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Krṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead
spiritual existence. In the  Bhagavad-gītā  the whole cosmic manifestation is accepted as the mother of the living entities, and Krṣṇa is the father. As the father impregnates the mother by injecting the living entity within the womb, so all the living entities are injected by Krṣṇa in the womb of the material nature. They come out in different bodies according to their different fruitive activities. In all circumstances, the living entity is aloof from this material conditional life.
If we simply study our own bodies, we can understand how a living entity is always aloof from this bodily encagement. Every action of the body is taking place by the interaction of the three modes of material nature. We can see at every moment many changes taking place in bodies, but the spirit soul is aloof from all changes. One can neither create nor annihilate nor interfere with the actions of material nature. The living entity is therefore entrapped by the material body and is conditioned in three stages, namely while awake, asleep and unconscious. The mind is acting through all the three conditions of life; the living entity in his sleeping or dreaming condition sees something as real, and in his awake condition he sees the same thing as unreal. It is concluded, therefore, that under certain circumstances he accepts something as real, and under other circumstances he accepts the very same thing as unreal. These matters are the subject matter of study for the empiric philosopher or the  sāṅkhya-yogī . In order to come to the right conclusion,  sāṅkhya-yogīs  undergo severe austerities and penances. They practice control of the senses and renunciation.
All these different ways of determining the ultimate goal of life are compared to rivers. Krṣṇa is the ocean. As the rivers flow down toward the ocean, all attempts for knowledge flow toward Krṣṇa. After many, many births of endeavor, when one actually comes to Krṣṇa, he attains the perfectional stage. Krṣṇa says in the  Bhagavad-gītā : All are pursuing the path of realizing Me, but those who have adopted courses without any  bhakti  find their endeavor very troublesome.”  Kleśo’dhikataras teṣām : Krṣṇa cannot be understood unless one comes to the point of  bhakti .
Three paths are enunciated in the  Gītā :  karma-yoga ,  jñāna-yoga  and  bhakti-yoga . Those who are too addicted to fruitive activities are advised to perform actions which will bring them to  bhakti . Those who are addicted to the frustration of empiric philosophy are also advised to realize  bhakti .  Karma-yoga  is different from ordinary  karma , and  jñāna-yoga  is different from  jñāna . Ultimately, as stated by the Lord in the  Bhagavad-gītā ,  bhaktyā mām abhijānāti : only through execution of devotional service can one understand Krṣṇa. The perfectional stage of devotional