Answer
The Bhāgavatam explains that taste, smell, touch, sound, and other sensory qualities are ultimately facilitated by the Supersoul (Paramātmā).
Every experience of sound is possible because of God. Every experience of taste is also because of God. These qualities do not independently exist in matter. Matter alone cannot produce the experience of taste.
Of course, there are unlimited varieties of taste. If you mix mango juice with another juice, or add salt to it, the taste changes. We naturally think that these combinations are producing taste. Actually, they are only transforming the original taste experience.
The fundamental capacity for taste is already present because of the Supersoul. The different combinations of material ingredients simply modify that original taste through the interaction of the three modes of material nature.
Thus, when we prepare different foods, we are not creating taste from nothing. We are simply modifying the basic taste that the Lord has already established within creation.
Therefore, when Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā, "I am the taste of water," He is referring to the fundamental principle of taste that He personally establishes through His presence as the Supersoul.
The water element itself is one of Kṛṣṇa's material energies, as He explains elsewhere in the Bhagavad-gītā: earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence, and false ego are all His separated material energies. However, the experience of taste is directly sustained by the Supersoul.
Without the Supersoul:
There would be no fundamental experience of taste.
There would be no perception of sight, sound, smell, or touch.
Even though the senses and sense objects may exist, experience itself would not be possible.
Thus, Kṛṣṇa is the foundation of all perception, while His material energies create the endless variety we experience.
When people claim that they themselves create things, they are only rearranging material energy. The underlying principles, the ingredients, and the capacity for experience all originate from Kṛṣṇa.
That is why Śrīla Prabhupāda instructed devotees to remember Kṛṣṇa whenever they drink water. The experience of taste reminds us of the Lord's presence.
Śrīla Prabhupāda even once advised a person who was addicted to wine, "While drinking, think that the taste is Kṛṣṇa." His intention was not to glorify wine but to help the person remember Kṛṣṇa. Constant remembrance of Kṛṣṇa would gradually purify the person's consciousness and eventually free him from the addiction.
The taste of wine is also a modification of the original taste established by the Supersoul. Therefore, wherever there is experience, Kṛṣṇa is present.
The scriptures also state that the Lord has hands, legs, eyes, and ears everywhere. This does not mean He possesses material limbs; rather, He performs all functions throughout creation without material organs.
Similarly, when we chant the holy names, we should have complete faith that the Lord hears our chanting. Kṛṣṇa Himself declares that He hears everything.
The first hearer of our chanting is the all-pervading Supersoul within our heart. As our devotion deepens, Śrī Kṛṣṇa personally receives our devotional offering.
