So these things, īśvara, jīva, prakṛti, or the Supreme Lord, or the living entity, the material nature, the eternal time, and our different activities, these things are explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Now out of these five, the Lord, the living entities, and the material nature and time, these four items are eternal. Now manifestation, manifestation of prakṛti, may be temporary, but it is not false.
Some philosophers say that this manifestation of material nature is false, but according to the philosophy of Bhagavad-gītā or according to the philosophy of the Vaiṣṇavas, they do not accept the manifestation of the world as false. They accept that the manifestation is real, but it is temporary.
It is just like a cloud takes place in the sky and the rainy season begins, and after the rainy season there are so many new green vegetation all over the field, we can see. And as soon as the rainy season is finished, then the cloud is vanquished. Generally, gradually, all this vegetation dry up and again the land becomes barren. Similarly, this material manifestation takes place at a certain interval.
We'll understand it, we'll know it, from the pages of the Bhagavad-gītā. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). This manifestation becomes magnificent at a certain interval, and again it disappears. That is the work of the prakṛti. But it is working eternally, therefore prakṛti is eternal.
It is not false. Because the Lord has accepted, mama prakṛti, "My prakṛti." Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām (BG 7.5). Bhinnā prakṛti, bhinnā prakṛti, aparā prakṛti, this material nature is a separated energy of the Supreme Lord, and the living entities, they are also energy of the Supreme Lord, but they are not separated. They are eternally related.
So the Lord, the living entity, the nature—material nature—and time, they are all eternal. But the other item, karma, is not eternal. The effects of karma, or activity, may be very old. We are suffering or enjoying the results of our activities from a time immemorial, but still, we can change the result of our karma, or activity. That will depend on our perfect knowledge. We are engaged in various activities undoubtedly, but we do not know what sort of activities we shall adopt that will give us relief from the actions and reactions of all activities. That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā.
Now, the position of īśvara is supreme consciousness. Position of īśvara, or the Supreme Lord, is supreme consciousness. And the jīvas, or the living entities, being parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, he is also conscious. A living entity is also conscious. The living entity is explained as prakṛti, energy, and the material nature is also explained as prakṛti, but amongst the two, one prakṛti, the jīvas, they are conscious: the other prakṛti is not conscious. That is the difference.
Therefore the jīva prakṛti is called superior, because the jīvas has consciousness similar to the Lord. The Lord is supreme consciousness. One should not claim that a jīva, a living entity, is also supremely conscious. No. A living being cannot be supremely conscious at any stage of his perfection. This is a misleading theory. This is misleading theory. But he is conscious. That's all. But he is not supreme conscious.
The supreme conscious, it will be explained in the Bhagavad-gītā in the chapter where the distinction between the jīva and īśvara is explained. Kṣetra-kṣetra-jña. This kṣetra-jña has been explained that the Lord is also kṣetra-jña, or conscious, and the jīvas, or the living beings, they are also conscious.
But the difference is that a living being is conscious within his limited body, but the Lord is conscious of all bodies. Īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati (BG 18.61). The Lord lives within the core of heart in every living being, therefore He is conscious of the psychic movements, activities, of the Lord . . . of the particular jīva. We should not forget.
It is also explained that the Paramātmā, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is living in everyone's heart as īśvara, as the controller, and He is giving direction. He is giving direction. Sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭhaḥ (BG 15.15) . . . everyone's heart He is situated, and He gives direction to act as he desire. The living entity forgets what to do. First of all he makes his determination to act in a certain way, and then he is entangled in the actions and reactions of his own karma.