Mantra Seven
37
PURPORT
Except for the two more advanced devotees described above, no one can correctly see the spiritual position of a living being. The living entities are qualitatively one with the Supreme Lord, as the sparks of the fire are qualitatively one with the nature of the fire. But sparks are not fire as far as quantity is concerned. The quantity of heat and light present in the fire is not equal to the quantity of heat and light in the sparks. The  Mahābhāgavata , the great devotee, sees oneness in the sense that everything is the energy of the Supreme Lord. And as there is no difference between the energy and the energetic, there is the sense of oneness. Without heat and light there is no meaning of fire, and yet heat and light from the analytical point of view are different from fire. But in synthesis, heat, light, and fire are all the same one thing.
The Sanskrit words found here,  ekatvam anupaśyataḥ , mean to see the unity of the living entities from the viewpoint of the revealed Scriptures. Every individual spark of the Supreme Whole has almost eighty per cent of the known qualities of the Whole, but they are not as good as the Supreme Lord. These qualities are present in minute quantity, as the living entity is but a minute part and parcel of the Supreme Whole. This is like the drop of water and the ocean: The quantity of salt present in the drop is never comparable to the quantity of salt present in the complete ocean. But the quality of the salt present in the drop is equal in quality, in chemical composition, with that present in the ocean.
If the individual living being were equal both in quality and in quantity, then there would be no question of the living entity's being submerged by the influence of material energy. It has already been discussed in previous  mantras  that no living being, even the powerful demigods, can surpass the Supreme Being in any respect. Therefore  ekatvam  does not mean that a living being is equal in all respects with the Supreme Lord. It