A Study of BG 5.15

(Written on June 20, 2020)

nādatte kasyacit pāpaṁ

na caiva sukṛtaṁ vibhuḥ

ajñānenāvṛtaṁ jñānaṁ

tena muhyanti jantavaḥ

Translation

Nor does the Supreme Lord assume anyone’s sinful or pious activities. Embodied beings, however, are bewildered because of the ignorance which covers their real knowledge.

Purport

The Sanskrit word vibhu means the Supreme Lord who is full of unlimited knowledge, riches, strength, fame, beauty and renunciation. He is always satisfied in Himself, undisturbed by sinful or pious activities. This sentence is explaining the glories of the Lord, who is full in all the six opulences mentioned above. The sanskrit word for the six opulences is sad-aishwarya. As living entities, we may possess limited quantities of the six opulences, but only the Lord can have all six opulences at the fullest. Thus, one can only imagine the power of the Supreme Lord. Srila Prabhupada writes in the purport of SB 10.13.52: “The Supreme Personality of Godhead can do whatever He likes. That is His aiśvarya [opulence]. No one can command Him, but He can command everyone. Sad-aiśvarya-pūrṇam. The Lord is full in six opulences.” Therefore, the Lord who is the cause of all causes, who is vibhu, and who possesses all the yoga-siddhis is completely independent and aloof from the activities in the material nature. He, being there from time immemorial, has created the material nature, yet remains aloof from it. Lord Krsna himself explains this in the BG 7.12 when he says “Know that all states of being – be they of goodness, passion or ignorance – are manifested by My energy. I am, in one sense, everything, but I am independent. I am not under the modes of material nature, for they, on the contrary, are within Me.” Herein, Krsna establishes three important points:

1. The modes of material nature are manifested by Krsna’s energy

2. Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is independent

3. He is not affected by the modes of material nature (since they are His creation)

From these points, we can understand that the Lord who is completely transcendental to the modes of material nature is therefore undisturbed by the sinful and pious activities of the material world. Therefore, the Lord is completely satisfied with Himself. This indicates that the Lord, who is all-perfect, does not have the necessity to interfere with the freewill of the living entity.

He does not create a particular situation for any living entity, but the living entity, bewildered by ignorance, desires to be put into certain conditions of life, and thereby his chain of action and reaction begins.

Here, the point that the Lord “does not create a particular situation for any living entity” is very important. We must understand that while the Lord is the creator and maintainer of everything, He does not interfere with the living entity’s minute free will. The Lord does not force the living entity to act under modes of material nature. Rather, the Lord simply offers the facility (the material creation) in which the living entity can satisfy their desires. Being situated in the hearts of all the living entities as paramatma, the Lord is cognizant of the living entities’ desires, and therefore He satisfies the desires of the living entity as they deserve.

However, the Lord is not responsible for the actions and reactions of the desires of the living entity. This is because, when the living entity utilizes its free will in the wrong way, it comes under the control of maya. The Lord doesn’t cause the living entity to suffer, rather, maya entices the living entity to such an extent that the living entity acts according to its material desires and therefore ends up enduring the actions and reactions of his karma. This excerpt indicates that suffering is not the fault of the Lord, it is the fault of the living entity, who desires the situation in the first place. The Lord himself says in BG 4.14, “There is no work that affects Me; nor do I aspire for the fruits of action. One who understands this truth about Me also does not become entangled in the fruitive reactions of work. ”From this, we should understand that we must follow the Lord’s instructions carefully. The Lord is explaining to Arjuna that understanding Him and following His instructions will relieve Arjuna from the miserable reactions of the fruitive activities.

A living entity is, by superior nature, full of knowledge. Nevertheless, he is prone to be influenced by ignorance due to his limited power. The living entity, due to being covered by maya has forgotten his eternal constitutional position as the part and parcel and eternal servitor of the Lord. That knowledge remains with the living entity at all times, but because of being under the influence of maya, the living entity temporarily forgets. The living entity falls under maya due to being the marginal energy of the Lord. Srila Prabhupada explains about the different energies of the Lord during a lecture about BG 6.25-29: “The Supreme Lord has various energies. Out of those various energies, three divisions are primary: material energy, spiritual energy and marginal energy. We living entities, we are marginal energy. The whole material world is material energy. And there is spiritual energy, the spiritual world. And we are marginal. So we are sitting either in the material energy... Marginal means this way or that way. You can become spiritual or you become material. No third alternative. Either you become materialistic or become spiritualistic.” Therefore, as explained in this part of the purport of BG 5.15, the living entity has the possibility to fall under the trap of maya and hence become influenced by ignorance. So, the living entity comes down to the material world and acts according to its material desires, forgetting the absolute knowledge of the Lord.

The Lord is omnipotent, but the living entity is not. The Lord is vibhu, or omniscient, but the living entity is aṇu, or atomic.

Here, Srila Prabhupada is explaining the differences between the Lord and the living entity. There are two words which specifically separate the Lord from the living entities and these are abijnah and svarat. (As said in SB 1.1.1). Svarat means fully independent and abhijnah means fully cognizant. This is to indicate that the Lord is the cause of all causes and has no causes. Also, the Lord is aware of all the situations of the living entities. In these examples, Srila Prabhupada explains how the living entities lack qualities of the Lord, or are limited, in comparison to the Lord.

Because he is a living soul, he has the capacity to desire by his free will. Such desire is fulfilled only by the omnipotent Lord.

The living entity is limited in comparison to the Lord. Qualitatively the living entities and the Lord are similar, yet what differentiates them is the quantity. Since the Lord has unlimited free will, the living entity also has freewill, however, it is very limited. This is explained by Srila Prabhupada in a lecture about BG 7.1-3 “There is free will. Because we are part and parcel of God, God is completely free to do anything. And because we are part and parcel of God, therefore we have got a minute quantity of freedom.”

The living entity’s free will consists of two choices: to follows Krsna’s instructions, or to not follow Krsna’s instructions. According to the rules of free will, the living entity has the capacity to desire whatever he wishes. Whether one wishes to follow Krsna’s instructions or not, the Lord has to provide the facility for the living entity to do so. Without the Lord’s help, the living entity will not be provided with the correct environment to satisfy his desires. This statement is made by Prabhupada to explain how even the living entity’s free will ultimately depends on the Lord to be executed.

And so, when the living entity is bewildered in his desires, the Lord allows him to fulfill those desires, but the Lord is never responsible for the actions and reactions of the particular situation which may be desired.

The Lord is so merciful that He allows the living entity to fulfill its desires as it deserves. However, the Lord does not interfere with the free will, or the desires of the living entity. Because the desires are controlled by the living entity, the living entity is responsible for the reactions and actions of the desires. In this sentence, Prabhupada is explaining that the Lord is not responsible for the activities of the living entity. Here is an allegory: A criminal commits a crime due to some sinful desires. The police catch the criminal, and the criminal is put on trial to see whether they should be charged as guilty. The judge decides the punishment based on the evidence of the crime, but is the crime the judge’s fault? No. It is the fault of the criminal who desired to act in an unlawful manner. Similarly, the Lord is like the judge and the conditioned living entity is like the criminal. The Lord is not at fault for the reactions of the situations which the living entities desire.

Being in a bewildered condition, therefore, the embodied soul identifies himself with the circumstantial material body and becomes subjected to the temporary misery and happiness of life.

The reason why the living entity gets into a bewildered condition in the first place is because they use their free will to not follow Krsna’s instructions. When the living entity is in a bewildered condition, they forget their constitutional position and therefore they come to identify with the temporary material body. Thus they become subjected to the miseries of life. This is explained in BG 2.14, “O son of Kuntī, the nonpermanent appearance of happiness and distress, and their disappearance in due course, are like the appearance and disappearance of winter and summer seasons. They arise from sense perception, O scion of Bharata, and one must learn to tolerate them without being disturbed.”

The Lord is the constant companion of the living entity as Paramātmā, or the Supersoul, and therefore He can understand the desires of the individual soul, as one can smell the flavor of a flower by being near it. Desire is a subtle form of conditioning for the living entity.

There are three features of the Lord (brahman, paramatma, and bhagavan). Out of those, one is called the paramatma feature, where the Lord appears within each living entity as the Supersoul. As the Supersoul, the Lord, who is all-cognizant is able to understand the desires of the living entity. According to BG 7.26, “O Arjuna, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, I know everything that has happened in the past, all that is happening in the present, and all things that are yet to come. I also know all living entities; but Me no one knows.”

As explained before, the desire for Krsna is favorable for spiritual advancement, but the desire for sense gratification puts one under the mode of material nature. Thus, when Prabhupada writes that “desire is a subtle form of conditioning for the living entity,” he is talking about material desires.

The Lord fulfills his desire as he deserves: Man proposes and God disposes. The individual is not, therefore, omnipotent in fulfilling his desires. The Lord, however, can fulfill all desires, and the Lord, being neutral to everyone, does not interfere with the desires of the minute independent living entities.

The Lord fulfills the desire of the devotees according to what they deserve (their left over karma). Without the Lord’s help, one’s desires cannot be fulfilled. Akrura mentions this to Kamsa in the Krsna book: “After all, man proposes, God disposes. We may make very great plans, but unless they are sanctioned by the supreme authority, they will fail. Everyone in this material world knows that the supernatural power is the ultimate disposer of everything. One may make a very great plan with his fertile brain, but he must know that he will be subjected to the fruits, misery and happiness.” The living entity cannot always fulfill desires, because he will be subject to the reactions of material activities. The Lord on the other hand has the full capability to fulfill everyone’s desires. However, due to the principle of remaining neutral, the Lord does not interfere with the desires of the living entities.

However, when one desires Kṛṣṇa, the Lord takes special care and encourages one to desire in such a way that one can attain to Him and be eternally happy.

Actually, the entire material creation was created by the Lord to bring the living entities to the conclusion that they should surrender unto the Lord. This is said in SB 10.24.14, “The Supreme Personality of Godhead has so dexterously formulated and applied the laws of material nature governing punishment and reward for human behavior that the living being is discouraged from sin and encouraged toward goodness without suffering any significant interference with his free will as an eternal soul.” Therefore, the Lord really wants the living entities to take up the path of Krsna consciousness. So when the Lord knows that the living entity desires him, He makes sure that the devotee will desire in such a way that they will eventually reach Him.

The Vedic hymns therefore declare, eṣa u hy eva sādhu karma kārayati taṁ yam ebhyo lokebhya unninīṣate. eṣa u evāsādhu karma kārayati yam adho ninīṣate: “The Lord engages the living entity in pious activities so that he may be elevated. The Lord engages him in impious activities so that he may go to hell.”

Therefore, according to the desires of the living entity, and what they deserve, the Lord provides the facility for the living entity. If the living entity desires to follow Krsna’s instructions, then the living entity is engaged in Krsna conscious activities so that they may eventually reach the Lord.

(Kauṣītakī Upaniṣad 3.8)

ajño jantur anīśo ’yam

ātmanaḥ sukha-duḥkhayoḥ

īśvara-prerito gacchet

svargaṁ vāśv abhram eva ca

“The living entity is completely dependent in his distress and happiness. By the will of the Supreme he can go to heaven or hell, as a cloud is driven by the air.”

Therefore the embodied soul, by his immemorial desire to avoid Kṛṣṇa consciousness, causes his own bewilderment.

In the Krsna book, Ch. 47, it is written, “Everything is Kṛṣṇa, and everything depends on Kṛṣṇa, but He is not perceived in the material energy, and therefore it is called māyā, or illusion.” Actually, the living entities are completely dependent on the Lord who maintains everyone. However, due to the desire to avoid Krsna consciousness, the come to the material world, under the influence of maya. Maya, or illusion, makes the living entity forget...

Consequently, although he is constitutionally eternal, blissful and cognizant, due to the littleness of his existence he forgets his constitutional position of service to the Lord and is thus entrapped by nescience.

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And, under the spell of ignorance, the living entity claims that the Lord is responsible for his conditional existence. The Vedānta-sūtras (2.1.34) also confirm this. Vaiṣamya-nairghṛṇye na sāpekṣatvāt tathā hi darśayati: “The Lord neither hates nor likes anyone, though He appears to.

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