Bhagavad-gita As It Is - Macmillan 1972 Edition -- Prabhupada Books (3 page)

The subject of the
Bhagavad-gītā
entails the comprehension of five basic truths. First of all, the science of God is explained and then the constitutional position of the living entities,
jīvas.
There is
īśvara,
which means controller, and there are
jīvas,
the living entities which are controlled. If a living entity says that he is not controlled but that he is free, then he is insane. The living being is controlled in every respect, at least in his conditioned life. So in the
Bhagavad-gītā
the subject matter deals with the
īśvara
, the supreme controller, and the
jīvas,
the controlled living entities.
Prakṛti
(material nature) and time (the duration of existence of the whole universe or the manifestation of material nature) and
karma
(activity) are also discussed. The cosmic manifestation is full of different activities. All living entities are engaged in different activities. From
Bhagavad-gītā
we must learn what God is, what the living entities are, what
prakrti
is, what the cosmic manifestation is and how it is controlled by time, and what the activities of the living entities are.

Out of these five basic subject matters in
Bhagavad-gītā
it is established that the Supreme Godhead, or Kṛṣṇa, or Brahman, or supreme controller, or Paramātmā-you may use whatever name you like-is the greatest of all. The living beings are in quality like the supreme controller. For instance, the Lord has control over the universal affairs, over material nature, etc., as will be explained in the later chapters of
Bhagavad-gītā.
Material nature is not independant. She is acting under the directions of the Supreme Lord. As Lord Kṛṣṇa says, "
Prakṛti
is working under My direction." When we see wonderful things happening in the cosmic nature, we should know that behind this cosmic manifestation there is a controller. Nothing could be manifested without being controlled. It is childish not to consider the controller. For instance, a child may think that an automobile is quite wonderful to be able to run without a horse or other animal pulling it, but a sane man knows the nature of the automobile's engineering arrangement. He always knows that behind the machinery there is a man, a driver. Similarly, the Supreme Lord is a driver under whose direction everything is working. Now the
jīvas,
or the living entities, have been accepted by the Lord, as we will note in the later chapters, as His parts and parcels. A particle of gold is also gold, a drop of water from the ocean is also salty, and similarly, we the living entities, being part and parcel of the supreme controller,
īsvara
, or Bhagavān, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, have all the qualities of the Supreme Lord in minute quantity because we are minute
īśvaras
, subordinate
īśvaras
. We are trying to control nature, as presently we are trying to control space or planets, and this tendency to control is there because it is in Kṛṣṇa. But although we have a tendency to lord it over material nature, we should know that we are not the supreme controller. This is explained in
Bhagavad-gītā.

What is material nature? This is also explained in
Gītā
as inferior
prakṛti,
inferior nature. The living entity is explained as the superior
prakṛti. Prakṛti
is always under control, whether inferior or superior.
Prakṛti
is female, and she is controlled by the Lord just as the activities of a wife are controlled by the husband.
Prakṛti
is always subordinate, predominated by the Lord, who is the predominator. The living entities and material nature are both predominated, controlled by the Supreme Lord. According to the
Gītā,
the living entities, although parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, are to be considered
prakṛti.
This is clearly mentioned in the Seventh Chapter, fifth verse of
Bhagavad-gītā:
"
Apareyam itas tv anyām
." "This
prakṛti
is My lower nature." "
Prakṛtiṁ viddhi me parām jīva-bhūtāṁ mahā-bāho yayedaṁ dhāryate jagat
." And beyond this there is another
prakṛti: jīva-bhūtām,
the living entity.

Prakṛti
itself is constituted by three qualities: the mode of goodness, the mode of passion and the mode of ignorance. Above these modes there is eternal time, and by a combination of these modes of nature and under the control and purview of eternal time there are activities which are called
karma.
These activities are being carried out from time immemorial, and we are suffering or enjoying the fruits of our activities. For instance, suppose I am a businessman and have worked very hard with intelligence and have amassed a great bank balance. Then I am an enjoyer. But then say I have lost all my money in business; then I am a sufferer. Similarly, in every field of life we enjoy the results of our work, or we suffer the results. This is called
karma
.

Īśvara
(the Supreme Lord),
jīva
(the living entity),
prakṛti
(nature), eternal time and
karma
(activity) are all explained in the
Bhagavad-gītā.
Out of these five, the Lord, the living entities, material nature and time are eternal. The manifestation of
prakṛti
may be temporary, but it is not false. Some philosophers say that the manifestation of material nature is false, but according to the philosophy of
Bhagavad-gītā
or according to the philosophy of the Vaiṣṇavas, this is not so. The manifestation of the world is not accepted as false; it is accepted as real, but temporary. It is likened unto a cloud which moves across the sky, or the coming of the rainy season which nourishes grains. As soon as the rainy season is over and as soon as the cloud goes away, all the crops which were nourished by the rain dry up. Similarly, this material manifestation takes place at a certain interval, stays for a while and then disappears. Such are the workings of
prakṛti
But this cycle is working eternally. Therefore
prakrti
is eternal; it is not false. The Lord refers to this as "My
prakṛti
." This material nature is the separated energy of the Supreme Lord, and similarly the living entities are also the energy of the Supreme Lord, but they are not separated. They are eternally related. So the Lord, the living entity, material nature and time are all interrelated and are all eternal. However, the other item,
karma
, is not eternal. The effects of
karma
may be very old indeed. We are suffering or enjoying the results of our activities from time immemorial, but we can change the results of our
karma
, or our activity, and this change depends on the perfection of our knowledge. We are engaged in various activities. Undoubtedly we do not know what sort of activities we should adopt to gain relief from the actions and reactions of all these activities, but this is also explained in the
Bhagavad-gītā.

The position of
īsvara
is that of supreme consciousness. The
jīvas
, or the living entities, being parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, are also conscious. Both the living entity and material nature are explained as
prakṛti,
the energy of the Supreme Lord, but one of the two, the
jīva
, is conscious. The other
prakṛti
is not conscious. That is the difference. Therefore the
jīva-prakṛti
is called superior because the
jīva
has consciousness which is similar to the Lord's. The Lord's is supreme consciousness, however, and one should not claim that the
jīva
, the living entity, is also supremely conscious. The living being cannot be supremely conscious at any stage of his perfection, and the theory that he can be so is a misleading theory. Conscious he may be, but he is not perfectly or supremely conscious.

The distinction between the
jīva
and the
īśvara
will be explained in the Thirteenth Chapter of
Bhagavad-gītā.
The Lord is
kṣetra-jñaḥ,
conscious, as is the living being, but the living being is conscious of his particular body, whereas the Lord is conscious of all bodies. Because He lives in the heart of every living being, He is conscious of the psychic movements of the particular
jīvas.
We should not forget this. It is also explained that the
Paramātmā,
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is living in everyone's heart as
īśvara,
as the controller, and that He is giving directions for the living entity to act as he desires. The living entity forgets what to do. First of all he makes a determination to act in a certain way, and then he is entangled in the acts and reactions of his own
karma.
After giving up one type of body, he enters another type of body, as we put on and take off old clothes. As the soul thus migrates, he suffers the actions and reactions of his past activities. These activities can be changed when the living being is in the mode of goodness, in sanity, and understands what sort of activities he should adopt. If he does so, then all the actions and reactions of his past activities can be changed. Consequently,
karma
is not eternal. Therefore we stated that of the five items (
īśvara, jīva, prakṛti
time and
karma
) four are eternal, whereas
karma
is not eternal.

The supreme conscious
īśvara
is similar to the living entity in this way: both the consciousness of the Lord and that of the living entity are transcendental. It is not that consciousness is generated by the association of matter. That is a mistaken idea. The theory that consciousness develops under certain circumstances of material combination is not accepted in the
Bhagavad-gītā.
Consciousness may be pervertedly reflected by the covering of material circumstances, just as light reflected through colored glass may appear to be a certain color, but the consciousness of the Lord is not materially affected. Lord Kṛṣṇa says, "
mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ
." When He descends into the material universe, His consciousness is not materially affected. If He were so affected, He would be unfit to speak on transcendental matters as He does in the
Bhagavad-gītā.
One cannot say anything about the transcendental world without being free from materially contaminated consciousness. So the Lord is not materially contaminated. Our consciousness, at the present moment, however, is materially contaminated. The
Bhagavad-gītā
teaches that we have to purify this materially contaminated consciousness. In pure consciousness, our actions will be dovetailed to the will of
īśvara,
and that will make us happy. It is not that we have to cease all activities. Rather, our activities are to be purified, and purified activities are called
bhakti.
Activities in
bhakti
appear to be like ordinary activities, but they are not contaminated. An ignorant person may see that a devotee is acting or working like an ordinary man, but such a person with a poor fund of knowledge does not know that the activities of the devotee or of the Lord are not contaminated by impure consciousness or matter. They are transcendental to the three modes of nature. We should know, however, that at this point our consciousness is contaminated.

When we are materially contaminated, we are called conditioned. False consciousness is exhibited under the impression that I am a product of material nature. This is called false ego. One who is absorbed in the thought of bodily conceptions cannot understand his situation.
Bhagavad-gītā
was spoken to liberate one from the bodily conception of life, and Arjuna put himself in this position in order to receive this information from the Lord. One must become free from the bodily conception of life; that is the preliminary activity for the transcendentalist. One who wants to become free, who wants to become liberated, must first of all learn that he is not this material body.
Mukti
or liberation means freedom from material consciousness. In the
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
also the definition of liberation is given:
Mukti
means liberation from the contaminated consciousness of this material world and situation in pure consciousness. All the instructions of
Bhagavad-gītā
are intended to awaken this pure consciousness, and therefore we find at the last stage of the
Gītā's
instructions that Kṛṣṇa is asking Arjuna whether he is now in purified consciousness. Purified consciousness means acting in accordance with the instructions of the Lord. This is the whole sum and substance of purified consciousness. Consciousness is already there because we are part and parcel of the Lord, but for us there is the affinity of being affected by the inferior modes. But the Lord, being the Supreme, is never affected. That is the difference between the Supreme Lord and the conditioned souls.

What is this consciousness? This consciousness is "I am." Then what am I? In contaminated consciousness "I am" means "I am the lord of all I survey. I am the enjoyer." The world revolves because every living being thinks that he is the lord and creator of the material world. Material consciousness has two psychic divisions. One is that I am the creator, and the other is that I am the enjoyer. But actually the Supreme Lord is both the creator and the enjoyer, and the living entity, being part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, is neither the creator nor the enjoyer, but a cooperator. He is the created and the enjoyed. For instance, a part of a machine cooperates with the whole machine; a part of the body cooperates with the whole body. The hands, feet, eyes, legs and so on are all parts of the body, but they are not actually the enjoyers. The stomach is the enjoyer. The legs move, the hands supply food, the teeth chew and all parts of the body are engaged in satisfying the stomach because the stomach is the principal factor that nourishes the body's organization. Therefore everything is given to the stomach. One nourishes the tree by watering its root, and one nourishes the body by feeding the stomach, for if the body is to be kept in a healthy state, then the parts of the body must cooperate to feed the stomach. Similarly, the Supreme Lord is the enjoyer and the creator, and we, as subordinate living beings, are meant to cooperate to satisfy Him. This cooperation will actually help us, just as food taken by the stomach will help all other parts of the body. If the fingers of the hand think that they should take the food themselves instead of giving it to the stomach, then they will be frustrated. The central figure of creation and of enjoyment is the
Supreme Lord, and the living entities are cooperators. By cooperation they enjoy. The relation is also like that of the master and the servant. If the master is fully satisfied, then the servant is satisfied. Similarly, the Supreme Lord should be satisfied, although the tendency to become the creator and the tendency to enjoy the material world are there also in the living entities because these tendencies are there in the Supreme Lord who has created the manifested cosmic world.