In a play, the actors are visible on the stage; the director isn’t. Yet the invisible director directs the visible actors.

If we liken life to a drama, the Bhagavad-gita (18.61) indicates that Krishna is like the director. He directs all living beings who are performing on the stage that is this material world.

Significantly, Krishna doesn’t force us to act according to his script; he has given us free will, and he never takes it away. Then how does he direct us? By letting us choose a script based on our desires and directing us accordingly. Suppose we desire to enjoy bodily pleasures indiscriminately without caring for life’s spiritual side, which we humans are specially endowed to explore. Then, he reciprocates with our desires and gives us the script of an appropriate sub-human body. By that script, we may delight in flesh as a lion or in excreta as a hog.

Simultaneously, Krishna is our redirector. Though he reciprocates with our free will, he also wants us to freely choose that which is the best for us. To that end, he speaks the Gita, which helps us understand that everything attractive reflects a spark of Krishna’s supreme splendor (10.41). This insight inspires us to redirect our love from worldly things, which can offer us only fleeting pleasure, to their all-attractive source, Krishna, who alone can offer us lasting fulfillment.

Krishna also redirects us through our many spiritual mentors. The more we accept his redirecting guidance coming from external sources such as guru-sadhu-shastra, the more he gives similar guidance internally too as the indwelling Supersoul. By such external and internal guidance, he helps us to realize and relish immortal spiritual love.

Ultimately, the lasting happiness we have always been searching for, we can find it when we make Krishna our director and redirector.

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