Mantra Seven 37

PURPORT

Except for the two more advanced devotees described above,
no one can correctly see the spiritual position of a living being.
The living entities are qualitatively one with the Supreme Lord,
as the sparks of the fire are qualitatively one with the nature of
the fire. But sparks are not fire as far as quantity is concerned.
The quantity of heat and light present in the fire is not equal to
the quantity of heat and light in the sparks. The Mahabhagavata,
the great devotee, sees oneness in the sense that everything is the
energy of the Supreme Lord. And as there is no difference
between the energy and the energetic, there is the sense of
oneness. Without heat and light there is no meaning of fire, and
yet heat and light from the analytical point of view are different
from fire. But in synthesis, heat, light, and fire are all the same
one thing.

The Sanskrit words found here, ekatvam anupasyatah, mean
to see the unity of the living entities from the viewpoint of the
revealed Scriptures. Every individual spark of the Supreme Whole
has almost eighty per cent of the known qualities of the Whole,
but they are not as good as the Supreme Lord. These qualities
are present in minute quantity, as the living entily is but a
minute part and parcel of the Supreme Whole. This is like the
drop of water and the ocean: The quantity of salt present in the
drop is never comparable to the quantity of salt present in the
complete ocean. But the quality of the salt present in the drop is
equal in quality, in chemical composilion, with that present
in the ocean.

If the individual living being were equal both in quality and
in quantity, then there would be no question of the living
entity’s being submerged by the influence of material energy.
It has already been discussed in previous mantras that no living
being, even the powerful demigods, can surpass the Supreme
Being in any respect. Therefore ekatvam does not mean that a
living being is equal in all respects with the Supreme Lord. It
