362 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 5, Ch. 23
“The external potency, mdyd, who is of the nature of the shadow of the
cit [spiritual] potency, is worshiped by all people as Durga, the creating,
preserving and destroying agency of this mundane world. | adore the
primeval Lord Govinda, in accordance with whose will Durga conducts
herself.” Material nature, the external energy of the Supreme Lord, is
also known as Durga, or the female energy that protects the great fort of
this universe. The word Durga also means fort. This universe is just like
a great fort in which all the conditioned souls are kept, and they cannot
leave it unless they are liberated by the mercy of the Supreme Per-
sonality of Godhead. The Lord Himself declares in Bhagavad-gita (4.9):
janma karma ca me divyam
evar yo vetti tattvatah
tyaktva deham punar janma
naiti mam eti so ’rjuna
‘One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and ac-
tivities does not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this
material world, but attains My eternal abode, O Arjuna.” Thus simply by
Krsna consciousness, by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, one can be liberated, or, in other words, one can be released
from the great fort of this universe and go outside it to the spiritual
world.

It is also significant that the predominating deities of even the greatest
planets have been offered their exalted posts because of the very valu-
able pious activities they performed in previous births. This is indicated
herein by the words karma-nirmita-gatayah. For example, as we have
previously discussed, the moon is called jiva, which means that he is a
living entity like us, but because of his pious activities he has been ap-
pointed to his post as the moon-god. Similarly, all the demigods are living
entities who have been appointed to their various posts as the masters of
the moon, the earth, Venus and so on because of their great service and
pious acts. Only the predominating deity of the sun, Surya Narayana, is
an incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Maharaja
Dhruva, the predominating deity of Dhruvaloka, is also a living entity.
Thus there are two kinds of entities—the supreme entity, the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, and the ordinary living entity, the jiva (nityo
