Text 19] The Residents of Jambūdvīpa Offer Prayers
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tive actions, cannot maintain his wife, her children, her wealth or her duration of life. Therefore, factually the only real husband of all women is Kṛṣṇa, the supreme husband. Because the  gopīs  were liberated souls, they understood this fact. Therefore they rejected their material husbands and accepted Kṛṣṇa as their real husband. Kṛṣṇa is the real husband not only of the  gopīs , but of every living entity. Everyone should perfectly understand that Kṛṣṇa is the real husband of all living entities, who are described in the  Bhagavad-gītā  as  prakṛti  (female), not  puruṣa  (male). In  Bhagavad-gītā  (10.12), only Kṛṣṇa is addressed as  puruṣa :
paraṁ brahma paraṁ dhāma pavitraṁ paramaṁ bhavān puruṣaṁ śāśvataṁ divyam ādi-devam ajaṁ vibhum
“You are the Supreme Brahman, the ultimate, the supreme abode and purifier, the Absolute Truth and the eternal divine person. You are the primal God, transcendental and original, and You are the unborn and all-pervading beauty.”
Kṛṣṇa is the original  puruṣa , and the living entities are  prakṛti . Thus Kṛṣṇa is the enjoyer, and all living entities are meant to be enjoyed by Him. Therefore any woman who seeks a material husband for her protection, or any man who desires to become the husband of a woman, is under illusion. To become a husband means to maintain a wife and children nicely by supplying wealth and security. However, a material husband cannot possibly do this, for he is dependent on his  karma .  Karmaṇā daiva-netreṇa : his circumstances are determined by his past fruitive activities. Therefore if one proudly thinks he can protect his wife, he is under illusion. Kṛṣṇa is the only husband, and therefore the relationship between a husband and wife in this material world cannot be absolute. Because we have the desire to marry, Kṛṣṇa mercifully allows the so-called husband to possess a wife, and the wife to possess a so-called husband, for mutual satisfaction. In the  Īśopaniṣad  it is said,  tena tyaktena bhuñjithā : the Lord provides everyone with his quota. Actually, however, every living entity is  prakṛti , or female, and Kṛṣṇa is the only husband.