198 Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead

its dissolution, everything is but a different manifestation of My energy.
And because the energy is not separate from Me, it is to be concluded that
I am existing in everything.

“In the same way, the body of a living being is nothing but a compo-
sition of the five elements, and the living entity embodied in the material
condition is also part and parcel of Me. The living entity is imprisoned in
the material condition on account of his false conception of himself as the
supreme enjoyer. This false ego of the living entity is the cause of his
imprisonment in material existence. As the Supreme Absolute Truth, I am
transcendental to the living entity, as well as to his material embodiment.
The two energies, material and spiritual, are both acting under My supreme
control. My dear gopis, I request that instead of being so afflicted, you try
to accept everything with a philosophical attitude. Then you will under-
stand that you are always with Me and that there is no cause of lamentation
in our being separated from one another.”

This important instruction of Lord Krsna’s to the gopis can be utilized
by all devotees engaged in Krsna consciousness. The whole philosophy is
considered on the basis of inconceivable, simultaneous oneness and dif-
ference. In Bhagavad-gita the Lord says that He is present everywhere in
His impersonal feature. Everything is existing in Him, but still He is not
personally present everywhere. The cosmic manifestation is nothing but a
display of Krsna’s energy, and because the energy is not different from the
energetic, nothing is different from Krsna. When this absolute conscious-
ness, Krsna consciousness, is absent, we are separated from Krsna; but
fortunately, if this Krsna consciousness is present, then we are not separated
from Krsna. The process of devotional service is the revival of Krsna
consciousness, and if the devotee is fortunate enough to understand that
the material energy is not separated from Krsna, then he can utilize the
material energy and its products in the service of the Lord. But in the
absence of Krsna consciousness, the forgetful living entity, although part
and parcel of Krsna, falsely puts himself in the position of enjoyer of the
material world and, being thus implicated in material entanglement, is
forced by the material energy to continue his material existence. This is
also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita. Although a living entity is forced to
act by the material energy, he falsely thinks that he is the all-in-all and the
supreme enjoyer.

If the devotee knows perfectly that the arcd-vigraha, or Deity form of
Lord Krsna in the temple, is exactly the same sac-cid-ananda-vigraha as
Krsna Himself, then his service to the temple Deity becomes direct service
to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Similarly, the temple itself, the
