Text 22]
Puruṣa-sūkta Confirmed
297
there is no forgetfulness by the living entities, who are free from all kinds of contaminations resulting from the forgetful state of existence. The material body is the symbol of the gross and subtle form of forgetfulness; therefore the whole atmosphere of the material world is called  avidyā , or nescience, and similarly the whole atmosphere of the spiritual world is called  vidyā , or full of knowledge. There are different stages of  avidyā , and they are called  dharma ,  artha , and  mokṣa . The idea of  mokṣa , or liberation, held by the monist in the matter of oneness of the living entity and the Lord by ultimate merging in one, is also the last stage of materialism or forgetfulness. To acquire the knowledge of qualitative oneness of the self and Superself is partial knowledge and ignorance also because there is no knowledge in the matter of quantitative difference, as explained above. The individual self can never be equal to the Lord in cognizance, otherwise he could not be placed in the state of forgetfulness. So, because there is a stage of forgetfulness of the individual selves, or the living entities, there is always a gulf of difference between the Lord and the living entity, as between the part and the whole. The part is never equal to the whole. So the conception of one hundred percent equality of the living being with the Lord is also nescience.
In the field of nescience, activities are directed toward lording it over the creation. In the material world, therefore, everyone is engaged in acquiring material opulence to lord it over the material world. Therefore there is always clash and frustration, which are the symptoms of nescience. But in the field of knowledge, there is devotional service of the Lord ( bhakti ). Therefore there is no chance of being contaminated by the influence of nescience or forgetfulness ( avidyā ) in the liberated stage of devotional activities. The Lord is thus the proprietor both of the fields of nescience and of cognition, and it remains the choice of the living entity to exist in either of the above regions.
TEXT 22
यस्मादण्डं विराद् जज्ञे भूतेन्द्रियगुणात्मकः । तद् द्रव्यमत्यगाद् विश्वं गोभिः सूर्य इवातपन् ॥२२॥
yasmād aṇḍaṁ virāḍ jajñe bhūtendriya-guṇātmakaḥ tad dravyam atyagād viśvaṁ gobhiḥ sūrya ivātapan