View source for Constitutional position of the living entity (CC and other books)

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{{terms|"constitutional position of a living entity"|"constitutional position of all living entities"|"constitutional position of all living entities"|"constitutional position of every living entity"|"constitutional position of the infinitesimal living entities"|"constitutional position of the living entities"|"constitutional position of the living entity"|"living entities are spiritual sparks, and their constitutional position"|"living entity can understand his constitutional position"|"living entity forgets his constitutional position"|"living entity in his original constitutional position"|"living entity’s constitutional position"}}
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[[Category:Constitutional Position Of The Living Entity|1]]
[[Category:Compilations from Books]]
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<div id="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta" class="section" sec_index="2" parent="compilation" text="Sri Caitanya-caritamrta"><h2>Sri Caitanya-caritamrta</h2>
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<div id="CC_Adi-lila" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta" text="CC Adi-lila"><h3>CC Adi-lila</h3>
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<div id="CCAdi191_0" class="quote" parent="CC_Adi-lila" book="CC" index="86" link="CC Adi 1.91" link_text="CC Adi 1.91">
<div class="heading">It is the constitutional position of the living entity to be situated in this pure consciousness. Any so-called religious process that interferes with this unadulterated spiritual position of the living being must therefore be considered a pretentious process of religiosity.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Adi 1.91|CC Adi 1.91, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The first and foremost concern of fruitive workers, elevationists, empiric philosophers and salvationists is to raise their material position. But devotees of Godhead have no such selfish desires. They serve the Supreme Lord only for His satisfaction. Śrī Arjuna, wanting to satisfy his senses by becoming a so-called nonviolent and pious man, at first decided not to fight. But when he was fully situated in the principles of bhāgavata-dharma, culminating in complete surrender unto the will of the Supreme Lord, he changed his decision and agreed to fight for the satisfaction of the Lord. He then said:</p>
:naṣṭo mohaḥ smṛtir labdhā
:tvat-prasādān mayācyuta
:sthito ’smi gata-sandehaḥ
:kariṣye vacanaṁ tava
<p>"My dear Kṛṣṇa, O infallible one, my illusion is now gone. I have regained my memory by Your mercy. I am now firm and free from doubt and am prepared to act according to Your instructions." ([[Vanisource:BG 18.73 (1972)|BG 18.73]]) It is the constitutional position of the living entity to be situated in this pure consciousness. Any so-called religious process that interferes with this unadulterated spiritual position of the living being must therefore be considered a pretentious process of religiosity.</p>
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<div id="CCAdi194_1" class="quote" parent="CC_Adi-lila" book="CC" index="89" link="CC Adi 1.94" link_text="CC Adi 1.94">
<div class="heading">The living entities are spiritual sparks, and their constitutional position is to render devotional service to the Supreme Lord in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Adi 1.94|CC Adi 1.94, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The poetical comparison of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda to the sun and moon is very significant. The living entities are spiritual sparks, and their constitutional position is to render devotional service to the Supreme Lord in full Kṛṣṇa consciousness. So-called pious activities and other ritualistic performances, pious or impious, as well as the desire to escape from material existence, are all considered to be coverings of these spiritual sparks. The living entities must get free from these superfluous coverings and fully engage in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The purpose of the appearance of Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda is to dispel the darkness of the soul. Before Their appearance, all these superfluous activities of the living entities were covering Kṛṣṇa consciousness, but after the appearance of these two brothers, people's hearts are becoming cleansed, and they are again becoming situated in the real position of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.</p>
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<div id="CCAdi434_2" class="quote" parent="CC_Adi-lila" book="CC" index="370" link="CC Adi 4.34" link_text="CC Adi 4.34">
<div class="heading">Special natural appreciation of the descriptions of a particular pastime of Godhead indicates the constitutional position of a living entity.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Adi 4.34|CC Adi 4.34, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">Special natural appreciation of the descriptions of a particular pastime of Godhead indicates the constitutional position of a living entity. Adoration, servitorship, friendship, parental affection and conjugal love are the five primary relationships with Kṛṣṇa. The highest perfectional stage of the conjugal relationship, enriched by many sentiments, gives the maximum relishable mellow to the devotee.</p>
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<div id="CCAdi685_3" class="quote" parent="CC_Adi-lila" book="CC" index="915" link="CC Adi 6.85" link_text="CC Adi 6.85">
<div class="heading">Service to the Supreme Lord, Lord Caitanya, is the constitutional position of the infinitesimal living entities.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Adi 6.85|CC Adi 6.85, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">When a living entity forgets his constitutional position, he prepares himself to be an enjoyer of the material resources. Sometimes he is also misguided by the thought that service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead is not absolute engagement. In other words, he thinks that there are many other engagements for a living entity besides the service of the Lord. Such a foolish person does not know that in any position he either directly or indirectly engages in activities of service to the Supreme Lord. Actually, if a person does not engage in the service of the Lord, all inauspicious activities encumber him because service to the Supreme Lord, Lord Caitanya, is the constitutional position of the infinitesimal living entities. Because the living entity is infinitesimal, the allurement of material enjoyment attracts him, and he tries to enjoy matter, forgetting his constitutional position. But when his dormant Kṛṣṇa consciousness is awakened, he no longer engages in the service of matter but engages in the service of the Lord. In other words, when one is forgetful of his constitutional position, he appears in the position of the lord of material nature. Even at that time he remains a servant of the Supreme Lord, but in an unqualified or contaminated state.</p>
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<div id="CC_Madhya-lila" class="sub_section" sec_index="2" parent="Sri_Caitanya-caritamrta" text="CC Madhya-lila"><h3>CC Madhya-lila</h3>
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<div id="CCMadhya1206_0" class="quote" parent="CC_Madhya-lila" book="CC" index="205" link="CC Madhya 1.206" link_text="CC Madhya 1.206">
<div class="heading">Every living entity is an eternal servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the constitutional position of all living entities.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Madhya 1.206|CC Madhya 1.206, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">In His teachings to Sanātana Gosvāmī, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has declared every living entity to be an eternal servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the constitutional position of all living entities. Just as a dog or servant is very much satisfied to get a competent, perfect master, or as a child is completely satisfied to possess a competent father, so the living entity is satisfied by completely engaging in the service of the Supreme Lord. He thereby knows that he has a competent master to save him from all kinds of danger. Unless the living entity comes to the guaranteed protection of the Supreme Lord, he is full of anxiety. This life of anxiety is called material existence. To be completely satisfied and devoid of anxiety, one must come to the position of eternally rendering service to the Supreme Lord. This verse is also from the Stotra-ratna (43), by Śrī Yāmunācārya.</p>
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<div id="CCMadhya20Summary_1" class="quote" parent="CC_Madhya-lila" book="CC" index="4493" link="CC Madhya 20 Summary" link_text="CC Madhya 20 Summary">
<div class="heading">They discussed the constitutional position of the living entities, and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained to Sanātana Gosvāmī how the living entity is one of Lord Kṛṣṇa's energies.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Madhya 20 Summary|CC Madhya 20 Summary]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Sanātana Gosvāmī finally arrived at Vārāṇasī and stood before the door of Candraśekhara. Caitanya Mahāprabhu called him in and ordered him to change his dress so that he would look like a gentleman. For his garment, he used an old cloth of Tapana Miśra's. Later, he exchanged his valuable blanket for a torn quilt. At this time Caitanya Mahāprabhu was very pleased with him, and thus Śrī Sanātana Gosvāmī received knowledge of the Absolute Truth from the Lord Himself.</p>
<p>First they discussed the constitutional position of the living entities, and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu explained to Sanātana Gosvāmī how the living entity is one of Lord Kṛṣṇa's energies.</p>
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<div id="CCMadhya20108109_2" class="quote" parent="CC_Madhya-lila" book="CC" index="4598" link="CC Madhya 20.108-109" link_text="CC Madhya 20.108-109">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Madhya 20.108-109|CC Madhya 20.108-109, Translation]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">It is the living entity's constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa because he is the marginal energy of Kṛṣṇa and a manifestation simultaneously one with and different from the Lord, like a molecular particle of sunshine or fire. Kṛṣṇa has three varieties of energy.</p>
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<div id="CCMadhya20117_3" class="quote" parent="CC_Madhya-lila" book="CC" index="4606" link="CC Madhya 20.117" link_text="CC Madhya 20.117">
<div class="heading">When the living entity forgets his constitutional position as an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, he is immediately entrapped by the illusory, external energy.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Madhya 20.117|CC Madhya 20.117, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">When the living entity forgets his constitutional position as an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa, he is immediately entrapped by the illusory, external energy. The living entity is originally part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa and is therefore the superior energy of Kṛṣṇa. He is endowed with inconceivable minute energy that works inconceivably within the body. However, the living entity, forgetting his position, is situated in material energy. The living entity is called the marginal energy because by nature he is spiritual but by forgetfulness he is situated in the material energy. Thus he has the power to live either in the material energy or in the spiritual energy, and for this reason he is called marginal energy. Being in the marginal position, he is sometimes attracted by the external, illusory energy, and this is the beginning of his material life. When he enters the material energy, he is subjected to the threefold time measurement—past, present and future. Past, present and future belong only to the material world; they do not exist in the spiritual world. The living entity is eternal, and he existed before the creation of this material world. Unfortunately he has forgotten his relationship with Kṛṣṇa. The living entity's forgetfulness is described herein as anādi, which indicates that it has existed since time immemorial. One should understand that due to his desire to enjoy himself in competition with Kṛṣṇa, the living entity comes into material existence.</p>
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<div id="CCMadhya20125_4" class="quote" parent="CC_Madhya-lila" book="CC" index="4614" link="CC Madhya 20.125" link_text="CC Madhya 20.125">
<div class="heading">The Lord gives the living entities the conscience whereby they can accept the Vedas and the spiritual master. In this way the living entity can understand his constitutional position and his relationship with the Supreme Lord.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Madhya 20.125|CC Madhya 20.125, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The conditioned soul is bewildered by the external, material energy, which fully engages him in sense gratification in various ways. Due to engagement in material activities, one's original Kṛṣṇa consciousness is covered. However, as the supreme father of all living entities, Kṛṣṇa wants His sons to return home, back to Godhead; therefore He personally comes to deliver Vedic literatures like the Bhagavad-gītā. He engages His confidential servants who serve as spiritual masters and enlighten the conditioned living entities. Being present in everyone's heart, the Lord gives the living entities the conscience whereby they can accept the Vedas and the spiritual master. In this way the living entity can understand his constitutional position and his relationship with the Supreme Lord.</p>
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<div id="CCMadhya2217_5" class="quote" parent="CC_Madhya-lila" book="CC" index="5059" link="CC Madhya 22.17" link_text="CC Madhya 22.17">
<div class="heading">When the conditioned soul attains his real spiritual energy and fully surrenders unto the Lord's lotus feet, he tries to engage in the Lord's service. This is the real constitutional position of the living entity.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:CC Madhya 22.17|CC Madhya 22.17, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">This verse is also quoted in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (3.2.35). When we chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra we are saying, "Hare! O energy of the Lord! O my Lord Kṛṣṇa!" In this way we are simply addressing the Lord and His spiritual potency, represented as Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, Sītā-Rāma or Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. The devotee always prays to the Lord and His internal energy (consort) so that he may engage in Their transcendental loving service. When the conditioned soul attains his real spiritual energy and fully surrenders unto the Lord's lotus feet, he tries to engage in the Lord's service. This is the real constitutional position of the living entity.</p>
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<div id="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" class="section" sec_index="3" parent="compilation" text="Other Books by Srila Prabhupada"><h2>Other Books by Srila Prabhupada</h2>
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<div id="Teachings_of_Lord_Caitanya" class="sub_section" sec_index="0" parent="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" text="Teachings of Lord Caitanya"><h3>Teachings of Lord Caitanya</h3>
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<div id="TLC3_0" class="quote" parent="Teachings_of_Lord_Caitanya" book="OB" index="9" link="TLC 3" link_text="Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 3">
<div class="heading">The supreme spiritual master instructed Arjuna about the constitutional position of the living entity.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:TLC 3|Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 3]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Approaching a spiritual master is not just a fashion but is a necessity for one who is seriously conscious of the material miseries and who wants to be free of them. It is the duty of such a person to approach a spiritual master. In this regard, we should note similar circumstances in Bhagavad-gītā. When Arjuna was perplexed by so many problems involving whether to fight or not, he accepted Lord Kṛṣṇa as his spiritual master. It was also a case of the supreme spiritual master instructing Arjuna about the constitutional position of the living entity.</p>
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<div id="TLC20_1" class="quote" parent="Teachings_of_Lord_Caitanya" book="OB" index="26" link="TLC 20" link_text="Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 20">
<div class="heading">The living entity in his original constitutional position is pure spirit.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:TLC 20|Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 20]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Unintelligent persons who cannot understand this doctrine of byproducts cannot grasp how the cosmic manifestation and the living entity are simultaneously one and different from the Absolute Truth. Not understanding this, one concludes, out of fear, that this cosmic manifestation and the living entity are false. Śaṅkarācārya gives the example of a rope being mistaken for a snake, and sometimes the example of mistaking an oyster shell for gold is cited, but surely such arguments are ways of cheating. As mentioned in the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad, the rope for a snake and the oyster for gold examples have their different applications and can be understood as follows. The living entity in his original constitutional position is pure spirit. When a human being identifies himself with the material body, he may be said to be mistaking a rope for a snake, or an oyster shell for gold. The doctrine of transformation is accepted when one thing is mistaken for another. Actually the body is not the living entity, but the doctrine of transformation accepts the body as the living entity. Every conditioned soul is undoubtedly contaminated by this doctrine of transformation.</p>
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<div id="TLC25_2" class="quote" parent="Teachings_of_Lord_Caitanya" book="OB" index="31" link="TLC 25" link_text="Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 25">
<div class="heading">According to Vedic instructions, one should understand the constitutional position of the living entity, the position of the Lord, and the position of material energy in their interrelation.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:TLC 25|Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 25]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">According to Vedic instructions, one should understand the constitutional position of the living entity, the position of the Lord, and the position of material energy in their interrelation. First of all, one should try to understand the constitutional position of the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead. That Supreme Lord has an eternal, cognizant, blissful body, and His spiritual energy is distributed as eternity, knowledge and bliss. In His blissful identity can be found His pleasure potency, and in His eternal identity He can be seen as the cause of everything. In His cognizant identity, He is the supreme knowledge. Indeed, the word kṛṣṇa indicates that supreme knowledge. In other words, the Supreme Personality, Kṛṣṇa, is the reservoir of all knowledge, pleasure and eternity. The supreme knowledge of Kṛṣṇa is exhibited in three different energies—internal, marginal and external. By virtue of His internal energy, He exists in Himself with His spiritual paraphernalia; by means of His marginal energy, He exhibits Himself as the living entities, and by means of His external energy He exhibits Himself as material energy. Behind each and every energetic exhibition there is the background of eternity, pleasure, potency and full cognizance.</p>
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<div id="TLC25_3" class="quote" parent="Teachings_of_Lord_Caitanya" book="OB" index="31" link="TLC 25" link_text="Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 25">
<div class="heading">The words tat tvam asi, also found in the Vedic hymns, are not the chief vibrations but are explanations of the constitutional position of the living entity.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:TLC 25|Teachings of Lord Caitanya, Chapter 25]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Praṇava, or oṁkāra, is the chief vibration found in the Vedic hymns, and oṁkāra is considered to be the sound form of the Supreme Lord. From oṁkāra all Vedic hymns have emanated, and the world itself has also emanated from this oṁkāra sound. The words tat tvam asi, also found in the Vedic hymns, are not the chief vibrations but are explanations of the constitutional position of the living entity. Tat tvam asi means that the living entity is a spiritual particle of the supreme spirit, but this is not the chief motif of the Vedānta or Vedic literatures. The chief sound representation of the Supreme is oṁkāra.</p>
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<div id="Renunciation_Through_Wisdom" class="sub_section" sec_index="5" parent="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" text="Renunciation Through Wisdom"><h3>Renunciation Through Wisdom</h3>
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<div id="RTW51_0" class="quote" parent="Renunciation_Through_Wisdom" book="OB" index="39" link="RTW 5.1" link_text="Renunciation Through Wisdom 5.1">
<div class="heading">Lord Caitanya declared that the constitutional position of every living entity is to be an eternal servant of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:RTW 5.1|Renunciation Through Wisdom 5.1]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Lord Caitanya declared that the constitutional position of every living entity is to be an eternal servant of Lord Kṛṣṇa. Therefore every jīva is inherently a liberated being. The jīva's present conditioned state is an illusion caused by his forgetting Lord Kṛṣṇa. Lord Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā that the jīva is His separated part. The conditioned soul is enchained by the mind, senses, and so on, which are agents of māyā, the illusory energy. The jīva is now in captivity as a result of his previous sinful activities, but why should he remain so eternally? His imprisonment can be easily ended simply by the Lord's mercy. And if the Lord's mercy is not available, then on his own the jīva can never free himself. Conceited persons who think they can obtain liberation without the Lord's mercy, simply by performing strict penances and austerities, are totally mistaken; they fail.</p>
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<div id="Narada-bhakti-sutra_sutras_1_to_8_only" class="sub_section" sec_index="10" parent="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" text="Narada-bhakti-sutra (sutras 1 to 8 only)"><h3>Narada-bhakti-sutra (sutras 1 to 8 only)</h3>
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<div id="NBS3_0" class="quote" parent="Narada-bhakti-sutra_(sutras_1_to_8_only)" book="OB" index="5" link="NBS 3" link_text="Narada Bhakti Sutra 3">
<div class="heading">The constitutional position of the living entity as a fragment of the Supreme Lord is confirmed in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the Upaniṣads.
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<span class="link">[[Vanisource:NBS 3|Narada Bhakti Sutra 3, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The constitutional position of the living entity as a fragment of the Supreme Lord is confirmed in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the Upaniṣads. The Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad (5.9) states,</p>
:bālāgra-śata-bhāgasya śatadhā kalpitasya ca
:bhāgo jīvaḥ sa vijñeyaḥ sa cānantyāya kalpate
<p>"If the tip of a hair were divided into one hundred parts, and if one of those parts were again divided into a hundred parts, that one ten-thousandth part of the tip of the hair would be the dimension of the living entity." As already mentioned, this position of the living entity as a fragment of the Supreme Lord is declared in the Bhagavad-gītā (15.7) to be eternal; it cannot be changed. A person who understands his constitutional position as a fragment of the Supreme Lord and engages himself in devotional service with all seriousness at once becomes immortal.</p>
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