Dr. Singh. But do life and matter come simultaneously?

Çréla Prabhupäda. No. They do not “come” at all. They already exist. The “coming” idea is in our minds because we are living in this limited world, where we see that there is a beginning to everything. Therefore we think in terms of things “coming.” But actually matter and spirit already exist. When I am born, I think my birth is the beginning of the world. But the world already exists. Another example is a fire. When you light a fire, do the light and heat begin later on? No. Whenever a fire is ignited, immediately there is light and heat. But suppose I think, “Now there is a fire, but I have to wait for the light and heat to come later on.” isn’t that foolishness?

Dr. Singh. But fire is the source of the heat and light.

Çréla Prabhupäda. Yes, but still the heat and light exist simultaneously with the fire. Similarly, the eternal living entities have many different eternal desires. And all the varieties of species also exist eternally to fit these various eternal desires.

Dr. Singh. And the living entities are made to live in different bodies according to these desires?

Çréla Prabhupäda. Yes. For example, the government constructs a prison house because it knows there will be criminals. So when a criminal is tried and convicted, the prison already exists, even before the judgment period. Similarly, God is described as sarva-jïa, He who knows everything. Thus He knows that some living entities will become criminal and rebel against His service. Furthermore, He knows the various desires the living entities in the material world acquire according to the three modes of material nature. Therefore He creates all the species of life from the very beginning to accommodate all the conditioned souls.

The three modes of material nature are sattva-guëa [goodness], rajo-guëa [passion] and tamo-guëa [ignorance]. With these three qualities, all the different objects of the material world are made, just as one might mix the three primary colors (blue, red and yellow) to make millions of hues. The great expertise required to handle this arrangement exists in nature. According to the Bhagavad-gétä (3.27), prakåteù kriyamäëäni guëaiù karmäëi sarvaçaù: “All activities are performed by the modes of material nature.” And these modes are manifested in the different types of species, which include plants, trees, aquatics, human beings, demigods, cats, dogs and many others, totaling 8,400,000.

The Supreme Lord expands Himself as the Paramätmä, or Supersoul, in everyone’s heart. Although dwelling in the material body, this Supersoul is not material, even though He is the original source of the material body. Because heat and light are the energies of the sun, the sun never feels “too hot.” Similarly, for the Paramätmä there is no distinction between spiritual and material because both the material and the spiritual energies emanate from Him. Sometimes we see that clouds cover the sun; but that is actually our imperfection. We on this planet experience both sunshine and cloudiness, but on the sun, even though it can create clouds, only sunshine is experienced. Similarly, the division of matter and spirit is our experience, not God’s. Whether He comes in a so-called material body or in a spiritual body, He is always spiritual. For Him matter and spirit are the same because He is the energetic. He can turn matter into spirit, and spirit into matter.