Prabhupāda: So there were six questions by Arjuna: kṣetra, kṣetra-jña, jñānam, jñeyam, prakṛti, puruṣa. Six questions. So Kṛṣṇa has already replied what is kṣetra, kṣetra-jña, and what is the process of knowledge and what is the object of knowledge. Now He is beginning to explain what is this material nature and what is these living entities.
Material nature, prakṛti, is enjoyable. Prakṛti means enjoyable. And puruṣa, puruṣa means enjoyer. Just like in our present condition we accept the female as the fair sex, enjoyable. And we, male, we think we are enjoyer. By nature the females, they are by nature apt to dress attractively, and the puruṣa is attracted. So this prakṛti and puruṣa. Actually, none of us are puruṣa. This conception of puruṣa, enjoyer, that is there in so-called woman and so-called man. The man also wants to enjoy. Not only man; every living entity—cats, dogs, trees, aquatics, everyone. Because this material world means all the living entities, beginning from Lord Brahmā down to the smallest ant, they are seeking after enjoyment. Puruṣa. That is puruṣa spirit. One who is seeking for enjoyment is called puruṣa.
But actual puruṣa is Kṛṣṇa. We are all prakṛtis. And because, being prakṛti, we are trying to become puruṣa, that is called māyā, or illusion. Just like if a woman dresses like a man and wants to act as man, as that is illusion, similarly, we are differently dressed in the material ingredient, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). Everyone's body is made of these five elements, and mind, intelligence, they are also subtle material elements, and with this combination we have got this body, and I am the spirit soul, I am trying to enjoy. This is material world. We have forgotten that we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Our business is not to enjoy but to help Kṛṣṇa to enjoy. That is our business, part and parcel. We have given several times this example: just like these fingers, they are my part and parcel of the body. The finger catches a nice sweetmeat. It is not the business of the fingers to enjoy the sweetmeat, but it gives to the mouth to go to the stomach for enjoyment.
So it is the duty of the part and parcel of God to help Him enjoying. That is bhakti. Bhakti means ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam (CC Madhya 19.167). Anukūla. Anukūla means favorably, kṛṣṇānuśīlanam, Kṛṣṇa consciousness—always thinking how to make Kṛṣṇa happy. That is bhakti. Ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam. Just like gopīs. The first-class example are the gopīs or the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana. They are all trying to make Kṛṣṇa happy. That is Vṛndāvana. If here also, if you try to make Kṛṣṇa happy, this can be converted into Vṛndāvana, Vaikuṇṭha. But that attitude we haven't got. We have got . . . by the influence of māyā, we have become puruṣa. We want to enjoy. "Why this Kṛṣṇa shall enjoy? I shall enjoy. I am Kṛṣṇa. I am God." This is going on.
So the enjoyable is this matter, this material world, and the living entities, they are trying to enjoy. They are not actually enjoyer. They are suffering. They are becoming entangled, because by this enjoying spirit we are developing different types of mentality, and at the time of death, according to that mentality, I get the next body. That means by this enjoying spirit I am getting entangled. I am not becoming free. If at the time of . . . if I live like dogs, dog mentality, then naturally at the time of death my mentality will be like a dog, and naturally I get a dog's body. Then I enjoy. The dog is also enjoying. They forget. The animals . . . the ant is also enjoying, and Lord Brahmā is also enjoying. So this puruṣa spirit is material life.
So that puruṣa . . . puruṣa means the living entity. Kṛṣṇa says here that prakṛtiṁ puruṣaṁ caiva viddhy anādī. Anādī, eternal. It is not temp . . . it is not temporary; it is eternal. There are five things: the living entities, the prakṛti, God, and the work . . . there are . . . prakṛtiṁ puruṣaṁ caiva viddhy anādī. Anādī means eternal. It is not created. It is , but it becomes manifested. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19).
Another example: just like this body, my body, your body. I have got this body; you have got this body. This body will be destroyed. Avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. But my that consciousness will not be destroyed. This body will be destroyed, but my consciousness will not be destroyed. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā: avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. Idaṁ tatam. Idam, this body, is spread with consciousness. If you pinch any part of your body, you will become conscious that it is painful. But how long it is painful? So long the soul is there. And as soon as the soul is gone, you chop it with a dagger; it will not respond. Therefore, avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. That thing, that consciousness, is avināśi.
The so-called scientists, they do not know that the consciousness is eternal and it carries me to another body, "I see that this body is destroyed; therefore finish, all finished." No. You have got practical experience. When you sleep, the body does not work but the consciousness works. You therefore dream in a different atmosphere. You get a different body and enjoy differently. Every day we have got experience. At night I forget this body, and daytime, I forget the dreaming body. So this is also dreaming, at daytime, because I forget.
At night I saw that I was a king, I was ruling over somebody, or I was lecturing as a political leader, and daytime I see that I am a clerk, neither politician nor king. So I forget the night's body, and at night I forget the day's body. Similarly, change of body means I forget this body. Last life, I had some body, but I cannot say what kind of body I had. Of course, there is science, astronomy and other things; they can speak, but I don't believe it. Or even if I believe, what can I do with that? So we are changing. But the consciousness is not vināśi. Avināśi tu tad viddhi yena sarvam idaṁ tatam. So because the consciousness is not changed, it is creating another body according to consciousness.
Just like we create favorable circumstances to enjoy even in this life. Why this struggle for existence? We are trying to make a favorable condition for enjoyment. This is struggle for existence. Nobody is satisfied with the present position. Everyone is struggling hard. But he does not know that any material arrangement according to my intelligence will never make me happy. That we do not know. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says: "You rascal, nonsense, give up this business." Sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66). "You are rascal number one. You have forgotten your constitutional position. Now you give up all these engagements if you want to be happy." Mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja. "Just be under My control." "And what benefit I shall derive?" Ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ: "I'll give you protection." Because you're suffering for your sinful activities . . . everything is sinful activities. Everything.
Just like a gang of thieves. A gang of thieves, after plundering booties from some gentleman's house, they came outside the village, and they were dividing. So one of the thieves is saying: "Sir, let us divide it honestly. Let us divide the booty honestly." Now, their basic principle is dishonesty, and now they want to divide honestly. So all these rascals, politician, they are all dishonest, and they are trying to make adjustment honestly. Honestly. What is this honesty? There cannot be honesty. Harāv abhaktasya kuto mahad-guṇāḥ. Anyone who is not a devotee of the Lord, he cannot be possessing any good qualities. That is not possible. He must be dishonest if he is a not devotee of the Lord. He must be dishonest. This is the verdict of the śāstras.