Along the same lines, no one can create anything without the Lord's consent, since each of us possesses a vision that is commensurate with our abilities, and these abilities are also granted by God in proportion to our desire to serve Him. Therefore, we must firmly and willingly desire to serve Lord Krishna, and He, in return, will endow us with powers according to the degree of our surrender to His divine Person.
Because Brahma is a great devotee, the Lord gave him the inspiration, the power to create a galaxy, such as the one now manifested before our eyes.
For example, the Battle of Kuruksetra, as well as all other wars in history, are born of the Lord's will, for no one can cause such great slaughter without His consent, it being understood that all the victims of wars suffer the consequences of sinful acts committed in their previous lives. Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is present in the body of each of us in His form as the Supreme Soul, and from there, He directs the slightest actions of those who have surrendered to Him. As for rebellious souls, they are entrusted to the tutelage of material nature. They can thus act on their own initiative and suffer the consequences of their sinful actions.
Because His devotees place themselves under His direction, they too sometimes perform miraculous deeds. For example, Brahma, to whom God granted the power to create a galaxy, and the great sage Narada Muni and Jesus, to whom the Lord granted the power to perform miracles.
Lord Krishna, the transcendent witness of all actions, directs the intelligence of all living beings, from Brahma, the most evolved being in the galaxy, to the smallest ant. An intelligent person, capable of studying the psychic manifestations of thought, feeling, and will, will be able to perceive the subtle presence of the Lord within him.
The three attributes and modes of influence of material nature—virtue, passion, and ignorance—manifest themselves as matter, knowledge, and action, and impose on beings of eternally spiritual nature conditions of cause and effect, making them responsible for their actions in matter. In truth, living beings are not meant to be conditioned by material energy, but when a false impression and false data arise within them that compel them to rule over material energy, it is the latter that places them under its yoke, thus forcing them to undergo the conditioning of the three attributes and modes of influence.
This external energy, or the Lord's material energy, veils the pure knowledge of living beings and plunges them into forgetfulness of their true spiritual identity, as well as of the eternal bond that unites them with Krishna. But this ignorance that constantly envelops them is such that it seems to exist from all eternity. These are the prodigious powers of material energy, which seems to be a manifestation of matter.
By this veil it casts over the scientist, material energy prevents him from seeing beyond material causes, whereas behind the manifestations of matter lies the action of three forces invisible to the soul conditioned by ignorance.