Your President Kennedy was going in a procession, and the time came, and he had to leave everything at once, at once, without any hesitation. You cannot hesitate. So we are in the grip of the material nature. However we may declare ourself that we are independent, we are not independent. We are dependent, completely dependent. We may foolishly mislead ourself by the sense of independence. No. You are not independent. You are completely under the control of the material nature. Daivi hy esa gunamayi mama maya duratyaya. The material nature is so strong that it is very difficult to get out of the entanglement.

Srila Prabhupada; lecture on Bhagavad-gita 4.9-11, New York, July 25, 1966