TEXT 21
Nature is said to be the cause of all material activities and effects, whereas the living entity is the cause of the various sufferings and enjoyments in this world.
PURPORT
This is an important, fundamental verse. Nature, or in the highest sense God, is the cause of the emergence of both the whole world and specific bodies, but whether the soul is happy or suffering is the result of his own actions. The soul, acting at his own discretion, forms his future and, thus, experiences happiness or suffering then. God creates everything as a whole, in totality, nevertheless, the position of the soul within the material world is formed by the soul himself. It is important to understand this point. Sometimes people say, "If God is omnipotent, why shouldn't He make everyone happy?" But if God interferes in the life of the material world, then souls will lose their independence. However, no one here wants to lose their independence and, by and large, almost no one here wants to know about God. Even so-called belivers are preoccupied with themselves and are not interested in spiritual science. God can change everything, but if people do not want, He does not do it.
People seek happiness for themselves, but their desire for happiness is associated with a desire for personal domination. The desire of the imperfect soul to dominate gives rise to all kinds of suffering within matter. Imperfect rulers, dominating, give rise to problems for subordinates, imperfect husband and wife give rise to strife within the family, imperfect scientists only increase destruction and suffering everywhere. The soul located in this world wants to dominate, he wants to attract everyone by himself, demonstrating his beauty, strength, influence, intelligence and other qualities, but since he is imperfect, all this basically causes only problems. Modern education and upbringing emphasize the exclusivity of everyone, cultivate selfishness in people, therefore, the problems of this civilization will grow more and more.
The solution is to follow God's instructions, accept spiritual practice and understand the scriptures with all thy mind. Nominal external religiosity, worship in the temple, holidays, pilgrimages and others will not solve this problem; knowledge and preaching are necessary. Temple worship in the present age (the age of Kali) has lost its power, therefore everyone should learn and further become a selfless preacher. Thus, through knowledge and preaching, one can most quickly cognize God and reach Him, while having a connection with God, the soul becomes completely happy. The more a devotee realizes the greatness of God, the less his problems become, but our goal is not just liberation and not just the personal happiness of the rasas, but eternal devotional service expressed as preaching.
TEXT 22
The living entity in material nature thus follows the ways of life, enjoying the three modes of nature. This is due to his association with that material nature. Thus he meets with good and evil amongst various species.
PURPORT
Whether the soul receives this or that particular body, whether he is happy or suffering, this is the result of the activity of the soul himself. It is not God who sends happiness or suffering to the soul, but the soul himself forms such things by his behavior. When the soul follows the instructions of God, in this case he falls under His protection and guidance, but acting by him own, the soul himself is responsible for the consequences of any of his activities. The instructions of God are aimed at making us direct our attention to Him, which will lead to renunciation of this world. God does not advises anyone to try to settle in matter and become rich, for example. He advises to think about the spiritual world and turn our attention from the world of matter to the spiritual world. Materialists reply to such words that it will be a life in an illusion, that one must live a real life and not an illusory one. But a preacher-devotee, who develop knowledge and focus his attention on the spiritual, gradually cognizes God and becomes intelligent and experienced, while the materialists, who cherish themselves and constantly focus on matter in search of money and other things, degrade more and more.
Ultimately, everyone here is temporary, but those who ignore the temporality of their lives end up being defeated. In the same way, this entire materialistic civilization aimed at the production of things will be destroyed. They produce thousands of things, increasing only the garbage on the planet, nobody will be able to become happy in this way. Therefore, God advises us to serve Him and not this garbage civilization. God gives us knowledge and helps us to return to the spiritual world, and such "scavengers" will remain here forever with their ideas and their stupid attempt to pretend to be the masters of life.
TEXT 23
Yet in this body there is another, a transcendental enjoyer who is the Lord, the supreme proprietor, who exists as the overseer and permitter, and who is known as the Supersoul.
PURPORT
God is in everyone's body, but in order to reach Him, we need to follow the instructions of the holy scripture. Many people like to say "God is in the soul", others say God guides them from their heart and therefore "one need to listen to one's heart", but both of them should start following the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda. The Supersoul prompts the individual soul, but the Supersoul takes into account all the desires of the soul. This means that if one is guided by the Supersoul, spiritual practice can lengthen over thousands of births, because everyone has too many personal desires. Therefore, the scriptures, the books of Śrīla Prabhupāda are much better than the instructions of the Supersoul, because they can greatly speed up the process of developing spiritual knowledge.
The Supersoul does not impede a person's actions, but he awards the appropriate consequences. The Supersoul can warn about the consequences, but as a rule, people either do not hear Him or ignore Him, acting as they please. In this sense, the scripture speaks everything much more loud and clearly, but the scripture not only gives us principles and commandments, it teaches how to cognize God. Following the restrictive principles alone is not enough at all for spiritual development; knowledge about God, devotion to Him, and the preaching of spiritual science are also necessary.
One should understand that the soul is different from the Supersoul, and when one feels spiritual uplift, one must behave correctly, not considering oneself powerful and independent. The Supersoul is powerful and not dependent on anything, but even if we are connected with God, we still remain a soul, that is, dependent. A pure devotee acts in various ways, maintaining his dependence on God, but he does not try to manifest any superpower and does not consider himself a representative of God. Only God Himself can create a representative of God. A pure devotee does not consider himself as such, even when he has already become a representative of God.
In fact, every materialist uses the energy of the soul or Supersoul to present himself as the enjoyer and master. Therefore, the process of spiritual life is a reverse process, when we give all the fruits of out activities to God, without attributing them to ourselves, including energy and senses. Even when the soul realizes his qualitative oneness with God, he must understand his quantitative difference and avoid various tendencies of domination. The power of a devotee lies in the power of his knowledge of spiritual science, in his ability to enlighten people and help them to develop understanding, and not in dominating someone, posing as a representative of God or a guru. We are always atomic and dependent. When God wants, He exalts the devotee, but if the devotee is inclined to dominate, any blessings of this kind become dangerous for him. God wants people all over the planet to understand spiritual science, and not just do the cult of this or that guru or even set up temples everywhere and externally worship Him. The knowledge, God-realization are needed, it has value.
As long as a person is not God-conscious and is not engaged in preaching, he will be immersed in materialism. Religious materialism is not much different from ordinary materialism, therefore, although there seem to be so many religious people on the planet now, this does not change anything - this is an external, nominal religiosity. As long as people's goal is personal well-being, there will never be peace and happiness. Love of God transcends all selfish interests, and the devotee naturally avoids both unnecessary possessions and unnecessary attention.
TEXT 24
One who understands this philosophy concerning material nature, the living entity and the interaction of the modes of nature is sure to attain liberation. He will not take birth here again, regardless of his present position.
PURPORT
It means when a person has really realized the soul and God, he achieves liberation, but theoretical knowledge does not give liberation. Realization of God can also be expressed to varying degrees, so it is difficult to name the exact criterion of liberation. A devotee can be God-conscious in the initial degree, in the developed degree, and in the full degree. The initial degree is theoretical knowledge of God and dedication oneself to some extent to devotional service. A developed understanding of God is an active dedication to preaching and an initial direct perception of God or the beginning of spiritual feelings, both in direct relationship and in separation. The full degree means God's complete control over a devotee in a direct relationship, and it can also be in feelings of separation. Although a devotee can get liberation from any position, the chance of liberation increases with the growth of attachment to God, spiritual knowledge and preaching. Śrīla Prabhupāda writes that one should make every effort to develop Kṛṣṇa consciousness - this is the main condition for liberation.