The subject of the Bhagavad-Gita AS IT IS 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, jévas. There is Ishvara, which means thecontroller, and there are jévas, the living entities which are controlled. If aliving 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-Gétä the subject matter deals with the Ishvara, the supremecontroller, and the jévas, the controlled living entities. Prakåti (materialnature) and time (the duration of existence of the whole universe or themanifestation of material nature) and karma (activity) are also discussed. Thecosmic manifestation is full of different activities. All living entities areengaged in different activities. From Bhagavad-Gétä we must learn what God is,what the living entities are, what prakåti is, what the cosmic manifestation is,how it is controlled by time, and what the activities of the living entities are.Out of these five basic subject matters in Bhagavad-Gétä it is established thatthe Supreme Godhead, or Krishna, or Brahman, or the supreme controller, orParamätmä—you may use whatever name you like—is the greatest of all. Theliving beings are in quality like the supreme controller. For instance, the Lordhas control over the universal affairs of material nature, as will be explained inthe later chapters of Bhagavad-Gétä. Material nature is not independent. She isacting under the directions of the Supreme Lord. As Lord Krishna says,mayädhyaksena prakåti süyate sa-caräcaram: “This material nature is workingunder My direction.” When we see wonderful things happening in the cosmicnature, we should know that behind this cosmic manifestation there is acontroller. Nothing could be manifested without being controlled. It is childishnot to consider the controller. For instance, a child may think that anautomobile is quite wonderful to be able to run without a horse or other animalpulling it, but a sane man knows the nature of the automobile’s engineeringarrangement. He always knows that behind the machinery there is a man, adriver. Similarly, the Supreme Lord is the driver under whose directioneverything is working. Now the jévas, or the living entities, have been acceptedby the Lord, as we will note in the later chapters, as His parts and parcels. Aparticle of gold is also gold, a drop of water from the ocean is also salty, andsimilarly we the living entities, being part and parcel of the supremecontroller, Ishvara, or Bhagavän, Lord Shri Krishna, have all the qualities of theSupreme Lord in minute quantity because we are minute Ishvaras, subordinateIshvaras. We are trying to control nature, as presently we are trying to controlspace or planets, and this tendency to control is there because it is in Krishna.But although we have a tendency to lord it over material nature, we shouldknow that we are not the supreme controller. This is explained inBhagavad-Gétä.
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