”This material world should be understood to be illusory and one who dominates by controlling it He should understood to be the Supreme Lord because He is the one who covers the whole creation with His limb like potencies.”

mayam tu prakrtim vidyan mayinam tu mahesvaram
tasyavaya va bhutais tu vyaptam sarvam idam jagat

PURPORT BY SRI KRSNA BALARAM SWAMIJI

Those who are impersonalists they think God has no physical form but this verse proves otherwise. In the Vedic school there are two categories of impersonalists. One section claims there was one God before creation but after creation that one God turned into all of us therefore we are all gods. Now we are overpowered by the illusory energy and until we realize that we are gods we cannot be god. That is why they perform austerities so they can realize that they are gods. The other section of impersonalists perform austerities to merge into the Lord thinking that they are lords but are now implicated in the material world and they need to perform austerities to merge into the Lord. Both classes of impersonalists remain unqualified to realize the Supreme Lord because matter cannot implicate God and He remains as one forever.

A living entity can never become God. God always remains God otherwise there is no meaning to His being an unlimited God. Until one realizes that they are parts of God and their duty is to serve Him they cannot become purified. A part always remains a part and it can never become whole as much as a finger cannot be called the whole body. The soul is a part and the Supreme Lord is the whole. When the part comes down to this world being separated from the Whole it forgets Him and becomes lost in the phantasmagoria of maya. The Lord never forgets the soul that is why He prescribes so many categories of purificatory processes for its purification. By following the prescription properly the soul becomes pure and thus receives liberation.

One may question what happens to a soul after it receives liberation? To this the Nyaya Sastra states, suka vrksa nyaya, ”The logic of a green parrot entering into a green tree.” It means when a green parrot enters into a green tree it does not become the tree. Its green color becomes one with the green color of the tree but the identity of the parrot remains separate from the identity of the tree. Similarly when a soul becomes liberated from this material world it enters into the Kingdom of God and becomes one with the Lord in purpose and sports with the Lord as His servant. Remaining a servant of a great personality has more benefits and advantages than trying to compete with Him to become equal with Him. Chanting the holy names of Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna Krsna Hare Hare / Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare, and executing devotional service under the strict guidance of a scripturally authentic Spiritual Master surely rewards liberation from this material world.

[Svetasvatara Upanisad, 4.10, KBS0072]