Text 24]
Nature, the Eniover, and Consciousness
649
maintainer. There are innumerable living entities, and He is staying in them as a friend
The fact is that individual living entities are eternally part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, and both of them are very intimately related as friends. But the living entity has the tendency to reject the sanction of the Supreme Lord and act independently in an attempt to dominate the supreme nature, and because he has this tendency, he is called the marginal energy of the Supreme Lord. The living entity can be situated either in the material energy or the spiritual energy. As long as he is conditioned by the material energy, the Supreme Lord, as his friend, the Supersoul, stays with him just to get him to return to the spiritual energy. The Lord is always eager to take him back to the spiritual energy, but due to his minute independence, the individual entity is continually rejecting the association of spiritual light. This misuse of independence is the cause of his material strife in the conditioned nature. The Lord, therefore, is always giving instruction from within and from without. From without He gives instructions as stated in  Bhagavad-gītā , and from within He tries to convince him that his activities in the material field are not conducive to real happiness. “Just give it up and turn your faith toward Me. Then you will be happy,” He says. Thus the intelligent person who places his faith in the Paramātmā or the Supreme Personality of Godhead begins to advance toward a blissful eternal life of knowledge.
TEXT 24
य एवं वेत्ति पुरुषं प्रकृतिं च गुणैः सह । सर्वथा वर्तमानोऽपि न स भ्रूयोऽभिजायते ॥२४॥
ya evam vetti puruṣam prakṛtim ca guṇaiḥ saha sarvathā vartaṃāno’pi na sa bhūyo’bhijāyate
yaḥ —anyone;  evam —thus;  vetti —understands;  puruṣam —the living entities;  prakṛtim —material nature;  ca —and;  guṇaiḥ —modes of material nature;  saha —with;  sarvathā —by all means;  vartamānaḥ —situated;  api —in spite of;  na —never;  saḥ —he;  bhūyaḥ —again;  abhijāyate —takes his birth.