Bhagavad Gita Verse 61, Chapter 18

eeshavaraha sarvabhootaanaam hriddesherjuna tishthati |
bhraamayansarvabhootaani yantraroodhaani maayayaa || 61 ||
 
Ishvara is seated in the hearts of all beings, O Arjuna, spinning all beings mounted on a machine by maaya.
 
eeshavaraha : Ishvara
sarvabhootaanaam : in all beings
hriddeshe : in the hearts
arjuna : O Arjuna
tishthati : seated
bhraamayan : spinning
sarvabhootaani : all beings
yantraroodhaani : mounted on a machine
maayayaa : by maaya
 
Quake was one of the first wildly successful multiplayer video games. Any person could participate in the video game as long as they were connected to the Internet. Players were placed in a virtual world where they could form teams with other players from across the world. Players would win points for shooting a member of the opposing team, and lose points if they would get shot. The creator of the Quake game had no influence on the outcome of the game, other than setting the rules of the game when it was created.
 
Shri Krishna says that the universe is like a gigantic video game set in motion by Ishvara. This video game is maayaa, also known as Prakriti, which is comprised of the three gunaas. By itself, maaya is insentient, it cannot do anything on its own. The eternal essence reflected in maaya adds sentience to maaya, it injects life into maaya by becoming the individual soul, the jeeva. In this way, each jeeva loses its connection with the eternal essence, and is stuck in this massive machine, this massive video game known as maaya.
 
So then, how can the jeeva liberate itself from this never ending video game of maaya? Does the jeeva have a chance? Is there any such thing as free will, or are we just slaves of maaya? The clue lies in the fact that maaya is subservient to Ishvara. If we only rely on maaya, if we only spend our lives attached to the material world, we will never have a chance at liberation. But if we direct our efforts towards knowing the true nature of Ishvara, towards contacting Ishvara, there may be a shot at liberation. Fortunately, he is not in some remote heaven, he is seated within us. How should we approach him? This is taken up next.

Bhagavad Gita Verse 7, Chapter 9

sarvabhootaani kaunteya prakritim yaanti maamikaam |
kalpakshaye punastaani kalpaadau visrijaamyaham || 7 ||
 
All beings attain my Prakriti when an age ends, O Kaunteya. I project them again when (another) age begins.
 
sarvabhootaani : all beings
kaunteya : O Kaunteya
prakritim : Prakriti
yaanti : attain
maamikaam : my
kalpakshaye : end of an age
punaha : again
taani : them
kalpaadau : beginning of an age
visrijaami: project
aham : I
 
Previously, Shri Krishna compared wind in space to the multitude of beings in Ishvara. Here, he asserts that all those beings go to Ishvara’s Prakriti at the end of a “kalpa” or age. They then come back into existence when the kalpa starts all over again.
 
In the last chapter, Shri Krishna had explained the process of creation and dissolution. He spoke about the day and night of Lord Brahma. Here, he adds more detail by revealing the orchestrator of creation and dissolution. It is Prakriti. In an earlier context, this word was translated as nature. In this context, we will keep the original word since the meaning is a little different.
 
Prakriti is a system that tracks the karmas or actions of each and every being in the universe. When every being’s karma is exhausted, Shri Krishna, through the medium of Prakriti, begins the process of dissolution, just like we go to sleep when we exhaust all our actions for the day. When the time is right for the next set of actions to begin manifesting, Prakriti “wakes” up everyone and begins the process of creation.
 
Now, we notice that Shri Krishna does not use the word “create” here. Instead, he uses the word “project”. Prakriti is similar to a movie projector in that it does not create anything new, but projects names and forms on the screen, just like waves and foam in the ocean. As we saw earlier, creation and dissolution is a matter of perspective. A child only sees waves and foam. The adult, seeing the very same waves and foam, knows that it is ultimately water.
 
Similarly, creation and dissolution on a cosmic scale is “real” only if we get stuck at the level of names and forms. The jnyaani or the wise seeker sees the names and forms come and go, but knows that everything, ultimately, is only Ishvara. The difference between the jnyaani and everyone else is that the wise seeker’s perspective that comes from having the knowledge of Ishvara. This knowledge is paramount.
 
So then, what is the relationship between Ishvara, Prakriti and us? This is explained in the next shloka.