In actuality, from Brahmā down to the insignificant ant, no one is independent in the material creation; the hand of the Supreme Lord is everywhere. All material elements, as well as all spiritual sparks, are but emanations from Him only. Whatever is created in this material world is a result of the interaction of these two energies, material and spiritual, which emanate from the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa (Vāsudeva).
A living entity known as a chemist can manufacture water in the laboratory by mixing hydrogen and oxygen. But in reality the living entity works under the direction of the Supreme Lord, and all the materials he uses are supplied by the Lord. Thus the Lord knows everything directly and indirectly, in minute detail, and He is fully independent as well. He can be compared to a gold mine, and the objects within the cosmic creation can be compared to ornaments made from that gold, such as gold rings, gold necklaces, and so on. The gold ring and necklace are qualitatively one with the gold in the mine, but quantitatively the gold in the mine and the gold in the ring or necklace are different. The complete philosophy of the Absolute Truth, therefore, centers about the fact that the Absolute Truth is simultaneously one with and different from His creation. Nothing is absolutely equal to the Absolute Truth, but at the same time nothing is independent of the Absolute Truth.