Gita Satsang 7.14 (mama maaya duratyaya)

daivi hy esa guna-mayi
mama maya duratyaya
mam eva ye prapadyante
mayam etam taranti te || 7.14

This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.

दैवी ह्येषा गुणमयी मम माया दुरत्यया ।
मामेव ये प्रपद्यंते मायामेतां तरंति ते ॥ 7.14

In this 7th chapter, Lord Krishna starts with describing what is j~nana and vij~nana - knowledge and special knowledge!
He starts with explaining how He is the fluid in water, the luminance in the objects of light and then He says that to summarize, He is everywwhere - the whole of this universe is filled by His effulgence; this such universe which is three-fold (with three-fold attributes -guNas) is His.
But, He continues, all the jIvas in the universe being entangled by the three-fold attributes, none are able to figure out that He is the ultimate reality and none are able to see that He is a-prakRuta (not belonging to this nature and hence beyond this nature) due to His 'Maya'.
(Maya, is popularly denoted as 'illusion'. But this can hardly be called as an illusion, it is better called the divine energy)

Now, we are come across a lot of questions:
- How is it that none is able to figure out this super-natural capacity of Lord?
- How did His Maya get so much power? How did His Maya become so powerful?
- Does He also get entangled by the Maya?
- Is there anyway we can get out of this Maya? anytime has anybody gotten out of this entanglement?

And, Lord answes this with the current verse.
एषा गुणमयी माया दुरत्यया
This Maaya, of 3-fold attributes, is difficult to surmount.
Here, Maya means Durga; and hence She is duratyaya!
Nobody can surmount this Maya and nobody has ever able to get over this Maya.

Then, is Lord capable of surmounting Her?
मम माया , says the Lord
"She is Mine. She belongs to Me". This Maya, Durga, is one in billionth part of the Lord. But, none of the Gods like Brahma and Shiva can equal her one millionth part!

How does She get so much power? and only Her?
दैवी 'She is divine', says the Lord.
She belongs to Me, Deva and hence She is daivi.
Deva, is derived from the root 'divu' दिवु
दिवु क्रीडा विजिगीषा व्यवहार द्युति स्तुति स्वप्न मॊद मद कांति गतिषु ।
divu means sport or play - kreeDa.
- For whom this creation, sustenance and destruction of this whole universe is just a play, such a Lord is 'divu'. Lord does not have to perspire to do this activity; it is just a sporting activity for Him. Such a Lord is said to have created this whole of universe by just the movement of His eyebrow.
-And Gods like Brahma wait and watch the Lord's eyebrow, 'Will He order us something today by the movement of His brows!?'
The same is mentioned in Dvadasha stotra by Madhvacharya
..पद्मजादि प्रदीक्षितं । भ्रूभंग पारमॆष्ट्यादि पददायि विमुक्तिदम् ॥ द्वा.स्तो. १.११
divu means vijigeeSha, desire to conquer.
- Not just the desire to conquer but also the capability to conquer is rested only with Lord Sri Krishna
divu similarly means dyuti - splendor, stuti - adoration etc
- All the words in this world are nothing but praises of the Lord. He is the one who is the intended object of any word by super primary meaning परममुख्यवृत्तया सर्व शब्दवाच्य
- Not only all words but all alphabets, letters, and sounds are His adorations!
Thus He is 'Deva'

Now, since this Maya-Durga belongs to such a 'deva', She is 'daivi' and thus She is this all-powerful Maya, the divine energy.

Then, there is no way one can attain the knowledge of the Lord, because it is impossible to surmount this Maya and know Him!
'No, it is not like that', says the Lord.
मामेव ये प्रपद्यंते मायामेतां तरंति ते
'Those who surrender unto Me, take shelter in Me, such people will be able to surmount this Maya'
Grace of the Lord is required, otherwise, it is impossible to get over the Maya thus it is possible to know Him only by those who take complete shelter in Him, surrender everything unto Him and wholly depend on Him.

And what is the easy way to do this?
If we humbly serve and devoutly worship our Gurus, the spiritual masters, then, such a worship done with adoration definitely reaches the Lord. Because, Lord has a special manifestation in the Guru; So, a true devotee understanding that there is a special manifestation of the Lord in his Guru, worships Him. Not only that, a true devotee also knows that such a Guru, who has himself overcome this Maya is a staunch devotee of the Lord, is nothing but a representation of the Lord Himself.
Such a Guru helps the individual overcome the Maya and attain the Lord.