The Supreme Person, or Īśvara . . . the word īśvara means controller. So everyone is controller. All of you are present here, to some extent, every one of us is a controller to a limited extent. But here it is mentioned, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ. Parama means ultimate.
We are controller, every one of us, but we are controlled also. That is our position. Nobody can say . . . all the gentlemen, ladies present here, nobody can say that, "I am controller absolute." That is not possible. Everyone is relative controller. But if you try to find out who is the absolute controller, then He's Kṛṣṇa.
That has been analyzed by great scholars in the Vedic śāstras, by the Gosvāmīs, and this is the statement of Lord Brahmā, who's supposed to be the first creature within this universe. So he says, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1): "Īśvara, the supreme, ultimate controller, is Kṛṣṇa, and He's vigraha." Vigraha means person, with body. Just like we have got body, similarly, the Absolute Supreme Person has also body. But His body is different from ours.
Sac-cit-ānanda-vigraha. His body is eternal. Our body, this material body, is not eternal. Sat cit: His body is full of knowledge. Our this body is full of ignorance. And ānanda: He's full of joyfulness. In the Vedānta-sūtra it is said, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12): the Supreme Person is always joyful, abhyāsāt, naturally. So our this body is not ānandamaya; it is, rather, always miserable. Therefore we must distinct the body of the Supreme Person from our body.
When sometimes in the Vedic literature it is explained as God has no form, that does not mean He has no form. He has a form which is different from this form. Nirākāra. Nirākāra means not this ākāra. We can distinguish. Because in the śāstra it is said that sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ (Bs. 5.1), "Eternal, blissful and fully cognizant."
He knows everything. Just like in the Bhagavad-gītā it is said, vedāhaṁ samatītāni (BG 7.26). Kṛṣṇa says: "I know everything, past, present and future." That is knowledge. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is also stated, janmādy asya yataḥ anvayād itarataś ca artheṣu abhijñaḥ (SB 1.1.1). Abhijñaḥ: He knows everything.
In the Bhagavad-gītā it is said also: kṣetra-jñaṁ cāpi māṁ viddhi sarva-kṣetreṣu bhārata (BG 13.3). Kṣetrajñaḥ. Kṣetrajña means the proprietor of the body, the owner of the body. Just like you are a spirit soul, owner of your body. I am also a spirit soul, I am owner of the body. I know to some extent the pains and pleasure of my body. You know, to some extent, the . . . I say "to some extent" because we are not . . .
Although I am the proprietor of this body, still I do not know how the body is acting, functioning, why there is pain, why there is pleasure. So many things we do not know. Partially we know—although I am the proprietor. If there is some defect in the bodily function, I cannot detect it. I go to another person, a physician.
So although I am proprietor of this body, I do not know exactly what is functioning, how it is becoming in happy condition or in morose condition. So . . . but supposing that I know everything, but still, I do not know what is happening in your body. That is not possible.
Therefore it is concluded that we are individuals. We are individuals. I have got my individual pains and pleasures; you have got your individual pains and pleasures. So you are individual person; I am individual person. And the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He is also individual person. Nityo nityānām. This is Vedic information. We are plural number, nityānām. Cetanaś cetanānām: He's the supreme living force amongst all other living forces.
So therefore . . . in the Bhagavad-gītā so, it is said that when Kṛṣṇa was advising Arjuna in the Battlefield, He said, "My dear Arjuna, all these persons, you and Me and all these persons, it is not that we did not exist in the past, neither it is so that we shall not exist in the future." This is . . . so these three things are pointed out, "You, Me and all these soldiers and kings." So all of them are individual. All of them are individual person. And Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Person, He's also individual person.
But what is the difference between Kṛṣṇa and ourself? That Kṛṣṇa, as it is stated in the Vedas, eka, that one singular number person, vidadhāti kāmān. Eko bahūnāṁ vidadhāti kāmān. He's supplying the necessities of life to all these plural number living entities. So therefore He's the supreme controller.
- īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
- sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
- anādir ādir govindaḥ
- sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
- (Bs. 5.1)
And He's the cause of all causes. Just like I am born; the cause is my father. And the cause of my father—his father, my grandfather. And go on searching—his father, his father, his father—and then you'll have to reach the original person, Brahmā. Then if you find, or try to find out who is the cause of Brahmā, then you'll find that his cause is the Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu.
And what is the cause of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu? Then you'll find Kāraṇa, Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. And Kāraṇodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, the cause is Saṅkarṣaṇa. In this way, you will find, ultimately, Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, cause of all causes. And Kṛṣṇa says in the Bhagavad-gītā:
- ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ
- mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate
- iti matvā bhajante māṁ
- budhā bhāva-samanvitāḥ
- (BG 10.8)
"I am the cause of all causes."