Text 22] What Prahlada Learned in the Womb 67
(taste), gandha (smell), Sabda (sound) and sparsa (touch). Within the
earth are the fragrance of roses, the taste of sweet fruit, and whatever
else we want. As stated in Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.10.4), sarva-kama-
dugha mahi: the earth (mahi) contains all our requirements. Thus the
objects of sense perception are all present in bhimi, or the earth. The
gross material elements and subtle material elements (mind, intelligence
and ahankara, false ego) constitute the total material energy.

Within the total material energy are the three material modes or
qualities. These qualities—sattva-guna, rajo-guna and tamo-guna—
belong not to the soul but to the material energy. It is because of the in-
teraction of these three material modes of nature that the five
knowledge-gathering senses, the five working senses and their con-
troller, the mind, are manifested. Then, according to these modes, the
living entity gets the opportunity to perform different types of karma
with different types of knowledge, thinking, feeling and willing. Thus
the bodily machine begins to work.

This has all been properly analyzed in sa@rkhya-yoga by the great
Gcdryas, especially by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, in
His incarnation as Devahiti-putra Kapila. This is indicated here by the
word dcaryaih. We need not follow anyone who is not an authorized
Gcarya. Acaryavan puruso veda: one can understand the truth fully
when he has taken shelter of an expert dcdrya.

The living entity is individual, but the body is a composition of many
material elements. This is proved by the fact that as soon as the living
entity quits this combination of material elements, it becomes a mere
conglomeration of matter. The matter is qualitatively one, and the spiri-
tual soul is qualitatively one with the Supreme. The Supreme is one, and
the individual soul is one, but the individual soul is understood to be the
master of the individual combination of material energy, whereas the
Supreme Lord is the controller of the total material energy. The living
entity is the master of his particular body, and according to his activities
he is subjected to different types of pains and pleasures. However, al-
though the Supreme Person, the Paramatmi, is also one, He is present as
an individual in all the different bodies.

The material energy is in fact divided into twenty-four elements. The
individual soul, the owner of the individual body, is a twenty-fifth sub-
ject, and above everything is Lord Visnu as Paramatma, the supreme
