Whoever ceases to be affected by the bodily conception of existence in its various aspects can rise to the devotional service offered to the Lord. The more we free ourselves from all bodily conception, the more firmly we establish ourselves in devotional service and the happier and more peaceful we become. The being free from any bodily conception of existence lives separate from the body, even though he lives in this material world.

All human beings would get along much better, if there were no “mine”, no “yours”, no “me”, and no “you”, inherent in the bodily concept of existence.

The erroneous notion of “me” and “you”, based on a body-based conception of existence, is a product of ignorance. This bodily consciousness is the cause of death and successive rebirth, and it indefinitely subjugates the being to material existence.

In truth, the spiritual soul has nothing in common with the material concept of existence that it develops in a conditioned state, but if it identifies with this false concept, it is because it is under the influence of the energy of the Lord. The external energy acts under the direction of the Lord and it governs, by his divine will, the existence of individual beings distinct from God. Although in its original state the being is pure consciousness, it is subjected by the will of the Lord to the influence of its external energy.

The spiritual soul incarnated and conditioned by matter then thinks “I am this body”, but the realized soul says it; “I am not this body, for I am a spiritual soul”.

This “I am” represents the ego, the identity of being. Thinking “I am this body” is “all that is related to the body is mine” is part of the false ego, [the false ego is identification with its body, and the fact of wanting to dominate matter], but when one has realized one's spiritual identity and one says to oneself “I am the servant or the handmaid of the Supreme Lord”, this identification of the “me” constitutes the true ego.

The first conception bathes in the darkness of the three attributes and modes of influence of material nature; virtue, passion and ignorance, while the other is at the level of pure virtue.

When we say that we let go of our ego, it means that we are giving up false egos. The true ego is always present. The identification of the being in the conditioned state, with its material possessions, must be purified. He must rediscover his identity in relation to the Supreme Lord. In the conditioned state, the being sees everything as an object of personal satisfaction, while in the liberated state he sees everything in relation to the service of the Supreme Lord.

So Krishna consciousness, devotional service, corresponds to the true liberated state. On the contrary, the acceptance or rejection of anything on the material plane, within the framework of nihilism or impersonnalism, places the pure soul in an imperfect situation.