BHAGAVAD-GITA 18:61

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 18:61

 

isvarah sarva-bhutanam

hrd-dese 'rjuna tisthati

bhramayan sarva-bhutani

yantrarudhani mayaya

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

isvarah--the Supreme Lord; sarva-bhutanam--of all living entities;

hrt-dese--in the location of the heart; arjuna--O Arjuna;

tisthati--resides; bhramayan--causing to travel; sarva-bhutani--all

living entities; yantra--on a machine; arudhani--being placed;

mayaya--under the spell of material energy.

 

TRANSLATION

 

The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is

directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on

a machine, made of the material energy.

 

PURPORT

 

Arjuna was not the supreme knower, and his decision to fight or not to

fight was confined to his limited discretion. Lord Krsna instructed

that the individual is not all in all. The Supreme Personality of

Godhead, or He Himself, Krsna, as the localized Supersoul, sits in the

heart directing the living being. After changing bodies, the living

entity forgets his past deeds, but the Supersoul, as the knower of the

past, present and future, remains the witness of all his activities.

Therefore all the activities of living entities are directed by this

Supersoul. The living entity gets what he deserves and is carried by

the material body, which is created in the material energy under the

direction of the Supersoul. As soon as a living entity is placed in a

particular type of body, he has to work under the spell of that bodily

situation. A person seated in a high-speed motorcar goes faster than

one seated in a slower car, though the living entities, the drivers,

may be the same. Similarly, by the order of the Supreme Soul, material

nature fashions a particular type of body to a particular type of

living entity so that he may work according to his past desires. The

living entity is not independent. One should not think himself

independent of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The individual is

always under the Lord's control. Therefore one's duty is to surrender,

and that is the injunction of the next verse.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.