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Rāja-vidyā: The King of Knowledge
Such  mahātmās  are not under the control of material nature ( mahātmānas tu mām pārtha daivīm prakṛtim āśritāḥ ). God is great and the  mahātmā 's heart also becomes great by serving the great.  Mahātmā  is not a stamp for a political leader. One cannot be stamped  mahātmā  by votes. The standard for  mahātmā  is given in  Bhagavad-gītā : the  mahātmā  is he who has taken shelter of the superior energy of the Lord. Of course all energies are His, and He does not make distinctions between spiritual energy and material energy, but for the conditioned soul who is situated marginally between material energy and spiritual energy, there is a distinction. The  mahātmās  see this distinction and so take shelter under the spiritual energy ( daivīm prakṛtim ).
By serving the great, the  mahātmās  also become great through identifying with the superior energy: ( aham brahmāsmi ) "I am Brahman—spirit." It is not that they become puffed up and think that they are God. Rather, if one becomes Brahman, he must show his activities in Brahman. Spirit is active, and to become Brahman is not to become inactive. Brahman is spirit, and these material bodies are active only because Brahman is within them. If we are active despite our contact with material nature, do we cease to be active when we purify ourselves of the material contamination and establish ourselves in our proper identity as pure Brahman? Realizing "I am Brahman" means engagement in spiritual activity because we are spirit, and our activities are exhibited even though we are contaminated by matter. To become Brahman does not mean to become void but to establish ourselves in the superior nature, which means