When actually one is liberated from the bodily concept of life and he sees spiritual identity everywhere, samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu, paṇḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ (BG 5.18), then he can be situated in the activities of Brahman. The bhakti-yoga is the activities of Brahman. The Māyāvādī philosopher, they think that after Brahman realization there is no more activity. But that is not the fact. Real activity begins after Brahman realization. That is Brahman activity. That is bhakti-yoga. Kṛṣṇa is Paraṁ Brahman, and we are Kṛṣṇa's part and parcel. Naturally we are also Brahman, because part and parcel of gold must be gold. There is no doubt about it. But it does not mean that the small particle of gold is equal to the gold mine. That is not possible. Part is never equal to the whole.
So Kṛṣṇa has already described bhakti-yogam. Now He is describing about the activities of this material world. Traiguṇya-viṣayā. Material world, activities of the material world means to act in such a way that you become liberated at the end and go back to home, back to Godhead. That is real activities of this material world, not to act as the animals—eating, sleeping, mating.
So this material world is now described, compared with a banyan tree, which has its root upwards, above. That means this material world is created from the spiritual world. Eko nārāyaṇa āsīt. In the spiritual world there is always Nārāyaṇa. Even Śaṅkarācārya, he says, nārāyaṇaḥ avyaktāt paraḥ. The spiritual world has nothing to do with this material world. This material world is created, just like the banyan tree, it takes its root and it is created. So the seed of the creation is in the spiritual world. Sa īkṣata, sa asṛjata. The creation is coming from the spiritual world. Spiritual world means the kingdom of God, Nārāyaṇa, or Kṛṣṇa. So here the material world is described as ūrdhva-mūlam. In other words, it is reflection of the spiritual world. Just like if you stand on the shore of a lake, you will find all the trees reflected in the water downwards. Real tree is on the shore of the lake, and the reflection is downwards. The upper part of the tree has gone down. So this material world is compared with that reflection. It is chāya.
In Brahma-saṁhitā also, it is said, sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekā chāyeva yasya bhuvanāni bibharti durgā (Bs. 5.44). The superintending deity of this material world is Goddess Durgā, durgā-śakti. So he creates . . . she creates this material world, sṛṣṭi-sthiti-pralaya-sādhana-śaktir ekāḥ, Kṛṣṇa's energy. Kṛṣṇa also says in the Bhagavad-gītā, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ (BG 7.4). This material energy is His energy. The energy is always compared with feminine part, and the energetic is always compared with the male part. Male part and female part. Kṛṣṇa also said in the Bhagavad-gītā, ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā (BG 14.4). So He is the seed-giving father. Bījo 'haṁ sarva-bhūtānām (BG 7.10). So He is the original seed of this material world. And from there, from the spiritual world, it has expanded.
Ūrdhva-mūlam adhah-śākham aśvatthaṁ prāhur avyayam (BG 15.1). Avyayam, eternal. This material energy also eternal. There are three kinds of energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead: the material energy, the spiritual energy and the marginal energy. From the material energy, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ, this material creation is effected. And the spiritual energy, the Vaikuṇṭha-loka, paras tasmāt tu bhāvaḥ anyaḥ avyaktaḥ avyaktāt sanātanaḥ (BG 8.20), that is eternal. So that is spiritual world. And in between the two worlds, material and spiritual, there is one energy. That is living energy. We living entities, we are marginal energy. We are also energy. Apareyam itas tu viddhi me prakṛtiṁ parām, jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat (BG 7.5). Kṛṣṇa describes the marginal energy, the jīva-bhūta, the living entities.
So jīva-bhūta, living entities, they are actually prakṛti, not puruṣa. Puruṣa is Supreme Personality of Godhead. Puruṣa means enjoyer. But Māyāvādī philosophy, they want to turn the prakṛti into puruṣa. The jīva, jīva is described as prakṛti, parā-prakṛti. Jīva-bhūta. They are better than, superior than the matter because they adjust matter. The resources, the material resources, they try to enjoy it. They cannot enjoy, but try to enjoy it. Therefore it is called superior energy. But it is energy, not the energetic.
So this material world is eternal, and the living entities, they are also eternal, avyaya. Na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre (BG 2.20). And eternal . . . this material world is eternal in this sense: because it is Kṛṣṇa's energy. If Kṛṣṇa is eternal, His energy is also eternal. But the manifestation of this energy is temporary. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate (BG 8.19). Energy is there. Unless the energy is there, how it is manifested? Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). There are so many energies within you, within me. They are not always manifest, but at times they are manifest. They are called acintya-śakti. Things are happening without our calculation. That is acintya-śakti, inconceivable energy. As Kṛṣṇa has got inconceivable energy . . . He creates this material world by His inconceivable energy, vast oceans, vast lump of matter, the universe.