Page 53 - Metaphysical questions of life

“In this verse the iden ty of the living being is clearly given. The living
en ty is the fragmental part and parcel of the Supreme Lord – eternal-
ly. It is not that he assumes individuality in his condi onal life and in his
liberated state becomes one with the Supreme Lord. He is eternally
fragmented. It is clearly said, sanātanaḥ. According to the Vedic ver-
sion, the Supreme Lord manifests and expands Himself in innumerable
expansions, of which the primary expansions are called viṣṇu-
ta va and the secondary expansions are called the living en es. In
other words, the viṣṇu-ta va is the personal expansion, and the living
en es are the separated expansions. By His personal expansion, He is
manifested in various forms like Lord Rāma, Nṛsiṁha-deva, Viṣṇumūr
and all the predomina ng Dei es in the Vaikuṇṭha planets. The sepa-
rated expansions, the living en es, are eternally servitors. The person-
al expansions of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the individual
iden es of the Godhead, are always present. Similarly, the separated
expansions of living en es have their iden es. As fragmental parts
and parcels of the Supreme Lord, the living en es also have fragmen-
tal por ons of His quali es, of which independence is one. Every living
en ty, as an individual soul, has his personal individuality and a minute
form of independence. By misuse of that independence one becomes a
condi oned soul, and by proper use of independence he is always liber-
ated. In either case, he is qualita vely eternal, as the Supreme Lord is.
In his liberated state he is freed from this material condi on, and he is
under the engagement of transcendental service unto the Lord; in his
condi oned life he is dominated by the material modes of nature, and
he forgets the transcendental loving service of the Lord. As a result, he
has to struggle very hard to maintain his existence in the material
world.”

“The living en es, not only human beings and the cats and dogs, but
even the greater controllers of the material world – Brahmā, Lord Śiva
and even Viṣṇu – are all parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord. They
are all eternal, not temporary manifesta ons. The
word karṣa (“struggling” or “grappling hard”) is very significant. The
condi oned soul is bound up, as though shackled by iron chains. He is
bound up by the false ego, and the mind is the chief agent which is driv-
ing him in this material existence. When the mind is in the mode of
goodness, his ac vi es are good; when the mind is in the mode of pas-

53