We have heard often that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Controller—iśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇa (Brahma-saṁhitā 5.1). He also proclaims this in Gītā (7.7)—mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat kiñcid asti dhanañjaya, “There is nothing superior to Me, O Dhanañjaya”. As a controller, He manifests Himself in the form of Paramātmā.
Paramātmā is Kṛṣṇa’s controlling manifestation. Kṛṣṇa says that He is situated in everyone’s heart—sarvasya cāhaṁ hṛdi sanniviṣṭaḥ (Gītā 15.15). The heart is the center of our life. Everything runs on the functioning of the heart. The heart is also the seat of the individual self. It is from the heart that Kṛṣṇa controls. Kṛṣṇa further says that memory, knowledge, and forgetfulness come from Him—mattaḥ smṛtir jñānam apohanaṁ ca (Gītā 15.15). Memory (smṛti), is related to our past. Whatever we experience gets stored in our citta in the form of saṁsakāras. When a particular saṁsakāra is activated, we call it memory or remembrance. We know our past only because of our memory. If we cannot remember something that we experienced in the past, it is lost to us. A person who suffers from dementia forgets many things from their past. It is as if these things never happened to them. In other words, they have lost much of their past. Or consider the case of a newborn child. She does not remember anything from her past lives, except in some special cases. Therefore, those lives are non-existent to her. We have no control over what we remember, how we remember, or when we remember. Even those with a photographic memory can forget things, and they do not remember everything from their past. Kṛṣṇa claims that He controls our memory. This means that He controls our past.
Knowledge (jṅāna) is what we know in the present moment. There are primarily three means of knowledge: direct perception, inference, and word or śabda. The last two provide us with indirect knowledge, which can pertain to the past, present, or future. Kṛṣṇa says that this knowledge also comes from Him.
One may say that, in the case of memory, it is easy to understand that we do not seem to have much control over it. But how can our direct perception be controlled by someone else? If I open my eyes, I see what is within the range of my visual perception. It is certainly true that I can see, but is it always true that I can know what I see? Not necessarily. For example, if there is an animal in front of me, I can see it with my eyes. But if I have not been told in the past what this type of animal is called, then I will see it but not know what it is. Knowing means perceiving it with my senses, recollecting its class or category from my past knowledge, and then making sense of my perception. So, direct perception also involves some recognition that is based on my memory. And as explained above, memory is controlled by Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, my present perception is also controlled by Him.
Otherwise, there are cases where a person suffering from acute dementia forgets their own relatives. A mother fails to recognize her son. She has good vision and can perceive the son standing before her, but she cannot identify who he is. And why speak only of dementia? Many times, we meet people we have met in the past, but we cannot recognize them. Even when they remind us of our past meeting, we may not recollect it. This shows that our knowledge (jñāna) is not entirely under our control.
As for the future, we surely know nothing about it. We can make guesses, but they are not certain. We cannot even predict our next thought. Kṛṣṇa uses the word apohanam (Gītā 15.15), which means ‘taken away’ or ‘removed’. In this context, it can also mean ‘concealed’. If Kṛṣṇa wills, He can reveal it, as He did to Arjuna. When revealing His universal form, He said, “You can see whatever you want to see” (Gītā 11.8). Arjuna could then see the great heroes being crushed under the gigantic teeth of the universal form.
Thus, the meaning of Kṛṣṇa’s statement in Gītā 15.15 is that He controls our past, present, and future. Therefore, He is the Supreme Controller. He may give us freedom to act, but it is never absolute freedom. He can restrict it or take it away.
Alternatively, this statement from the Gītā (15.15) can refer to the dream state, wakeful state, and dreamless state, respectively. The word “memory,” or smṛti, refers to the dream state because dreams are like a rumination of a mixture of our past experiences and thoughts. “Knowledge,” or jṅāna, refers to our wakeful state, in which we have new experiences. Apohanam, or “forgetfulness,” refers to deep sleep, in which we do not know anything external. These are the three states that a common person experiences. Deep sleep is also indicative of an unconscious state, such as in a coma. Kṛṣṇa says that all three states are controlled by Him. Thus, He is the Supreme Controller. Knowing this, we have no reason to be proud or arrogant. Instead, we should instead seek His shelter.
