In plain words
These are modifications of Māyā. Māyā is not a thing apart. We can only call it the shadow of Brahman. So even to master this principle of Māyā is impossible. When we recognise the Īśvara principle, or understand the principle of Brahman, Māyā passes out of our sight. Only so long as the guṇas of Māyā remain does it show itself to us. So long as the sāttvic, the rājasic or the tāmasic is at work in man, so long we cannot escape this Māyā. The day we go beyond these guṇas, that very day we can move away from this principle of Māyā.
That is why in the Bhagavad Gītā He said: renounce even Mokṣa. Only when all the guṇas are given up can we recognise the Ātma, the ground of this principle of Brahman. They said that Mokṣa means one must give up moha. This moha is bound up with abhimāna and mamakāra. You, and many others, may know this. The people of Dvārakā were the Yādavas. All the Yādavas took Kṛṣṇa to be their own. Our uncle, our son, our son-in-law, our brother: in this way they dealt with Him as kin. To think, “Kṛṣṇa is ours, ours,” is one kind of abhimāna. As this abhimāna ripened, mamakāra grew. When abhimāna and mamakāra came together, Ahaṅkāra began. When the three, abhimāna, mamakāra and Ahaṅkāra, came together, it took the form of moha. With this moha, what became in the end of those who thought, “He is ours, our Kṛṣṇa”? Yādava fought Yādava among themselves and ended their lives. They stooped to a terrible deed. They gathered together with cruel feelings. So this principle of abhimāna, mamakāra and Ahaṅkāra went on, in this way, destroying humanness.
The gopīs in Gokula: “We are Yours. O Kṛṣṇa! We are Yours,” they said. This is the difference between the people of Dvārakā and the people of Gokula. The people of Dvārakā: “O Kṛṣṇa! You are ours,” they said. The gopīs said, “We are Yours.” “We are Yours” is the mark of Śaraṇāgati. “As You will; You may do whatever You like; we are Yours”: this attitude is the mark of the reflection. That is why it came about that Kṛṣṇa, who had left them and gone to Mathurā, sent Uddhava to ask after their welfare and set their troubles and losses right. Here the attitude ‘He is ours’ is an attitude bound up with abhimāna and mamakāra. Moha binds us. So this moha itself is the root cause of our bondage. They said that the uprooting of moha is Mokṣa. So we must give up even Mokṣa. Once moha goes, oneness alone reveals itself to us. The divine principle that teaches such oneness is the true meaning of being a guru.