Page 10 - Metaphysical questions of life
P. 10
fall down from their cons tu onal posi on as the eternal servants of
God. Thus, according to their desires to dominate and enjoy nature,
they were placed in one of the 8.4 million species of life to begin the
cycle of karma. This cycle is due to material consciousness by which a
person desires to be an independent enjoyer rather than the servant
of God. Due to this flawed mentality one goes up or down in the cycle
of karma through the different species of material life with the eternal
soul entrapped in temporary material bodies.
In every species, the Lord accompanies the living en ty by being pre-
sent within the heart. Krishna explains His oversight of the living being
in the Bhagavad-gita:
upadraṣṭānumantā ca
bhartā bhoktā maheśvaraḥ
paramātme cāpy ukto
dehe ’smin puruṣaḥ paraḥ (Bg 13.23)
“Yet in this body there is another, a transcendental enjoyer, who is the
Lord, the supreme proprietor, who exists as the overseer and permi er,
and who is known as the Supersoul.”
There are two souls present in the heart of every living being. One is
the finite individual soul of the living en ty and the other is the wit-
nessing presence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Krishna as
His expansion of the Supersoul (Paramatma). The Lord is present to
either sanc on the individual soul’s desire for material sense gra fica-
on as in the case of all the living en es in material consciousness or
facilitate the desire of human beings who recognize the need for spir-
itual enlightenment. Everything depends on the desire of the living en-
ty. It is only in the human body that one has the poten al of full en-
lightenment and eventual libera on from the karma cycle. Without
the help of the Supersoul, the individual soul cannot do anything ei-
ther for sense gra fica on or self-realiza on. This is because the Lord
controls the modes of material nature, me, the laws of karma, the
10