Introduction 25
offered to Him in devotion. The latter statements definitely suggest the
personal features of the Lord, although His hands and legs are distinguished
from mundane hands and legs or other senses.

“Brahman is, therefore, never impersonal, but when such mantras are

“ indirectly interpreted, it is wrongly thought that the Absolute Truth is
impersonal. The Absolute Truth Personality of Godhead is full of all
opulences, and therefore He has a transcendental form of full existence,
knowledge and bliss. How then can one establish that the Absolute Truth
is impersonal?

“Brahman, being full of opulences, is understood to have manifold
energies, and all these energies are classified under three headings under
the authority of Visnu Purdna (6.7.60), which says that the transcendental
energies of Lord Visnu are primarily three. His spiritual energy, as well as
the energy of the living entities, are classified as superior energy, whereas
the material energy is an inferior one which is sprouted out of ignorance.

“The energy of the living entities is technically called ksetrajna energy.
This ksetrajfia-sakti, although equal in quality with the Lord, becomes
overpowered by material energy out of ignorance and thus suffers all sorts
of material miseries. In other words, the living entities are located in the
marginal energy between the superior spiritual and inferior material
energy, and in proportion to the living being’s contact with either the
material or spiritual energies, the living entity is situated in proportionately
higher and lower levels of existence.

“The Lord is beyond the inferior and marginal energies as above men-
tioned, and His spiritual energy is manifested in three different phases: as
eternal existence, eternal bliss and eternal knowledge. As far as eternal
existence is concerned, it is conducted by the sandhini potency; similarly,
bliss and knowledge are conducted by the hladhini and sarhvit potencies
respectively. As the supreme energetic Lord, He is the supreme controller
of the spiritual, marginal and material energies. And all these different
types of energies are connected with the Lord in eternal devotional service.

“The Supreme Personality of Godhead is thus enjoying in His transcen-
dental eternal form. Is it not astounding that one dares to call the Supreme
Lord nonenergetic? The Lord is the controller of all energies, and the
living entities are parts and parcels of one of the energies. Therefore there
is a gulf of difference between the Lord and the living entities. How then
can one say that the Lord and the living entities are one and the same? In
the Bhagavad-gita also the living entities are described as belonging to the
superior energy of the Lord. According to the principles of intimate
