God Is Īśvara - The Supreme Controller
Śrīla Prabhupāda explains that the very definition of God is that He is the supreme controller, or īśvara. While every living entity is controlled by higher forces, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the parameśvara, the ultimate director who is never controlled by anyone.
The Definition of Īśvara
According to Śrīla Prabhupāda, it is common sense that the complex universal government requires a supreme manager. That ultimate manager is the parameśvara, the one supreme being who controls all others but remains completely independent Himself.
- Bhagavan pumsam isvarah. Bhagavan is isvara, the controller. We are not independent. No one can actually say, - I am independent.
- So how we can think that there is no control, there is no government, everything has come out of its own course? There is controller, and He is called Isvara. Isvara means God. There is management of God. It is very commonsense understanding.
- The Sanskrit word isvara (controller) conveys the import of God, but the Supreme Person is called the paramesvara, or the supreme isvara.
- This is simple definition of God. You will find everyone relatively controller and controlled. But go on searching out where is that person that He is controller but not controlled. That is isvarah. That is isvarah paramah, the supreme isvara.
The Supersoul in the Heart
The supreme īśvara does not just control from afar; He intimately accompanies every living entity. Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that the Lord expands as the Paramātmā, sitting within everyone's heart to witness and direct their actions.
- God knows everything, but we do not know what is God. That is our position. Our position is not knowing. Isvarah sarva-bhutanam hrd-dese 'rjuna tisthati (BG 18.61). Isvara, God, Krsna, is situated in everyone's heart.
- Isvara, the Supersoul, it is said here, antah purusa-rupena. And the Bhagavad-gita also confirms, sarvasya caham hrdi sannivistah. He is situated in everyone's heart. In the Upanisads also, it is said that two birds are sitting in one tree.
- The Paramatma, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is living in everyone's heart as isvara, as the controller, and that He is giving directions for the living entity to act as he desires.
- Isvara, the Supreme Lord, is situated in everyone's heart. Therefore it is said hrda. Sometimes we get education, instruction from hrda. That hrda, Krsna, sitting in everyone's heart, instructs everyone.
Transcendental to Māyā
Because He is the supreme controller, the Lord is never subjected to the rules of material nature. Śrīla Prabhupāda emphasizes that while living entities are bound by the modes of nature, the supreme īśvara remains eternally pure and unaffected by duality.
- The Lord is addressed as isvara, the controller of maya. He is not controlled by maya.
- The conditioned soul has friends and enemies. He is affected by the good qualities and the faults of his position. The Supreme Lord, however, is always transcendental. Because He is the isvara, the supreme controller, He is not affected by duality.
- There is no question of His (the Supreme Personality of Godhead) being influenced by sattva-guna, rujo-guna or tamo-guna, for these material qualities cannot touch the Supreme Lord. The Lord is therefore called the supreme isvara.
- In different types of bodies, the Lord (isvara) gives directions as Paramatma, and again, to destroy the body, He employs the tamo-guna. This is the way the living entities receive different types of bodies.
Refuting False Controllers
The material world is filled with individuals who proudly consider themselves supreme. Śrīla Prabhupāda completely rejects the Māyāvāda idea that everyone is God, asserting that true supreme control requires unlimited, all-pervading omnipotence.
- There are some men who claim to become Isvara, to become God. If somebody says, "I am God," or "I am controller," we have no objection. But if somebody says that "I am supreme God," or "supreme controller," then we have got objection.
- We are isvara, we may be isvara. I may be isvara for few persons, another may be for a big nation, another may be for the... You can go on increasing. But you cannot reach the, position of God.
- Isvara cannot be many. That is not isvara. The Mayavada philosophy that everyone is God, that is not very right conclusion. That is rascaldom.
- You are claiming to be Isvara, God. Are you within the atom? Are you within everyone's heart? Then how do you claim that you are Isvara? Practical.
Conclusion
To understand the position of the Absolute Truth is to recognize the Lord as the supreme īśvara. Śrīla Prabhupāda concludes that acknowledging our subordinate position to the ultimate controller cures the disease of false independence. By willingly dovetailing our actions with the desires of the supreme īśvara situated in our hearts, we can attain eternal peace and pure consciousness.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category God Is Isvara. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.