K.C. Swami: Life or soul is that which moves, eats, drinks, grows, reproduces and diminishes. Death means all these things would vanish. All this happens as a result of the involvement of the higher being (soul) in the body. It is a life which assembles non-living things and makes them available to people for their use, but life itself is not the composition of matter. For example, Gold is a lump of value, but a person or life makes earrings, necklaces, and bracelets; aluminum is a matter, but life makes big airplanes, trains, pots, and pans.
Similarly, steel, plastic, rubber, etc., all have their origin, but are shaped and used by the person or life. All varieties of food ingredients are available, but life is what cooks, eats and feeds. As long as living entities commit their energy in different areas, the Supreme Lord, the Supreme soul, has its own contribution to the life of living entities.
He gives us all the lumps of Gold, aluminum, steel, rubber, plastic, and food like the unlimited quantity of fruits, vegetables, grains, sugar, etc. He controls the oceans; he puts the planets into orbit; the Sun and the Moon rise and fall because of him. It can be said to be nature, but nature is the mechanical machine, and it is the supreme soul which activates it. There is no difference between Him and us, He has a head, two hands, two legs, and two eyes, and you also have it. But His body is the combination of spirit soul, and our body is the combination of material elements. For example, a father has all bodily limbs, and a son has all bodily limbs as well. But the father holds the child. It is natural, then, that God creates life and makes it invisible. Nothing can destroy life, and all things are in Krishna's hand. Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita:
avyaktādīni bhūtāni vyakta-madhyānibhārata avyakta-nidhanāny eva tatra kā paridevanā
'Before creation, all living entities are invisible, visible for a short period, and invisible again when they are annihilated. So, what is there to grieve"? What makes these entities visible and invisible is Krishna, and consequently, He is the Supreme Life.
Life is eternal, yet death is not limitless for a living being. When we are cleansed from this material consciousness, we enter into the permanent spiritual nature or Kingdom of God. where all eternally freed living beings to live together with their everlasting paraphernalia, like houses and planes. Therefore, humans with superior intellect should try to locate this eternal nature through their spiritual wisdom, not the entangled material intelligence in the earthly atmosphere.