Adi-lila, Chapter 5 431

causing the material manifestation) it makes the conditioned soul unable to under-
stand the real truth of creation. When a living entity is liberated, however, from the
conditional life of matter, he can understand the two different activities of material
nature, namely covering and bewildering.

The origin of creation is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As confirmed in
Bhagavad-gita (9.10), the cosmic manifestation is working under the direction of
the Supreme Lord, who invests the material energy with three material qualities.
Agitated by these qualities, the elements supplied by the material energy produce
varieties of things, just as an artist produces varieties of pictures by mixing the three
colors red, yellow and blue. Yellow represents the quality of goodness, red repre-
sents passion, and blue represents ignorance. Therefore the colorful material creation
is but an interaction of these three qualities, represented in eighty-one varieties of
mixtures (3 x 3 equalling 9, 9 x 9 thus equalling 81). Deluded by material
energy, the conditioned soul, enamored by these eighty-one varieties of manifesta-
tions, wants to lord it over material energy, just as a fly wants to enjoy a fire. This
illusion is the net result of the conditioned soul’s forgetfulness of his eternal rela-
tionship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When conditioned, the soul is
impelled by the material energy to engage in sense gratification, whereas one en-
lightened by the spiritual energy engages himself in the service of the Supreme Lord
in his eternal relationship.

Kysna is the original cause of the spiritual world, and He is the covered cause of
the material manifestation. He is also the original cause of the marginal potency, the
living entities. He is both the leader and maintainer of the living entities, who are
called marginal potency because they can act under the protection of the spiritual
energy or under the cover of the material energy. With the help of the spiritual
energy we can understand that independence is visible only in Krsna, who by His
inconceivable energy is able to act in any way He likes.

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the Absolute Whole, and the living entities
are parts of the Absolute Whole. This relationship of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead and the living entities is eternal. One should never mistakenly think that
the spiritual whole can be divided into small parts by the small material energy.
Bhagavad-gitd does not support this Mayavada theory. Rather, it clearly states that
the living entities are eternally small fragments of the supreme spiritual whole. Asa
part can never be equal with the whole, so a living entity, as a minute fragment of
the spiritual whole, cannot be equal at any time to the Supreme Whole, the
absolute Personality of Godhead. Although the Supreme Lord and the living entities
are quantitatively related as the whole and the parts, the parts are nevertheless
qualitatively one with the whole. Thus the living entities, although always qualita-
tively one with the Supreme Lord, are in a relative position. The Supreme
Personality of Godhead is the controller of everything, and the living entities are
always controlled either by the spiritual energy or by the material energy. Therefore
a living entity can never become the controller of material or spiritual energies. The
natural position of the living being is always as a subordinate of the Supreme Per-
sonality of Godhead. When one agrees to act in such a position, he attains perfection
in life, but if one rebels against this principle, he is in the conditioned state.
