Ādi-līlā, Chapter 7
105
TRANSLATION
“The Lord is like a great blazing fire, and the living entities are like small sparks of that fire.
PURPORT
Although sparks and a big fire are both fire and both have the power to burn, the burning power of the fire and that of the spark are not the same. Why should one artificially try to become like a big fire although by constitution he is like a small spark? It is due to ignorance. One should therefore understand that neither the Supreme Personality of Godhead nor the small sparklike living entities have anything to do with matter, but when the spiritual spark comes in contact with the material world his fiery quality is extinguished. That is the position of the conditioned souls. Because they are in touch with the material world, their spiritual quality is almost dead, but because these spiritual sparks are all Kṛṣṇa’s parts and parcels, as the Lord states in  Bhagavad-gītā  ( mamaivāṁśaḥ ), they can revive their original position by getting free from material contact. This is pure philosophical understanding. In  Bhagavad-gītā  the spiritual sparks are declared to be  sanātana  (eternal); therefore the material energy,  māyā , cannot affect their constitutional position.
Someone may argue, “Why is there a need to create the spiritual sparks?” The answer can be given in this way. Since the Absolute Personality of Godhead is omnipotent, He has both unlimited and limited potencies. This is the meaning of omnipotent. To be omnipotent, He must have not only unlimited potencies but limited potencies also. Thus to exhibit His omnipotency He displays both. The living entities are endowed with limited potency although they are part of the Lord. The Lord displays the spiritual world by His unlimited potencies, whereas by His limited potencies the material world is displayed. In  Bhagavad-gītā  the Lord says:
apareyam itas tv anyāṁ prakṛtiṁ viddhi me parām jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat
“Besides the inferior nature, O mighty-armed Arjuna, there is a superior energy of Mine, which is all living entities who are struggling with material nature and are sustaining the universe.” (Bg. 7.5) The  jīva-bhūta , living entities, control this material world with their limited potencies. Generally, people are bewildered by the activities of scientists and technologists. Due to  māyā  they think that there is no need of God and that they can do everything and anything, but actually they cannot. Since this cosmic manifestation is limited, their existence is also limited. Everything in this material world is limited, and for this reason there is creation, sustenance and dissolution. However, in the world of unlimited energy, the spiritual world, there is neither creation nor destruction.
If the Personality of Godhead did not possess both limited and unlimited energies, He could not be called omnipotent.  Mahato mahīyān aṇuto ‘ṇīyān : He is greater