In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (6.7.61) the total energies of the Supreme Lord are delineated:
- viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā proktā
- kṣetra-jñākhyā tathā parā
- avidyā-karma-saṁjñānyā
- tṛtīyā śaktir iṣyate
- (CC Madhya 6.154)
The Supreme Lord has diverse and innumerable energies which are beyond our conception; however, great learned sages or liberated souls have studied these energies and have analyzed them into three parts. All of the energies are of viṣṇu-śakti, that is to say they are different potencies of Lord Viṣṇu. The first energy is parā, transcendental. Living entities also belong to the superior energy, as has already been explained. The other energies, or material energies, are in the mode of ignorance. At the time of death either we can remain in the inferior energy of this material world, or we can transfer to the energy of the spiritual world.