Bhagavad-gītā 18.61

Explain simply

Śrīla Prabhupāda cited 18.61 488 times: one of his ten most cited Gītā verses

Speaker: Śrī Kṛṣṇa

ईश्वरः सर्वभूतानां हृद्देशेऽर्जुन तिष्ठति ।
भ्रामयन्सर्वभूतानि यन्त्रारूढानि मायया ॥६१॥

īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
hṛd-deśe 'rjuna tiṣṭhati
bhrāmayan sarva-bhūtāni
yantrārūḍhāni māyayā

Word for word (synonyms)

īśvaraḥ
the Supreme Lord
sarva-bhūtānām
of all living entities
hṛd-deśe
in the location of the heart
arjuna
O Arjuna
tiṣṭhati
resides
bhrāmayan
causing to travel
sarva-bhūtāni
all living entities
yantra
machine
ārūḍhāni
being so placed
māyayā
under the spell of material energy

Translation

The Supreme Lord is situated in everyone's heart, O Arjuna, and is directing the wanderings of all living entities, who are seated as on a machine, made of the material energy.

Purport

Arjuna was not the supreme knower, and his decision to fight or not to fight was confined to his limited discretion. Lord Kṛṣṇa instructed that the individual is not all in all. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, or He Himself, Kṛṣṇa, the localized Supersoul, sits in the heart directing the living being. After changing bodies, the living entity forgets his past deeds, but the Supersoul, as the knower of the past, present and future, remains the witness of all his activities. Therefore all the activities of living entities are directed by this Supersoul. The living entity gets what he deserves and is carried by the material body which is created in the material energy under the direction of the Supersoul. As soon as a living entity is placed in a particular type of body, he has to work under the spell of that bodily situation. A person seated in a high-speed motor car goes faster than one seated in a slower car, though the living entities, the drivers, may be the same. Similarly, by the order of the Supreme Soul, material nature fashions a particular type of body to a particular type of living entity to work according to his past desires. The living entity is not independent. One should not think himself independent of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The individual is always under His control. Therefore his duty is to surrender, and that is the injunction of the next verse.

What this verse teaches

Surrendering to the Supersoul (More confidential knowledge)

In thematic compilations 1

Soul and Transmigration

  • The Supersoul always accompanies the soul in all material bodies (18.61 īśvaraḥ sarva-bhūtānāṁ...)

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International.