272 Srimad-Bhagavatam [Canto 7, Ch. 15
regulative principles of the scriptures, consisting of injunctions
and prohibitions, are recommended.

PURPORT

In material existence there are many regulative principles and for-
malities. If material existence is temporary or false, this does not mean
that the spiritual world, although similar, is also false. That one’s ma-
terial body is false or temporary does not mean that the body of the
Supreme Lord is also false or temporary. The spiritual world is real, and
the material world is similar to it. For example, in the desert we some-
times find a mirage, but although the water in a mirage is false, this does
not mean that there is no water in reality; water exists, but not in the
desert. Similarly, nothing real is in this material world, but reality is in
the spiritual world. The Lord’s form and His abode—Goloka Vrndavana
in the Vaikuntha planets—are eternal realities.

From Bhagavad-gitd we understand that there is another prakrti, or
nature, which is real. This is explained by the Lord Himself in the Eighth
Chapter of Bhagavad-gita (8.19-21):

bhita-gramah sa evayam
bhitva bhitva praliyate
ratry-dgame ’vasah partha
prabhavaty ahar-dgame
paras tasmat tu bhavo ’nyo
*vyakto ’vyaktat sandtanah
yah sa sarvesu bhiitesu
nasyatsu na vinasyati
avyakto ’ksara ity uktas
tam ahuh paramam gatim
yam prapya na nivartante
tad dhama paramam mama
“‘Again and again the day of Brahma comes, and all living beings are ac-
tive; and again the night falls, O Partha, and they are helplessly dis-
solved. Yet there is another nature, which is eternal and is transcendental
