Hṛdayānanda: (translating question) He says that if we are originally in the spiritual world and full of knowledge, how can we try to lord it over, or, in other words, how can we try to do something which actually cannot be done? And if we are originally full of pleasure, then why would we accept an inferior thing?
Prabhupāda: That I have already explained, that although you have got the God's qualities, but you are very small. Just like a big fire and the sparks of the fire, similarly, God is big fire and we are like sparks of the fire. When the sparks come down from the fire, it becomes extinguished. So because we are very small, very—I have already given you the dimension—as soon as we become out of the big fire, in touch with God, then we become extinguished. So somehow or other, if you are again go to the fire, you have your original, brightened, I mean to say, illuminating quality, the spark. So at the present moment, somehow or other, being fallen in this material condition, we have lost our godly qualities. We can cure that. Just like a diseased man lost his appetite, but by treatment he can again awaken his appetite and eat properly. So we, being very small—we may say "a small god"—therefore we fall under the clutches of māyā, illusion. But it can be cured. We can again revive our original position. (break)
Guest: . . .the Lord in the heart is the soul or is He a part of the soul?
Prabhupāda: No. The soul is part of the Lord. Lord is the Supersoul. So therefore, yoga practice means the soul wants to find out the Supersoul. Dhyānāvasthita-tad-gatena manasā paśyanti yaṁ yoginaḥ (SB 12.13.1). The yogīs, those who are real yogīs, not bogus yogīs, real yogī, they wants to meditate upon the Supersoul. The Supersoul or the soul, they are sitting on the same tree, the body. The Supersoul is simply witnessing the activities of the soul and giving sanction for all his mischievous activities. But the soul is suffering the sequence or the result of his activities. The Supersoul is simply witness. That is stated in the Bhagavad. . . Anumantā upadraṣṭā (BG 13.23). Anumantā means without God's sanction, without Supersoul's sanction, you cannot do anything. But because he persists, the soul persists to do something, Supersoul says, "All right, you do at your own risk." Just like a thief is going to steal. The Supersoul is ordering, "Don't do it," because without God's sanction he cannot steal. But when the thief persists, then He says, "All right, you do at your risk." This is the position of the Supersoul and the soul.