None of these conditions of the living entitiesnamely, deep sleep, dreaming and wakefulnessis substantial. They are simply displays of various phases of conditional life. There may be many mountains, rivers, trees, bees, tigers and snakes that are situated far away, but in a dream one may imagine them to be nearby. Similarly, as one has subtle dreams at night, when the living entity is awake he lives in gross dreams of nation, community, society, possessions, skyscrapers, bank balance, position and honor. Under the circumstances, one should know that his position is due to his contact with the material world. One is situated in different positions in various forms of life that are all but creations of the illusory energy, which works under the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore the Supreme Lord is the ultimate actor, and the conditioned living entity should simply remember this original actor, Sri Krsna. As living entities, we are being carried away by the waves of prakrti, or nature, which works under the Lords direction (mayadhyaksena prakrtih suyate sa-caracaram [Bg. 9.10]). Bhaktivinoda Thakura sings, (miche) mayara vase, yaccha bhese, khaccha habudubu, bhai: Why are you being carried away by the waves of the illusory energy in various phases of dreaming and wakefulness? These are all creations of maya. Our only duty is to remember the supreme director of this illusory energyKrsna. For us to do this, the sastra advises us, harer nama harer nama harer namaiva kevalam [Adi 17.21]: one should constantly chant the holy name of the LordHare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. The Supreme Lord is realized in three different phases, as Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan, but Bhagavan is the ultimate realization. One who realizes Bhagavanthe Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsnais the most perfect mahatma (vasudevah sarvam iti sa mahatma sudurlabhah [Bg. 7.19]). In the human form of life, one should understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, for then one will understand everything else. Yasmin vijnate sarvam evam vijnatam bhavati. According to this Vedic injunction, simply by understanding Krsna one understands Brahman, Paramatma, prakrti, the illusory energy, the spiritual energy and everything else. Everything will be revealed. prakrti, the material nature, is. working under the direction of the Supreme Lord, and we living entities are being carried away by various phases of prakrti. For self-realization, one should always remember Krsna. As stated in Padma Purana, smartavyah satatam visnuh: we should always remember Lord Visnu. Vismartavyo na jatucit: we should never forget the Lord. This is the perfection of life.