Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 7 Prabhupada: Now this verse, verse number 7, yasmin sarvani bhutani atmaivabhud vijanatah tatra ko mohah kah soka ekatvam anupasyatah This is the perfection of Krsna consciousness. Ekatvam anupasyatah. A Krsna conscious person sees oneness; all living entities, they see one. Just like fire and the sparks, although there are different types of illuminating properties, the whole thing is seen as one. Similarly, these diversities in unity. Diversities means the expansion of different energies of Krsna. That is diversity. Otherwise, the one: Krsna, only Krsna. Parasya brahmanah saktih tathaiva akhilam jagat. The whole universe, parasya brahmanah sakti… Parasya, the Supreme Brahman, Paramesvara, isvarah paramah krsnah [Bs. 5.1], His energy. The example is just like fire. Fire has got many energies, especially heat and light. Wherever there is fire, there is heat and there is light. Now this heat is not different from the fire, and the light is not different from the fire, but still heat and light is not fire. The… From the fire, there is heat. So if you are heated, if you are getting warmth from the fire, fireplace, that does not mean you are sitting on the fire. But at the same time, that warmth of the fire, the heat of the fire, is not different from the fire. In this way you have to understand the whole universe. Nothing is different from Krsna, but still, Krsna is not everywhere. This philosophy… Therefore this very word is used here, vijanatah. Vijanatah means one who knows, knower of things, how they are manifested. When one understands that things are manifested in this system exactly like the fire, heat and light… Fire is the original cause of heat and light. Similarly, whatever we see within this universe, within material world and spiritual world, the spiritual world is expansion of Krsna’s internal energy, and this material world is Krsna’s expansion of external energy, and we living entities, we are expansion of marginal energy. So three energies. He has got multi-energies. All the multi-energies grouped in three headings: antaranga-zakti, bahiranga-sakti, tatastha-sakti. Antaranga-sakti means internal energy, bahiranga sakti means external energy, and tatastha-sakti means these living entities. We are sakti; we are energy. We are not the energetic. The Mayavadi philosopher says that because the energies are not outside Brahman, therefore they’re all the same. This is monism. Our Vaisnava philosophy is that energy (is) simultaneously one and different. When you perceive heat, we understand, “Oh, there is fire.” But that does not mean that because I am getting some heat, I am on the fire. Try to understand this philosophy. Therefore here it is said vijanatah. So their ekatvam, Mayavada philosophy’s ekatvam, oneness, and our ekatvam of oneness—a little different. They say that the energy’s false; the Brahman is real. Brahma satyam jagan mithya. We say that because Brahman is truth, therefore His energy’s also truth. That is the difference between Vaisnava philosophy and Mayavada philosophy. We cannot say that energy is false. Energy is temporary; this external energy is temporary, not false. Although… Suppose we have got some trouble. There are so many kinds of troubles pertaining to the body, mind, external affairs. But that trouble comes and goes. But when the trouble is there, it is true. We feel the consequence. We cannot say it is false. The Mayavadi philosophers say that it is false. But when he’s troubled, why he’s so much disturbed? So that is not false. Therefore this very word is used: vijanatah, “one who knows.” Perfect knowledge must be there, vijanatah. When one is actual knower of the things, tatra ko mohah, then there is no illusion. Illusion is for him who does not know things. But one who knows, there is no illusion. Tatra ko mohah kah soka. No lamentation. When you are perfectly in conviction that there is nothing except Krsna, and Krsna’s energy, the same, then there is no moha—moha means illusion—and soka. Moha and soka, this is also explained in the Bhagavad-gita: brahma-bhutah prasannatma na socati na kanksati [Bg. 18.54]. We were very much anxious to get things which you haven’t got. That is kanksati, hankering after. And when things are lost, we lament. But if we know that Krsna is the central point, so anything received, gained, profited, that is Krsna’s desire. Krsna has given; accept it. And if it is taken away by Krsna, then what is the lamentation? Krsna liked to take it away from me. Oh, why should I lament? Because ekatvam, the supreme one, He’s the cause of all causes. He’s taking; He’s also giving. So when you have got something, engage it in Krsna’s service. And we have no, nothing to offer Krsna, then whatever you get, patram puspam phalam toyam, Krsna is satisfied in every way. This is the meaning of vijanatah. One must be in the full knowledge. Then there will be no more lamentation and no more hankering. That is the stage of spiritual platform. brahma-bhutah prasannatma na socati ne kanksati samah sarvesu bhutesu… [Bg. 18.54] Then you can see everyone on the same platform, that everyone is a spiritual spark. Na vijugupsate. Then you do not say, “Oh, he’s lower; he’s higher. He’s intelligent; he is fool.” That is also confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita: panditah sama-darsinah [Bg. 5.18]. Panditah means learned. He’s vijanatah, one who knows. So in the Vedic literature you won’t find something different in Bhagavad-gita and some things different in Isopanisad or something is different in the Vedas. No. They are the same things explained in different languages in different scriptures. But one has to know the art, how to understand them. Thank you very much. (end)
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
Los Angeles, May 10, 1970