38
On the Way to Kṛṣṇa
satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ 
    yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ 
    namasyantaś ca māṁ bhaktyā 
    nitya-yuktā upāsate
“O son of Pṛthā, those who are not deluded, the great souls, are under the protection of the divine nature. They are fully engaged in devotional service because they know Me as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, original and inexhaustible. Always chanting My glories, endeavoring with great determination, bowing down before Me, these great souls perpetually worship Me with devotion.” (Bg.9.13-14).
Who is the great soul, the  mahātmā ? It is he who is under the influence of the superior energy. At present we are under the influence of Kṛṣṇa’s inferior energy. As living entities, our position is marginal—we can transfer ourselves to either of the two energies. Kṛṣṇa is fully independent, and because we are part and parcel of Him we also have this quality of independence. Therefore we have a choice as to which energy we will function under. Because we are ignorant of the superior nature, we have no alternative but to remain in the inferior nature.
Some philosophies propound that there is no nature other than the one we are presently experiencing and that the only solution to this is to nullify it and become void. But we cannot be void because we are living entities. It does not mean that we are finished just because we change our bodies. Before we can get out from the influence of material nature, we have