The advice given by the Lord is clear and beyond all shades of doubt. “Remember the Lord,” says the Geetaacharaya, “as the One who organises, controls and directs all things in the world and without Whose command nothing ever happens. In His ‘presence’ alone everything can happen — therefore remember Him as Ishwara.” The steam functioning in the cylinder of the engine is the “Lord” of the engine, and without it the piston can never move. It is the steam which provides the locomotion and renders the train dynamic.
Do not remember the Lord as merely a personified Power, as Shiva in Kailasha, as Vishnu in Vaikuntha, as the Father in Heaven etc., but recognise Him as one who dwells in the heart of EVERY CREATURE. Just as the address of a person is given, in order that the seeker of that person may locate the individual in a busy town, so also in order to seek, discover and identify with the Lord, His “Local address” is being provided here by Bhagawan Krishna!
When we say that “THE LORD DWELLS IN THE HEART OF ALL LIVING BEINGS,” we do not mean the physical heart. In philosophy the use of the word “heart” is more figurative than literal.
RESIDING THUS IN THE HEART — meaning, in the mind of one who has cultivated the divine qualities such as love, kindness, patience, cheer, affection, tenderness, forgiveness, charity etc. The Lord lends His Power to all living creatures to act on. He energizes everyone. Everything revolves around Him — like the unseen hand that manipulates the dolls in the marionette-play. The puppets have no existence, no vitality, no emotions of their own; they are only the expressions of the will and intention of the unseen hand behind them.
It is not the matter in us that moves or becomes conscious of the world of transactions; or else the cucumber and the pumpkin, the corn and the tomato of which our bodies are made, will also have locomotion or Consciousness. When the same vegetables are consumed as food and are digested and assimilated to become part of our physical body, the matter, in contact with the Life-Principle in us becomes vibrant and dynamic, capable of perceiving, feeling and thinking. The Spark-of-Life presiding over the body, the Pure Eternal Consciousness, is that which, as it were, vitalises inert matter. Pure Consciousness in itself does not act; but in Its Presence the matter envelopments get vitalised, and then they SEEM to act.
The Atman, conditioned by the body, mind and intellect, expresses dynamism and action, and creates what we recognise as the manifested individuality. “The Supreme functioning through the total bodies as the cause of all action” is called Ishwara. Life functioning in each one of us is the master, the controller, the director and the Lord of our individual activities.
The essential Life in all of us is one and the same; therefore, the Total Life functions through and manifests as the entire universe, energising all existing equipments. Thus expressing through all activities, is the Lord of the Universe, Ishwara. With this understanding, if you read the stanza again, you will comprehend the metaphor employed herein.
IF THERE BE THUS A LORD WITHIN, MEANING A POWER THAT RULES OVER AND GUIDES ALL MY ACTIVITIES, WHAT ARE MY RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES TOWARDS HIM?
