152
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
[Canto 5, Ch. 17]
scholars are ludicrously trying to find the cause of life. They take no notice of the fact that life is already being produced. What will be their credit if they find out the chemical composition of life? All their chemicals are nothing but different transformations of the five elements—earth, water, fire, air and ether. As stated in  Bhagavad-gītā  (2.20), the living entity is never created ( na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin ). There are five gross material elements and three minor material elements (mind, intelligence and ego), and there are eternal living entities. The living entity desires a certain type of body, and by the order of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that body is created from material nature, which is nothing but a kind of machine handled by the Supreme Lord. The Lord gives the living entity a particular type of mechanical body, and the living entity must work with it according to the law of fruitive activities. Fruitive activities are described in this verse:  karma-parvanīṁ māyām . The living entity is seated on a machine (the body), and according to the order of the Supreme Lord, he operates the machine. This is the secret of transmigration of the soul from one body to another. The living entity thus becomes entangled in fruitive activities in this material world. As confirmed in  Bhagavad-gītā  (15.7),  manaḥ ṣaṣṭhānīndriyāṇi prakṛti-sthāni karṣati : the living entity is struggling very hard against the six senses, which include the mind.
In all the activities of creation and annihilation, the living entity is entangled in fruitive activities, which are executed by the illusory energy,  māyā . He is exactly like a computer handled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The so-called scientists say that nature acts independently, but they cannot explain what nature is. Nature is nothing but a machine operated by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When one understands the operator, his problems of life are solved. As Kṛṣṇa says in  Bhagavad-gītā  (7.19):
bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ
“After many births and deaths, he who is actually in knowledge surrenders unto Me, knowing Me to be the cause of all causes and all that is.