Page 67 - Metaphysical questions of life

c- “Īśvara (the Supreme Lord), jīva (the
soul), prakṛ (nature), kāla (eternal me) and karma (ac vity) are all
explained in the Bhagavad-gītā. Out of these five, the Lord, the living
en es, material nature and me are eternal. The manifesta on
of prakṛ may be temporary, but it is not false. Some philosophers say
that the manifesta on 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 manifesta on 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 manifesta on takes place at a certain interval,
stays for a while and then disappears. Such are the workings
of prakṛ . But this cycle is working eternally. Therefore, prakṛ is eter-
nal; it is not false. The Lord refers to this as “My prakṛ .” This material
nature is the separated energy of the Supreme Lord, and similarly the
living en es are also the energy of the Supreme Lord, although they
are not separated but eternally related. So the Lord, the living en ty,
material nature and me are all interrelated and are all eternal. How-
ever, 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 ac vi es
from me immemorial, but we can change the results of our karma, or
our ac vity, and this change depends on the perfec on of our
knowledge. We are engaged in various ac vi es. Undoubtedly we do
not know what sort of ac vi es we should adopt to gain relief from the
ac ons and reac ons of all these ac vi es, but this is also explained in
the Bhagavad-gītā.” (Bg – Introduc on)

“The dis nc on between the jīva and the īśvara will be explained in the
Thirteenth Chapter of Bhagavad-gītā. The Lord is kṣetra-jña, conscious,
as is the living being, but the living being is conscious of his par cular
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 move-
ments of the par cular jīvas. We should not forget this. It is also ex-
plained that the Paramātmā, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is
living in everyone’s heart as īśvara, as the controller, and that He is giv-
ing direc ons for the living en ty to act as he desires. The living en ty

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