We are eternally minute sparks of Krishna, qualitatively one but never equal to the Supreme.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.25.17 — November 17, 1974, Bombay 741117SB-BOMBAY [33:27 Minutes] SB-03.25.17_741117SB-BOMBAY Nitāi: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse, etc.] tadā puruṣa ātmānaṁ kevalaṁ prakṛteḥ param nirantaraṁ svayaṁ-jyotir aṇimānam akhaṇḍitam [SB 3.25.17] [break] [01:20] "At that time the soul can see himself to be transcendental to the material existence and always self-effulgent, never fragmented, although very minute in size." Prabhupāda: tadā puruṣa ātmānaṁ kevalaṁ prakṛteḥ param nirantaraṁ svayaṁ-jyotir aṇimānam akhaṇḍitam [SB 3.25.17] This is self-realization.
Self-realization means to see one's proper identity. At the present moment we are not finding out our proper identity. We are seeing to the body. I see you, your body, and you see me, my body.
We have no vision of the real person which is..., who is occupying this body. This is the first lesson we get from Bhagavad-gītā: dehino 'smin yathā dehe. Dehī... This body is called deha, and the owner of the body is called dehī.
So, dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā tathā dehāntara-prāptiḥ... [Bg. 2.13] So when we can see that we are not this body, "I am not this body," that is beginning of self-realization. That is called brahma-bhūta stage. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi: "I am not this material body." Ahaṁ brahmāsmi. This is self-realization. So what is the identification of the jīva, of the soul?
Very minute. Aṇimānam. Very, very minute, infinitesimal. God is infinite, and we are infinitesimal, very small particle.
Just like sun. Sun is very big, but the sunshine, it is a combination of very minute, bright articles, atoms. Everyone knows. It is a combination of, I mean to say, dazzling, bright...
Similarly, we are also a small, bright particle, the same quality. Svayaṁ-jyoti. Just like God, or Brahman, is jyoti, we are also jyoti. But Brahman is all-pervading, infinite; we are aṇimānam.