Question:Can you please help me understand how these verses/purports do not contradict each other?
Bhagavad-gita As It Is 7.14.
“The living entities belong to the eternal superior nature of the Lord, but due to contamination by the inferior nature, matter, their illusion is also eternal. The conditioned soul is therefore called nitya-baddha, or eternally conditioned. No one can trace out the history of his becoming conditioned at a certain date in material history. Consequently, his release from the clutches of material nature is very difficult.”
“Another meaning of guna is rope; it is to be understood that the conditioned soul is tightly tied by the ropes of illusion. A man bound by the hands and feet cannot free himself.”
Bhagavad-gita As It Is 13.32
“Those with the vision of eternity can see that the imperishable soul is transcendental, eternal, and beyond the modes of nature. Despite contact with the material body, O Arjuna, the soul neither does anything nor is entangled.”
“He does not engage himself in any material activities; therefore the activities performed due to his contact with material bodies do not entangle him.”
Answer by Romapada Swam:
In a recent posting, we discussed the import of BG 13.32: the soul’s apparent entanglement is perceptual only, not factual, as in a dream.
However, due to a conditioned soul’s long term misidentification with the inferior material energy, he is tightly bound or deeply ‘conditioned’ by it; therefore, extracting himself from this conception is not easy.
This situation is what is indicated when the soul is described as being ‘contaminated’, ‘bound’ or ‘entangled’, as stated in BG 7.14 quoted above. Nonetheless, the original pure nature of the soul still remains untouched, as described in 13.32.
Only those with spiritual vision can actually see this fact while the conditioned soul sees himself as struggling or as enjoying, suffering the fruits of his actions which are actually induced by the modes of nature.
Meanwhile the original, transcendental nature of the soul is not transformed in any way. He still remains superior to and untouched by dull matter which is the inferior energy, but he apparently becomes bound by it because of his aversion to Krishna. As soon as one crosses over the seemingly insurmountable network of maya by surrendering to Krishna, his original nature is revived, like one waking from a dream.
Thus there is no contradiction.
I hope this answer clarifies your concern.
