Maya (material energy) has no mind of its own, which means maya has no problems. You might say,
“Oh, there are so many problems in maya! There are so many negative things, so much suffering!”
Yeah, that doesn’t bother maya. Maya is what it is - good, bad, whatever it is. Maya has no awareness of its own existence. Maya is an abstract existence that only exists on the basis of God and is activated by God. And only with God’s upholding maya’s activated state is this universe held in its physical phase, which we see right now. When God withdraws His power, maya returns to that absolute, abstract, formless, original energy. So maya has no mind of its own, nor any capability to do anything on its own.
This is why, in the 3rd doha (rhyming devotional couplet), Shree Maharaj Ji has written ‘Brahma shakti’ (the power of Brahm). So this maya is Brahma ki shakti (the power of Brahm).
मायां तु प्रकृतिं विद्यान्मायिनं तु महेश्वरम् ।
Māyāṁ tu prakṛtiṁ vidyān māyinaṁ tu Maheśhvaram.
- Shvetashvatara Upanishad 4.10
“Maya is God’s power.”
दैवी ह्येषा गुणमयी मम माया दुरत्यया ।
Daivī hyeṣhā guṇa-mayī mam māyā duratyayā.
- Gita 7.14
Shree Krishna says, “Maya is My power.”
So maya is God’s power, and God is the shasak (governor). Shasak means governor. In the case of maya, I already explained. Maya can’t do anything on its own. God has to uphold the existence of maya. God has to activate maya and keep it activated. And when He withdraws His power, maya returns to that unmanifest, absolutely subtle form. So maya is completely dependent on God. And souls are as well, but in a different way. God is giving us our ‘chetan (conscious) quality’. He’s residing within our soul.
You can say that just like this is the body of our soul, this part you can see, but the soul lives on the inside, our soul is Krishna’s body because He’s living inside our soul. So He’s the soul of our soul, giving life to us. Therefore, in that way, we are completely dependent on Him, and He is our governor. He is our Shasak.
However, one shouldn’t take that to mean that He is the doer of our actions or that He controls us in any way. He doesn’t. Souls have free will, which is why we’re held accountable for our actions, and we’re rewarded or punished according to the motivation of those actions. If God were responsible for our actions, why would He punish us or reward us? He should reward Himself or punish Himself. Why would we have to receive the consequences of our actions if we weren’t responsible for them? So we know that God gives us life, and that means He’s given us the power to think and act. But we are free to do what we will with that power. However, we are not free to choose whether to receive the consequences. We are free to use that power how we want - for good, for bad, or for bhakti (devotion). But we are not free to choose the consequences. God keeps track of our actions and gives us the consequences.
So for all of these reasons, He is called our Shasak.
