I am The Knower In All Bodies

TRANSLATION

O scion of Bharata, you should understand that I am also the knower in all bodies, and to understand this body and its knower is called knowledge. That is My opinion.

PURPORT

While discussing the subject of the body and the knower of the body, the soul and the Supersoul, we shall find three different topics of study: the Lord, the living entity, and matter. In every field of activities, in every body, there are two souls: the individual soul and the Supersoul. Because the Supersoul is the plenary expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa says, "I am also the knower, but I am not the individual knower of the body. I am the superknower. I am present in every body as the Paramātmā, or Supersoul."

One who studies the subject matter of the field of activity and the knower of the field very minutely, in terms of this Bhagavad-gītā, can attain to knowledge.

The Lord says, "I am the knower of the field of activities in every individual body." The individual may be the knower of his own body, but he is not in knowledge of other bodies. The Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is present as the Supersoul in all bodies, knows everything about all bodies. He knows all the different bodies of all the various species of life. A citizen may know everything about his patch of land, but the king knows not only his palace but all the properties possessed by the individual citizens. Similarly, one may be the proprietor of the body individually, but the Supreme Lord is the proprietor of all bodies. The king is the original proprietor of the kingdom, and the citizen is the secondary proprietor. Similarly, the Supreme Lord is the supreme proprietor of all bodies.

The body consists of the senses. The Supreme Lord is Hṛṣīkeśa, Which means "the controller of the senses." He is the original controller of the senses, just as the king is the original controller of all the activities of the state; the citizens are secondary controllers. The Lord says, "I am also the knower." This means that He is the superknower; the individual soul knows only his particular body. In the Vedic literature, it is stated as follows:

kṣetrāṇi hi śarīrāṇi
bījaḿ cāpi śubhāśubhe
tāni vetti sa yogātmā
tataḥ kṣetra-jña ucyate

This body is called the kṣetra, and within it dwells the owner of the body and the Supreme Lord, who knows both the body and the owner of the body. Therefore He is called the knower of all fields. The distinction between the field of activities, the knower of activities, and the supreme knower of activities is described as follows. Perfect knowledge of the constitution of the body, the constitution of the individual soul, and the constitution of the Supersoul is known in terms of Vedic literature as jñāna. That is the opinion of Kṛṣṇa. To understand both the soul and the Supersoul as one yet distinct is knowledge. One who does not understand the field of activity and the knower of activity is not in perfect knowledge. One has to understand the position of prakṛti (nature), puruṣa (the enjoyer of nature) and īśvara (the knower who dominates or controls nature and the individual soul). One should not confuse the three in their different capacities. One should not confuse the painter, the painting and the easel. This material world, which is the field of activities, is nature, and the enjoyer of nature is the living entity, and above them both is the supreme controller, the Personality of Godhead. It is stated in the Vedic language (in the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 1.12), bhoktā bhogyaḿ preritāraḿ ca matvā/ sarvaḿ proktaḿ tri vidham-brahmam etat. There are three Brahman conceptions: prakṛti is Brahman as the field of activities, and the jīva (individual soul) is also Brahman and is trying to control material nature, and the controller of both of them is also Brahman, but He is the factual controller.

In this chapter it will also be explained that out of the two knowers, one is fallible and the other is infallible. One is superior and the other is subordinate. One who understands the two knowers of the field to be one and the same contradicts the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who states here very clearly, "I am also the knower of the field of activity." One who misunderstands a rope to be a serpent is not in knowledge. There are different kinds of bodies, and there are different owners of the bodies. Because each individual soul has his individual capacity for lording it over material nature, there are different bodies. But the Supreme also is present in them as the controller. The word ca is significant, for it indicates the total number of bodies. That is the opinion of Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa. Kṛṣṇa is the Supersoul present in each and every body apart from the individual soul. And Kṛṣṇa explicitly says here that the Supersoul is the controller of both the field of activities and the finite enjoyer.

Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You

Sex, gift from god

Freedom from sex is not repression of sex; it is the understanding of sex. By understanding, one goes beyond it. But that does not mean that you will be angry, against it and antagonistic. You will be blissful. You will bless everybody with the hope that someday, they will also go beyond it.

Religion has to be rooted in the earth. It also has to rise towards the sun. It is like a lotus flower -- rooted in mud and rising towards the sun. The lotus has to be freed from the mud, but the mud has not to be condemned at all, because the mud is nourishment. Your sex energy is nourishment for your samadhi. It is out of the mud of sex that the lotus of samadhi is going to bloom. Never repress it! Never be against it; rather, go deep into it with great clarity, with great love. Go like an explorer. Search all the nooks and corners of your sexuality and you will be surprised and enriched and benefitted.

Knowing your sexuality, one day you will stumble upon your spirituality. Then you become free. Your energy has risen high. Now sex is just like a toy. But you are not angry with other people who are still playing with the toy. You will understand them, too, you will have compassion for them. You would like to help them go beyond, but you will not condemn them ... They are not doing anything wrong.

Sex is not a sin. Nobody is ever punished or sent to hell for sex. God has given it to you, you are born with it; you have not created it – like the atom bomb, bayonet, sword, money or politics -- these are inventions of the ugly human mind. These people will go to hell, certainly. But sex is a God-given gift, and it is a great seed. Once it starts sprouting and finds the right soil, it will become a big tree. Millions of flowers will come to it.

It is not only a child that is born out of sex; you will be reborn too! Sex is the very source of creativity. Out of sex new life is born. What can be more valuable than life? God has chosen sex as the vehicle for life. Life comes through sex, in sex, out of sex. And those who know, those who have gone beyond say that another life, spiritual life, also comes through it. You will become twice-born through it, you will resurrect out of it. It is life-giving energy.

Sex is sacred; it is the temple of God. Sex is potential spirituality. How can a seeker be disinterested in it? Yes, he has no personal interest in it. He has gone beyond it; but he is immensely interested. In fact for a man who is free from sex his interest becomes very great. Now, he is interested in everything.

When you are obsessed with sex ... you are not interested in poetry, music, beauty ... you are only interested in sex. And if sometimes you do show interest in these things it is only because some sexuality is there. That's why 99 per cent of art is sex-based, because 99 per cent of people don't want anything else. Films, novels, books -- even so-called religious books -- are all full of sexuality. Sometimes it is in the name of condemnation, but they go on talking about the physical, the sexual. Sometimes they are obscene. The man who is free of sex, his interest is also free of sex. His interest spreads to the whole of life.


Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You

Sex, gift from god

Freedom from sex is not repression of sex; it is the understanding of sex. By understanding, one goes beyond it. But that does not mean that you will be angry, against it and antagonistic. You will be blissful. You will bless everybody with the hope that someday, they will also go beyond it.

Religion has to be rooted in the earth. It also has to rise towards the sun. It is like a lotus flower -- rooted in mud and rising towards the sun. The lotus has to be freed from the mud, but the mud has not to be condemned at all, because the mud is nourishment. Your sex energy is nourishment for your samadhi. It is out of the mud of sex that the lotus of samadhi is going to bloom. Never repress it! Never be against it; rather, go deep into it with great clarity, with great love. Go like an explorer. Search all the nooks and corners of your sexuality and you will be surprised and enriched and benefitted.

Knowing your sexuality, one day you will stumble upon your spirituality. Then you become free. Your energy has risen high. Now sex is just like a toy. But you are not angry with other people who are still playing with the toy. You will understand them, too, you will have compassion for them. You would like to help them go beyond, but you will not condemn them ... They are not doing anything wrong.

Sex is not a sin. Nobody is ever punished or sent to hell for sex. God has given it to you, you are born with it; you have not created it – like the atom bomb, bayonet, sword, money or politics -- these are inventions of the ugly human mind. These people will go to hell, certainly. But sex is a God-given gift, and it is a great seed. Once it starts sprouting and finds the right soil, it will become a big tree. Millions of flowers will come to it.

It is not only a child that is born out of sex; you will be reborn too! Sex is the very source of creativity. Out of sex new life is born. What can be more valuable than life? God has chosen sex as the vehicle for life. Life comes through sex, in sex, out of sex. And those who know, those who have gone beyond say that another life, spiritual life, also comes through it. You will become twice-born through it, you will resurrect out of it. It is life-giving energy.

Sex is sacred; it is the temple of God. Sex is potential spirituality. How can a seeker be disinterested in it? Yes, he has no personal interest in it. He has gone beyond it; but he is immensely interested. In fact for a man who is free from sex his interest becomes very great. Now, he is interested in everything.

When you are obsessed with sex ... you are not interested in poetry, music, beauty ... you are only interested in sex. And if sometimes you do show interest in these things it is only because some sexuality is there. That's why 99 per cent of art is sex-based, because 99 per cent of people don't want anything else. Films, novels, books -- even so-called religious books -- are all full of sexuality. Sometimes it is in the name of condemnation, but they go on talking about the physical, the sexual. Sometimes they are obscene. The man who is free of sex, his interest is also free of sex. His interest spreads to the whole of life.


Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You