The Vedas declare that it is God Himself who gives consciousness to all living beings. One is the Prayojya Karta (actual doer) and the other is the Prayojak Karta (motivating doer).  God is the motivator, and the individual being is the actual doer.  In other words, God gives power to the senses, mind and intellect to perform actions.  But what use will the individual make of that power?

The individual soul, which is conscious, cannot be a part of maya, which is devoid of consciousness.  Thus, the individual soul is neither a part of maya shakti, nor is it a part of Svaroop Shakti.  It is between both these powers, like trishanku.  This is why it is called Tatastha Shakti, i.e. Marginal power.

The Gita says that God is our ‘everything’.  This is why we are His fractions. The Ramayan also says the same.  Why the individual soul is called a fraction?  It is a power of God.  Jeev Shakti.  A Power called jeev, individual soul.  This is why it is called a fraction.  It is called a fraction from the point of view of being a power, not a piece.

It is the power of God that is making maya do all this work.  What power is that?  The same svaroop shakti, para shakti, chit shakti; it has many names.  God makes maya work on the strength of para shakti.

Thus, God makes maya work with the strength of para shakti.  And that is the reason why, there is no person, no yogi, no ascetic in countless universes who has ever, or who will ever be able to defeat maya.  Why?  Because, maya is governed by para shakti.  Only the one who can defeat para shakti, can defeat maya.  Now, who except for God, can anyone defeat para shakti?  This is why the condition –

The Bhagavatam says that it is only with God’s grace that one can gain freedom from maya.  Without His grace, the ones who attain knowledge of the ‘self’, even they fall.  Maya shakti belongs to God.  

God says very cleverly to Arjun,

Jagadguru Kripaluji Maharaj says, if it is ‘Yours’ (God), only ‘You’ can defeat it.  

No one is powerful enough to defeat maya.  If someone has defeated maya, he has defeated ‘You’.  Then what else is left to do?  There have been many demons who have ruled over the three universes, they, who could imprison Indra and made even Brahma run for help.  But even they could not defeat maya.

So, the external power, maya is governed by God’s svaroop shakti or yogmaya, and empowered by svaroop shakti, this world is created by maya.  This is the reason why maya has full control of the individual soul.  It is svaroopavarika maya.  There are two kinds of maya:  gunavarika maya and svaroopavarika maya.  Both are governed by God’s yogmaya.  All powers of God live inside of God.

Conclusion:  maya shakti lives inside of God, as do jeev shakti and para shakti.  But neither maya shakti nor jeev shakti are in touch with God.  Only para shakti is.  That is the only difference.  Maya lives in God, but is separate from God.  The individual soul lives inside of God, but is separate from God.  Only svaroop shakti is the power that is always connected to God. So, the natural characteristic of the soul is that it is a marginal power of God.  There is a difference, as well as non-difference between God and the individual soul.

The marginal characteristic of the individual soul is that it is an eternal servant of God.