Supreme Soul, it is under the influence of Maya, for such is not its original and eternal nature. No one can become the Supreme Soul by intellectual speculation.
Separate beings remain forever minute parts of the whole represented by the Supreme Soul, so that it is never possible for them to become as great as this Supreme Soul.
The bhakta must always strive to listen to spiritual statements and to use his time to sing the Holy Name of the Lord. He must always behave frankly and straightforwardly, be simple, and, while avoiding no one and showing friendship to all, he must avoid the company of beings who have little spiritual development. He who wishes to advance in his understanding of spiritual things must listen to authentic sources about absolute knowledge. Moreover, the reality of the spiritual life is revealed only to one who adheres strictly to the principles of regulation and who controls his senses. To gain self-control, one must be non-violent, truthful, not steal, abstain from all sexual activity and possess only what is absolutely necessary for the maintenance of the body.
No one is particularly dear to the Sovereign Lord, no one is His friend or his enemy. But He inspires those who do not forget Him and destroy others (He gives them death).
The forgetting of our relationship with Sri Visnu, the Supreme Lord, is the cause of our succession to the cycle of death and successive rebirths. The distinct being is just as eternal as the Supreme Lord, but because of oblivion it is placed in material nature and forced to transmigrate from one body to another; And when his body is destroyed, he believes himself to perish. In truth, it is his forgetfulness of the relation which unites him to Sri Visnu, which is at the origin of his destruction. Anyone who regains consciousness of his original relationship with the Lord receives from Him all inspiration. This does not mean, however, that the Lord is the enemy of some and the friend of others; It helps all beings. But he who is not led astray by the influence of material energy is saved, when the others perish. That is why the Scriptures teach: No one can be saved from the repetition of the dead and rebirth without the help of the Supreme Lord. It is therefore the duty of all beings to seek refuge with Visnu, and thus to free themselves from the cycle of death and rebirth.