps if you are not careful. Call out to Krishna if you get stuck! Haribol All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
