TEXT:
The embodied spirit, master of the city of his body,
does not create activities, nor does he induce people to act,
nor does he create the fruits of action.
All this is enacted by the modes of material nature.
Nor does the Supreme Spirit assume anyone's sinful or pious activities.
Embodied beings, however, are bewildered because of the
ignorance which covers their real knowledge.
COMMENTARY
The living entity is one in nature with the Supreme Lord, as distinguished from matter,
which is another nature—called inferior—of the Lord.
Somehow, the superior nature, the living entity, has been in contact with
material nature since time immemorial. The temporary body or material
dwelling place which he obtains is the cause of varieties of activities and
their resultant reactions.
Living in such a conditional atmosphere, one suffers the results of the activities
of the body by identifying himself (in ignorance) with the body.
It is ignorance acquired from time immemorial that is the cause of bodily
suffering and distress. As soon as the living entity becomes aloof from the
activities of the body, he becomes free from the reactions as well.
As long as he is in the city of body, he appears to be the master of it,
but actually he is neither its proprietor nor controller of its actions and reactions.
He is simply in the midst of the material ocean, struggling for existence.
The waves of the ocean are tossing him, and he has no control over them.
His best solution is to get out of the water by transcendental Krishna-yoga consciousness.
That alone will save him from all turmoil.
The Sanskrit word vibhuh means the Supreme Lord who is full of unlimited knowledge,
riches, strength, fame, beauty and renunciation. He is always satisfied in Himself,
undisturbed by sinful or pious activities. He does not create a particular situation
for any living entity, but the living entity, bewildered by ignorance, desires to be put
into certain conditions of life, and thereby his chain of action and reaction begins.
A living entity is, by superior nature, full of knowledge. Nevertheless, he is prone
to be influenced by ignorance due to his limited power.
The Lord is omnipotent, but the living entity is not. The Lord is vibhu, or omniscient,
but the living entity is anu, or atomic. Because he is a living soul, he has the capacity
to desire by his free will. Such desire is fulfilled only by the omnipotent Lord.
And so, when the living entity is bewildered in his desires, the Lord allows him to
fulfill those desires, but the Lord is never responsible for the actions and reactions
of the particular situation which may be desired. Being in a bewildered condition,
therefore, the embodied soul identifies himself with the circumstantial material body
and becomes subjected to the temporary misery and happiness of life.
The Lord is the constant companion of the living entity as Paramatma, or the Supersoul,
and therefore He can understand the desires of the individual soul, as one can
smell the flavor of a flower by being near it. Desire is a subtle form of conditioning
of the living entity. The Lord fulfills his desire as he deserves:
Man proposes and God disposes.
The individual is not, therefore, omnipotent in fulfilling his desires.
The Lord, however, can fulfill all desires, and the Lord, being neutral to
everyone, does not interfere with the desires of the minute independant
living entities. However, when one desires Krishna, the Lord takes special
care and encourages one to desire in such a way that one can attain to
Him and be eternally happy. The Vedic hymn therefore declares:
"The Lord engages the living entity in pious activities so he may be elevated.
The Lord engages him in impious activities so he may go to hell.
The living entity is completely dependant in his distress and happiness.
By the will of the Supreme he can go to heaven or hell, as a cloud is driven by the air."
Therefore the embodied soul, by his immemorial desire to avoid Krishna-yoga
consciousness, causes his own bewilderment. Consequently, although he is
constitutionally eternal, blissful and cognizant, due to the littleness of his
existence he forgets his constitutional position of service to the Lord and is
thus entrapped by nescience. And, under the spell of ignorance, the living
entity claims that the Lord is responsible for his conditional existence.
The Vedanta-sutras also confirm this:
"The Lord neither hates nor likes anyone, though He appears to."
[From Bhagavad-gita ---TEXT & COMMENTARY by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami]
