Most of us usually remain preoccupied with our material needs and desires, and consequently with the material world where we hope to fulfill them. When matter is all that matters to us, why should Krishna, who resides far beyond the world of matter, matter to us?
Because, Gita wisdom answers, even the material world is dependent on Krishna for its sustenance.
The Bhagavad-gita (15.14) states that Krishna is the shelter of the body that we have taken shelter of – he arranges for the digestive mechanism that enables the body to function. This verse comes at the end of a three-verse sequence (15.12-14) that analyzes how our existence and enjoyment in the world of matter depend on something – rather someone – beyond matter. We may enjoy the good-looking face or the sweet-sounding voice of a person we love, but neither we nor our beloved arranged for the beauty of that face or the melody of that voice. And certainly the face muscles or the voice cords didn’t arrange themselves because they being made of nonliving matter don’t have adequate self-organizing or self-sustaining capacities.
This section of the Gita speaks directly to those of us who think that matter is all that matters; it prompts us to recognize that even the matter that matters to us depends on something beyond matter. By directing our thoughts to the non-material organizing person who underlies matter, Gita wisdom gradually raises our consciousness. It subtly prods us to realize that the creator must be much more beautiful than the creation, so we would be better off by loving the eternal creator than the temporal creation. When this realization enters deep into our heart, developing our relationship with that source of all beauty becomes for us the matter that matters the most.
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 15 Text 14
“I am the fire of digestion in the bodies of all living entities, and I join with the air of life, outgoing and incoming, to digest the four kinds of foodstuff.”
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