As for us living beings, we constitute the marginal energy of the Lord, which is superior to the external or material energy. The superior marginal energy of the Lord is incompatible with the material energy. But when the separate beings who constitute the higher marginal energy re-establish the link with the internal energy, they regain their condition of joy and happiness.

Krishna, God, the Supreme Person, is the reservoir of all knowledge, pleasure and eternity. Krishna's supreme knowledge manifests itself through three energies; the internal, the marginal and the external.

Through His internal energy He exists in Himself with His spiritual surroundings, through His marginal energy He manifests Himself in the form of the living beings that we all are, and through His external energy He manifests Himself in the form of material energy. And the manifestation of each of these energies rests on a background of eternity, bliss and knowledge.

Only He for whom everything is originally destined, the Sovereign Lord, is assured of victory at all times. He is the originator of the creation, preservation and destruction of the universe, and He has knowledge of everything. Being under His dependence and forced to put on material bodies, the beings subordinate to Him sometimes win and sometimes lose.

The Lord says: I stand in the heart of every being, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness.

Under the influence of the three gunas (the three attributes of material nature: virtue, passion and ignorance), the soul misled by the false ego (identification with the body and domination of matter) believes that it is the author of its acts, whereas in reality they are performed by nature.

In a fight, for example, the opponents act according to the will of God, the Sovereign Person, who is the Supreme Soul.

All the actions of beings are performed by material energy in its form of material nature. The effects resulting from the act, such as transformation, growth, development and the fruits thereof are the work of the latter.

All beings act only according to the will of God. The Lord transmits His orders to material nature, which makes all the necessary arrangements for the conditioned souls that we are. The latter are therefore not independent, although they foolishly imagine that they are the authors of their actions.

The power of our senses, our mental power, our physical vigour, our life force, as well as immortality and mortality, are all subject to the supreme authority of God.

The fools who ignore this truth believe that the inert material body is the origin of their acts, whereas these acts are performed by the material nature.

Victory always belongs to God. As for the subordinate beings, they act according to the arrangements made by the Lord. Victory or defeat is not really theirs; it is the result of the arrangements made by the Lord through material nature. Pride in victory or gloom in defeat is therefore quite inappropriate. One must depend entirely on God, the Supreme Person, for He alone is responsible for the victories and defeats of all beings.