Kṛṣṇa therefore presents that "Your real problem is birth, death, old age and disease, your real problem. You are making solution of all the problems by scientific advancement, by education, by so on, so on, political maneuver, everything. It is all right, but how you are going to solve this problem—janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam (BG 13.9)? How you'll solve this problem?" Actually human life is meant for solving this problem, not this temporary problem. Temporary problem will go on. If you don't solve this problem, janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi, then any form of life, there will be problems. Even if you are elevated to the heavenly planets, there are also problems. Indra is not very happy there, the king of heavenly planet. Although the higher planets, the duration of life, the standard of civilization, standard of comforts many, many thousand times greater than here, but the same problem—janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi—is there. You cannot avoid it.
But actually our problem is that I . . . Nobody wants to die, that's a fact, but death is enforced. No young man wants to become old man, but it is enforced. You cannot avoid it. So we should understand—this is sense—that we are not independent. That's a fact. Prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni (BG 3.27). And above prakṛti there is Kṛṣṇa.
- mayādhyakṣeṇa prakṛtiḥ
- sūyate sa-carācaram
- hetunānena kaunteya
- jagad viparivartate
- (BG 9.10)
So therefore Kṛṣṇa is accepted as the supreme controller. Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ (Bs. 5.1). Īśvara means controller, one who controls. So everyone has got some capacity to control—every one of us. You are also controlling your family, controlling your business, and I am controlling this institution, and so on, so on. Everyone has got some. In that sense everyone is īśvara. There is no fight on this point. But we are controller of a limited circle, but we are controlled also. That is our position. Not that I am simply controller, but I am controlled by higher authority. So therefore I am not supreme controller. I am controller, īśvara, but here is one, īśvara, Kṛṣṇa, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ. He is supreme controller. Why supreme controller? Because he is not controlled by anyone. That is Kṛṣṇa's position.