Srimad-Bhagavatam: Canto 11 - Chapter 1 - Verse 26

Sanskrit:

श्रीउद्धव उवाचप्रकृति: पुरुषश्चोभौ यद्यप्यात्मविलक्षणौ । अन्योन्यापाश्रयात् कृष्ण द‍ृश्यते न भिदा तयो: । प्रकृतौ लक्ष्यते ह्यात्मा प्रकृतिश्च तथात्मनि ॥ २६ ॥

ITRANS:

śrī-uddhava uvācaprakṛtiḥ puruṣaś cobhauyady apy ātma-vilakṣaṇauanyonyāpāśrayāt kṛṣṇadṛśyate na bhidā tayoḥprakṛtau lakṣyate hy ātmāprakṛtiś ca tathātmani

Translation:

Śrī Uddhava inquired: Although nature and the living entity are constitutionally distinct, O Lord Kṛṣṇa, there appears to be no difference between them, because they are found residing within one another. Thus the soul appears to be within nature and nature within the soul.

Purport:

Śrī Uddhava here expresses the doubt that arises in the heart of an ordinary conditioned soul. Although the Vedic scriptures declare that the material body is a temporary fabrication of the material modes of nature, the conscious living entity within the body is actually an eternal spirit soul. In Bhagavad-gītā Lord Kṛṣṇa has declared the material elements constituting the body to be His separated, inferior energy, whereas the living entity is the superior, conscious energy of the Lord. Still, in conditioned life the material body and conditioned soul appear inseparable and thus nondifferent. Because the living entity enters the womb of a mother and gradually comes out in a developed body, the soul appears to have entered deeply within material nature. Similarly, by the soul’s identification with the material body, the body appears to enter deeply within the consciousness of the soul. What is more, the body cannot exist without the presence of the soul. By this apparent mutual dependence, the difference between the body and soul is obscured. Śrī Uddhava therefore questions the Lord in order to clarify this issue.