The Supreme Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, is compared to a blazing fire, and the innumerable living entities are compared to sparks emanating from that fire. Although both the Supreme Lord and the living entities are qualitatively fire, there is yet a distinction. Viṣṇu the Supreme is infinite, whereas the living entities, which are but sparks, are infinitesimal. The infinitesimal living entities are emanations from the original infinite spirit. In their constitutional position as infinitesimal spirits, there is no trace of matter.
The living entities are not as great as Nārāyaṇa, Viṣṇu, who is beyond this material creation. Even Śaṅkarācārya accepts Nārāyaṇa to be beyond the material creation. Since neither Viṣṇu nor the living entity are of the material creation, someone may inquire, "Why were the small particles of spirit created at all?" The answer is that the Supreme Absolute Truth is complete in His perfection when He is both infinite and infinitesimal. If He is simply infinite and is not infinitesimal, He is not perfect. The infinite portion is the Viṣṇu-tattva, or the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the infinitesimal portion is the living entity.
Due to the infinite desires of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is existence in the spiritual world, and due to the infinitesimal desires of the living entity, there is existence in the material world. When the infinitesimal living entities are engaged in their infinitesimal desires for material enjoyment, they are called jīva-śakti, but when they are dovetailed with the infinite, they are called liberated souls. There is no need to ask, therefore, why God created the infinitesimal portions; they are simply the complementary side of the Supreme. It is doubtlessly essential for the infinite to have infinitesimal portions which are inseparable parts and parcels of the supreme soul. Because the living entities are infinitesimal parts and parcels of the Supreme, there is a reciprocation of feelings between the infinite and the infinitesimal. Had there been no infinitesimal living entities, the Supreme Lord would have been inactive, and there would not be variegatedness in spiritual life. There is no meaning to a king if there are no subjects, and there is no meaning to the Supreme God if there are no infinitesimal living entities. How can there be meaning to the word "lord" if there is no one to overlord? The conclusion is that the living entities are considered to be expansions of the energy of the Supreme Lord, and the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is the energetic.
In all Vedic literatures, including Bhagavad-gītā and Viṣṇu Purāṇa, much evidence is given to distinguish between the energy and the energetic. In Bhagavad-gītā (BG 7.4) it is clearly stated that earth, water, fire, air and ether are the five principal gross elements of the material world and that mind, intelligence and false ego are the three subtle elements. All material nature is divided into these eight elements which together comprise the inferior nature, or energy, of the Lord. Another name for this inferior nature is māyā, or illusion. Beyond these eight inferior elements there is a superior energy, which is called parā-prakṛti. That parā-prakṛti is the living entity, who is found in great numbers throughout the material world. He is indicated in Bhagavad-gītā (BG 7.5) as jīva-bhūtām. The purport is that the Supreme Lord is the Absolute Truth, the energetic, and as such He has His energies. When His energy is not properly manifested, or when it is covered by some shadow, it is called māyā-śakti. The material cosmic manifestation is a product of that covered māyā-śakti.
The living entities are factually beyond this covered inferior energy. They have their pure spiritual existence and their pure identity, as well as their pure mental activities. All of them are beyond the manifestation of this material cosmos. Although the living entity's mind, intelligence and identity are beyond the range of this material world, when he enters into this material world due to his desire to dominate matter, his original mind, intelligence and body become covered by the material energy. When he is again uncovered from these material or inferior energies, he is called liberated. When he is liberated, he has no false ego, but his real ego again comes into existence. Foolish mental speculators think that after liberation one's identity is lost, but that is not so. Because the living entity is eternally part and parcel of God, when he is liberated, he revives his original, eternal, part-and-parcel identity. The realization of ahaṁ brahmāsmi ("I am not this body") does not mean that the living entity loses his identity. At the present moment a person may consider himself to be matter, but in his liberated state he will understand that he is not matter but spirit soul, part of the infinite. To become Kṛṣṇa conscious or spiritually conscious and to engage in the transcendental loving service of Kṛṣṇa are signs of the liberated stage. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (6.7.61) it is clearly stated:
- viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā prokta
- kṣetra-jñākhyā tathā parā
- avidyā-karma-samjñānyā
- tṛtīyā śaktir iṣyate
- (CC Madhya 6.154)
"The energy of the Supreme Lord is divided into three: parā, kṣetrajña and avidyā." The parā energy is actually the energy of the Supreme Lord Himself; the kṣetrajña energy is the living entity; and the avidyā energy is the material world, or māyā. It is called avidyā, or ignorance, because under the spell of this material energy one forgets his actual position and his relationship with the Supreme Lord. The conclusion is that the living entities represent one of the energies of the Supreme Lord, and as infinitesimal parts and parcels of the Supreme, they are called jīvas. If the jīvas are artificially placed on the same level with the infinite Supreme—for both of them are Brahman, or spirit—bewilderment will certainly be the result.
Generally Māyāvādī philosophers are perplexed before a learned Vaiṣṇava because the Māyāvādīs cannot explain the cause of bondage of the living entities. They simply say, "It is due to ignorance," but they cannot explain why the living entities are covered by ignorance if they are supreme. The actual reason is that the living entities, although qualitatively one with the Supreme, are infinitesimal, and not infinite. Had they been infinite, there would have been no possibility of their being covered by ignorance. Because the living entity is infinitesimal, he is covered by an inferior energy. The foolishness and ignorance of the Māyāvādīs are revealed when they try to explain how it is the infinite is covered by ignorance. It is offensive to attempt to qualify the infinite as being subject to the spell of ignorance.