Living Entities (Jīvas) are Controlled by God

The primary lesson of the Bhagavad-gītā is the ontological distinction between the īśvara (the Supreme Controller) and the jīva (the controlled living entity). Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasizes that there is no such thing as independence for the living being. We are controlled at every moment—by time, by the laws of nature, and ultimately by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Realizing this subordination and voluntarily surrendering to Kṛṣṇa's will is the path to freedom from material bondage.

The Supreme Controller (Īśvara)

Śrīla Prabhupāda establishes that Kṛṣṇa is the ultimate source of all control. While demigods may manage specific affairs of the universe, they are all subordinate to the Supreme Lord. Even the powerful forces of material nature and eternal time act only under His direction. To think that anything exists or functions independently of His will is a sign of ignorance.

• The Supreme Lord Krsna is the only controller, and all living entities are controlled by Him.
• There is isvara, which means controller, and there are jivas, the living entities which are controlled.
• All the universes and the innumerable planets within them are similar to such rockets, and they are all controlled by the Personality of Godhead.
• Material nature is also controlled by the Lord, as He has claimed in Bhagavad-gita: "Under My direction only is material nature working, and thus are all things moving."

The Controlled Living Entity (Jīva)

In contrast to the Supreme Controller, the living entities are eternally controlled. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the jīvas are the marginal energy of the Lord; they have no independent existence. Just as a wife is controlled by a husband or children by a father, the living entities are meant to be protected and guided by the Supreme Lord.

• Energies are always controlled by the energetic, and therefore living entities are always controlled by the Lord - they have no independant existence. They are never equally powerful, as unintelligent men think.
• The personified Vedas continued, "Both the Lord and the living entities are called nitya, eternal, and so are qualitatively one, yet the singular nitya, or the Supreme Lord, is the controller, whereas the plural nityas are controlled."
• There is a gulf of difference between the living entity (atma) and the controlling Lord (Paramatma), the soul and the Supersoul. Paramatma is the controller, and the atma is the controlled; therefore they are in different categories.

Two Types of Control: Māyā vs. Kṛṣṇa

Since control is unavoidable, the living entity's free will lies in choosing "who" controls them. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that if one refuses to be controlled by God directly, they are forced to be controlled by His external energy, māyā. Being controlled by māyā means suffering the cycle of birth and death, whereas being controlled by Kṛṣṇa means returning to the eternal spiritual world.

• Everyone is controlled. Either you are controlled directly by God, or you are controlled by His agency, maya. Being controlled by maya, you spoil your life; you remain in material existence one birth after another, changing your bodies.
• If you choose to be controlled by God, then after this body, you go back home, back to Godhead. Then your life is successful.
• Vasudevah sarvam iti: "Krsna, You are everything. So I have come. Accept me. I am now fully surrendered unto You, and You control me. I am controlled.
• To be instrumental to the direct will of the Lord is the natural constitutional position of the living entity, whereas to be an instrument in the hands of the illusory energy of the Lord is material bondage for the living entity.

The Illusion of Independence

Modern civilization is built on the false premise that humanity can conquer nature and become independent of God. Śrīla Prabhupāda dismisses this as the madness of "imitation gods." Scientific advancements cannot stop death, disease, or the passage of time. True intelligence is recognizing that we are being controlled every moment and giving up the futile struggle for lordship.

• You are completely under the control of the laws of nature, and nature is being controlled by God. How you can say that you're independent of God? Therefore it's not very good business that people are pushing on a type of civilization, Godless civilization.
• Trying to be the masters of material nature, they (the scientists) are imitation gods who declare to the public that scientific advancement will one day be able to avoid the so-called control of God.
• These philosophers theorizing so many "I believe." So these things will not do. These things will not do. That is useless, simply waste of time. You must know there is God. How we can deny it? There is supreme power. I am being controlled every moment.
• Medicine and a physician cannot save one from death, nor can a boat or similar means of protection save a person drowning in the water, for everything is controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Time and Karma

The subtle laws of karma and the inexorable force of time (kāla) are agents of the Supreme Lord's control. Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that auspicious and inauspicious results are awarded by the Lord based on one's actions. Even the sun, the most powerful entity in the universe, is bound by the orbit of eternal time, which moves under the order of Govinda.

• Indeed, everything is under the control of time, and time is controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore the Supreme Lord has no fear of the onslaughts of time.
• The subtle laws of karma, which are controlled by the Supreme, cannot be understood by ordinary conditioned souls.
• Bhramati sambhrta-kala-cakrah: the sun moves within the kala-cakra, the orbit of time. The sun is under the control of time, and time is controlled by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore the Lord has no fear of time.
• There are two kinds of activity - auspicious and inauspicious - and both are controlled by Lord Visnu. Inauspicious activities are said to be behind Lord Visnu, whereas auspicious activities stand before Him.

Conclusion

Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that acknowledging the supremacy of God is the beginning of real knowledge. We are constitutionally dependent parts and parcels. By surrendering to the Supreme Controller and engaging in His service, we move from the sphere of coerced control by material nature to the sphere of loving protection by the Personality of Godhead.

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Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category Controlled by God. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience his teachings in their direct, verbatim form.

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