Text 12
avidvān evam ātmānaṁ
manyate ’nīśam īśvaram
bhūtaiḥ sṛjati bhūtāni
grasate tāni taiḥ svayam
avidvān — one who is foolish, without knowledge; evam — thus; ātmānam — himself; manyate — considers; anīśam — although totally dependent on others; īśvaram — as the supreme controller, independent; bhūtaiḥ — by the living entities; sṛjati — He (the Lord) creates; bhūtāni — other living entities; grasate — He devours; tāni — them; taiḥ — by other living beings; svayam — Himself.
A foolish, senseless person cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although always dependent, he falsely thinks himself the Supreme. If one thinks, “According to one’s previous fruitive actions, one’s material body is created by the father and mother, and the same body is annihilated by another agent, as another animal is devoured by a tiger,” this is not proper understanding. The Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself creates and devours the living beings through other living beings.
According to the conclusion of the philosophy known as karma-mīmāṁsā, one’s karma, or previous fruitive activity, is the cause of everything, and therefore there is no need to work. Those who arrive at this conclusion are foolish. When a father creates a child, he does not do so independently; he is induced to do so by the Supreme Lord. As the Lord Himself says in Bhagavad-gītā (15.15), sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭo mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca: “I am in everyone’s heart, and from Me come remembrance, knowledge and forgetfulness.” Unless one receives dictation from the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who sits within everyone’s heart, one cannot be induced to create anything. Therefore the father and mother are not the creators of the living entity. According to the living entity’s karma, fruitive activities, he is put into the semen of the father, who injects the living entity into the womb of the mother. Then according to the body of the mother and father (yathā-yoni yathā-bījam), the living entity accepts a body and takes birth to suffer or enjoy. Therefore the Supreme Lord is the original cause of one’s birth. Similarly, the Supreme Lord is the cause of one’s being killed. No one is independent; everyone is dependent. The true conclusion is that the only independent person is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.