Sri Isopanisad
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Iso13

Mantra Thirteen

 anyad evahuh sambhavad

 anyad ahur asambhavat

 iti susruma dhiranam

 ye nas tad vicacaksire

SYNONYMS

anyat—different; eva—certainly; ahuh—it is said; sambhavat—by worshiping the Supreme Lord, the cause of all causes; anyat—different; ahuh—it is said; asambhavat—by worshiping what is not the Supreme; iti—thus; susruma—I heard it; dhiranam—from the undisturbed authorities; ye—who; nah—unto us; tat—about that subject matter; vicacaksire—perfectly explained.

TRANSLATION

It is said that one result is obtained by worshiping the supreme cause of all causes and that another result is obtained by worshiping what is not supreme. All this is heard from the undisturbed authorities, who clearly explained it.

PURPORT

The system of hearing from undisturbed authorities is approved in this mantra. Unless one hears from a bona fide acarya, who is never disturbed by the changes of the material world, one cannot have the real key to transcendental knowledge. The bona fide spiritual master, who has also heard the sruti-mantras, or Vedic knowledge, from his undisturbed acarya, never presents anything that is not mentioned in the Vedic literature. In the Bhagavad-gita (9.25) it is clearly said that those who worship the pitrs, or forefathers, attain the planets of the forefathers, that the gross materialists who make plans to remain here stay in this world, and that the devotees of the Lord who worship none but Lord Krsna, the supreme cause of all causes, reach Him in His spiritual sky. Here also in Sri Isopanisad it is verified that one achieves different results by different modes of worship. If we worship the Supreme Lord, we will certainly reach Him in His eternal abode, and if we worship demigods like the sun-god or moon-god, we can reach their respective planets without a doubt. And if we wish to remain on this wretched planet with our planning commissions and our stopgap political adjustments, we can certainly do that also.

Nowhere in authentic scriptures is it said that one will ultimately reach the same goal by doing anything or worshiping anyone. Such foolish theories are offered by self-made “spiritual masters” who have no connection with the parampara, the bona fide system of disciplic succession. The bona fide spiritual master cannot say that all paths lead to the same goal and that anyone can attain this goal by his own mode of worship of the demigods or of the Supreme or whatever. Any common man can very easily understand that a person can reach his destination only when he has purchased a ticket for that destination. A person who has purchased a ticket for Calcutta can reach Calcutta, but not Bombay. But the so-called spiritual masters say that any and all paths will take one to the supreme goal. Such mundane and compromising offers attract many foolish creatures, who become puffed up with their manufactured methods of spiritual realization. The Vedic instructions, however, do not uphold them. Unless one has received knowledge from the bona fide spiritual master who is in the recognized line of disciplic succession, one cannot have the real thing as it is. Krsna tells Arjuna in the Bhagavad-gita (4.2):

evam parampara-praptam
imam rajarsayo viduh
sa kaleneha mahata
yogo nastah parantapa

“This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost.”

When Lord Sri Krsna was present on this earth, the bhakti-yoga principles defined in the Bhagavad-gita had become distorted; therefore the Lord had to reestablish the disciplic system beginning with Arjuna, who was the most confidential friend and devotee of the Lord. The Lord clearly told Arjuna (Bg. 4.3) that it was because Arjuna was His devotee and friend that he could understand the principles of the Bhagavad-gita. In other words, only the Lord’s devotee and friend can understand the Gita. This also means that only one who follows the path of Arjuna can understand the Bhagavad-gita.

At the present moment there are many interpreters and translators of this sublime dialogue who care nothing for Lord Krsna or Arjuna. Such interpreters explain the verses of the Bhagavad-gita in their own way and postulate all sorts of rubbish in the name of the Gita. Such interpreters believe neither in Sri Krsna nor in His eternal abode. How, then, can they explain the Bhagavad-gita?

Krsna clearly says that only those who have lost their sense worship the demigods for paltry rewards (Bg. 7.20, 23). Ultimately He advises that one give up all other ways and modes of worship and fully surrender unto Him alone (Bg. 18.66). Only those who are cleansed of all sinful reactions can have such unflinching faith in the Supreme Lord. Others will continue hovering on the material platform with their paltry ways of worship and thus will be misled from the real path under the false impression that all paths lead to the same goal.

In this mantra of Sri Isopanisad the word sam-bhavat, “by worship of the supreme cause,” is very significant. Lord Krsna is the original Personality of Godhead, and everything that exists has emanated from Him. In the Bhagavad-gita (10.8) the Lord says,

aham sarvasya prabhavo
mattah sarvam pravartate
iti matva bhajante mam
budha bhava-samanvitah

“I am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts.”

Here is a correct description of the Supreme Lord, given by the Lord Himself. The words sarvasya pra-bhavah indicate that Krsna is the creator of everyone, including Brahma, Visnu and Siva. And because these three principal deities of the material world are created by the Lord, the Lord is the creator of all that exists in the material and spiritual worlds. In the Atharva Veda (Gopala-tapani Upanisad 1.24) it is similarly said, “He who existed before the creation of Brahma and who enlightened Brahma with Vedic knowledge is Lord Sri Krsna.” Similarly, the Narayana Upanisad (1) states, “Then the Supreme Person, Narayana, desired to create all living beings. Thus from Narayana, Brahma was born. Narayana created all the Prajapatis. Narayana created Indra. Narayana created the eight Vasus. Narayana created the eleven Rudras. Narayana created the twelve Adityas.” Since Narayana is a plenary manifestation of Lord Krsna, Narayana and Krsna are one and the same. The Narayana Upanisad (4) also states, “Devaki’s son [Krsna] is the Supreme Lord.” The identity of Narayana with the supreme cause has also been accepted and confirmed by Sripada Sankaracarya, even though Sankara does not belong to the Vaisnava, or personalist, cult. The Atharva Veda (Maha Upanisad 1) also states, “Only Narayana existed in the beginning, when neither Brahma, nor Siva, nor fire, nor water, nor stars, nor sun, nor moon existed. The Lord does not remain alone but creates as He desires.” Krsna Himself states in the Moksa-dharma, “I created the Prajapatis and the Rudras. They do not have complete knowledge of Me because they are covered by My illusory energy.” It is also stated in the Varaha Purana: “Narayana is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and from Him the four-headed Brahma was manifested, as well as Rudra, who later became omniscient.”

Thus all Vedic literature confirms that Narayana, or Krsna, is the cause of all causes. In the Brahma-samhita (5.1) also it is said that the Supreme Lord is Sri Krsna, Govinda, the delighter of every living being and the primeval cause of all causes. The really learned persons know this from evidence given by the great sages and the Vedas, and thus they decide to worship Lord Krsna as all in all. Such persons are called budha, or really learned, because they worship only Krsna.

The conviction that Krsna is all in all is established when one hears the transcendental message from the undisturbed acarya with faith and love. One who has no faith in or love for Lord Krsna cannot be convinced of this simple truth. Those who are faithless are described in the Bhagavad-gita (9.11) as mudhas—fools or asses. It is said that the mudhas deride the Personality of Godhead because they do not have complete knowledge from the undisturbed acarya. One who is disturbed by the whirlpool of material energy is not qualified to become an acarya.

Before hearing the Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna was disturbed by the material whirlpool, by his affection for his family, society and community. Thus Arjuna wanted to become a philanthropic, nonviolent man of the world. But when he became budha by hearing the Vedic knowledge of the Bhagavad-gita from the Supreme Person, he changed his decision and became a worshiper of Lord Sri Krsna, who had Himself arranged the Battle of Kuruksetra. Arjuna worshiped the Lord by fighting with his so-called relatives, and in this way he became a pure devotee of the Lord. Such accomplishments are possible only when one worships the real Krsna and not some fabricated “Krsna” invented by foolish men who are without knowledge of the intricacies of the science of Krsna described in the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam.

According to the Vedanta-sutra, sambhuta is the source of birth and sustenance, as well as the reservoir that remains after annihilation (janmady asya yatah [Bhag. 1.1.1]). The Srimad-Bhagavatam, the natural commentary on the Vedanta-sutra by the same author, maintains that the source of all emanations is not like a dead stone but is abhijna, or fully conscious. The primeval Lord, Sri Krsna, also says in the Bhagavad-gita (7.26) that He is fully conscious of past, present and future and that no one, including demigods such as Siva and Brahma, knows Him fully. Certainly half-educated “spiritual leaders” who are disturbed by the tides of material existence cannot know Him fully. They try to make some compromise by making the mass of humanity the object of worship, but they do not know that such worship is only a myth because the masses are imperfect. The attempt by these so-called spiritual leaders is something like pouring water on the leaves of a tree instead of the root. The natural process is to pour water on the root, but such disturbed leaders are more attracted to the leaves than the root. Despite their perpetually watering the leaves, however, everything dries up for want of nourishment.

Sri Isopanisad advises us to pour water on the root, the source of all germination. Worship of the mass of humanity by rendering bodily service, which can never be perfect, is less important than service to the soul. The soul is the root that generates different types of bodies according to the law of karma. To serve human beings by medical aid, social help and educational facilities while at the same time cutting the throats of poor animals in slaughterhouses is no service at all to the soul, the living being.

The living being is perpetually suffering in different types of bodies from the material miseries of birth, old age, disease and death. The human form of life offers one a chance to get out of this entanglement simply by reestablishing the lost relationship between the living entity and the Supreme Lord. The Lord comes personally to teach this philosophy of surrender unto the Supreme, the sambhuta. Real service to humanity is rendered when one teaches surrender to and worship of the Supreme Lord with full love and energy. That is the instruction of Sri Isopanisad in this mantra.

The simple way to worship the Supreme Lord in this age of disturbance is to hear and chant about His great activities. The mental speculators, however, think that the activities of the Lord are imaginary; therefore they refrain from hearing of them and invent some word jugglery without any substance to divert the attention of the innocent masses of people. Instead of hearing of the activities of Lord Krsna, such pseudo spiritual masters advertise themselves by inducing their followers to sing about them. In modern times the number of such pretenders has increased considerably, and it has become a problem for the pure devotees of the Lord to save the masses of people from the unholy propaganda of these pretenders and pseudo incarnations.

The Upanisads indirectly draw our attention to the primeval Lord, Sri Krsna, but the Bhagavad-gita, which is the summary of all the Upanisads, directly points to Sri Krsna. Therefore one should hear about Krsna as He is by hearing from the Bhagavad-gita or Srimad-Bhagavatam, and in this way one’s mind will gradually be cleansed of all contaminated things. Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.2.17) says, “By hearing of the activities of the Lord, the devotee draws the attention of the Lord. Thus the Lord, being situated in the heart of every living being, helps the devotee by giving him proper directions.” The Bhagavad-gita (10.10) confirms this: dadami buddhi-yogam tam yena mam upayanti te.

The Lord’s inner direction cleanses the devotee’s heart of all contamination produced by the material modes of passion and ignorance. Nondevotees are under the sway of passion and ignorance. One who is in passion cannot become detached from material hankering, and one who is in ignorance cannot know what he is or what the Lord is. Thus when one is in passion or ignorance, there is no chance for self-realization, however much one may play the part of a religionist. For a devotee, the modes of passion and ignorance are removed by the grace of the Lord. In this way the devotee becomes situated in the quality of goodness, the sign of a perfect brahmana. Anyone can qualify as a brahmana if he follows the path of devotional service under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master. Srimad-Bhagavatam (2.4.18) also says:

kirata-hunandhra-pulinda-pulkasa
abhira-sumbha yavanah khasadayah
ye ’nye ca papa yad-apasrayasrayah
sudhyanti tasmai prabhavisnave namah

Any lowborn person can be purified by the guidance of a pure devotee of the Lord, for the Lord is extraordinarily powerful.

When one attains brahminical qualifications, he becomes happy and enthusiastic to render devotional service to the Lord. Automatically the science of God is unveiled before him. By knowing the science of God, one gradually becomes freed from material attachments, and one’s doubtful mind becomes crystal clear by the grace of the Lord. One who attains this stage is a liberated soul and can see the Lord in every step of life. This is the perfection of sambhava, as described in this mantra of Sri Isopanisad.

Iso14

Mantra Fourteen

 sambhutim ca vinasam ca

 yas tad vedobhayam saha

 vinasena mrtyum tirtva

 sambhutyamrtam asnute

SYNONYMS

sambhutim—the eternal Personality of Godhead, His transcendental name, form, pastimes, qualities and paraphernalia, the variegatedness of His abode, etc.; ca—and; vinasam—the temporary material manifestation of demigods, men, animals, etc., with their false names, fame, etc.; ca—also; yah—one who; tat—that; veda—knows; ubhayam—both; saha—along with; vinasena—with everything liable to be vanquished; mrtyum—death; tirtva—surpassing; sam-bhutya—in the eternal kingdom of God; amrtam—deathlessness; asnute—enjoys.

TRANSLATION

One should know perfectly the Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna and His transcendental name, form, qualities and pastimes, as well as the temporary material creation with its temporary demigods, men and animals. When one knows these, he surpasses death and the ephemeral cosmic manifestation with it, and in the eternal kingdom of God he enjoys his eternal life of bliss and knowledge.

PURPORT

By its so-called advancement of knowledge, human civilization has created many material things, including spaceships and atomic energy. Yet it has failed to create a situation in which people need not die, take birth again, become old or suffer from disease. Whenever an intelligent man raises the question of these miseries before a so-called scientist, the scientist very cleverly replies that material science is progressing and that ultimately it will be possible to render man deathless, ageless and diseaseless. Such answers prove the scientists’ gross ignorance of material nature. In material nature, everyone is under the stringent laws of matter and must pass through six stages of existence: birth, growth, maintenance, production of by-products, deterioration and finally death. No one in contact with material nature can be beyond these six laws of transformation; therefore no one—whether demigod, man, animal or plant—can survive forever in the material world.

The duration of life varies according to species. Lord Brahma, the chief living being within this material universe, lives for millions and millions of years, while a minute germ lives for some hours only. But no one in the material world can survive eternally. Things are born or created under certain conditions, they stay for some time, and, if they continue to live, they grow, procreate, gradually dwindle and finally vanish. According to these laws, even the Brahmas, of which there are millions in different universes, are all liable to death either today or tomorrow. Therefore the entire material universe is called Martyaloka, the place of death.

Material scientists and politicians are trying to make this place deathless because they have no information of the deathless spiritual nature. This is due to their ignorance of the Vedic literature, which contains full knowledge confirmed by mature transcendental experience. Unfortunately, modern man is averse to receiving knowledge from the Vedas, Puranas and other scriptures.

From the Visnu Purana (6.7.61) we receive the following information:

visnu-saktih para prokta
ksetrajnakhya tatha para
avidya-karma-samjnanya
trtiya saktir isyate

[Cc. Madhya 6.154]

Lord Visnu, the Personality of Godhead, possesses different energies, known as para (superior) and apara (inferior). The living entities belong to the superior energy. The material energy, in which we are presently entangled, is the inferior energy. The material creation is made possible by this energy, which covers the living entities with ignorance (avidya) and induces them to perform fruitive activities. Yet there is another part of the Lord’s superior energy that is different from both this material, inferior energy and the living entities. That superior energy constitutes the eternal, deathless abode of the Lord. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (8.20):

paras tasmat tu bhavo ’nyo
’vyakto ’vyaktat sanatanah
yah sa sarvesu bhutesu
nasyatsu na vinasyati

All the material planets—upper, lower and intermediate, including the sun, moon and Venus—are scattered throughout the universe. These planets exist only during the lifetime of Brahma. Some lower planets, however, are vanquished after the end of one day of Brahma and are again created during the next day of Brahma. On the upper planets, time is calculated differently. One of our years is equal to only twenty-four hours, or one day and night, on many of the upper planets. The four ages of earth (Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali) last only twelve thousand years according to the time scale of the upper planets. Such a length of time multiplied by one thousand constitutes one day of Brahma, and one night of Brahma is the same. Such days and nights accumulate into months and years, and Brahma lives for one hundred such years. At the end of Brahma’s life, the complete universal manifestation is vanquished.

Those living beings who reside on higher planets like the sun and the moon, as well as those on Martyaloka, this earth planet, and also those who live on lower planets—all are merged into the waters of devastation during the night of Brahma. During this time no living beings or species remain manifest, although spiritually they continue to exist. This unmanifested stage is called avyakta. Again, when the entire universe is vanquished at the end of Brahma’s lifetime, there is another avyakta state. But beyond these two unmanifested states is another unmanifested state, the spiritual atmosphere, or nature. There are a great number of spiritual planets in this atmosphere, and these planets exist eternally, even when all the planets within this material universe are vanquished at the end of Brahma’s life. There are many material universes, each under the jurisdiction of a Brahma, and this cosmic manifestation within the jurisdiction of the various Brahmas is but a display of one fourth of the energy of the Lord (ekapad-vibhuti). This is the inferior energy. Beyond the jurisdiction of Brahma is the spiritual nature, which is called tripad-vibhuti, three fourths of the Lord’s energy. This is the superior energy, or para-prakrti.

The predominating Supreme Person residing within the spiritual nature is Lord Sri Krsna. As confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (8.22), He can be approached only by unalloyed devotional service and not by the processes of jnana (philosophy), yoga (mysticism) or karma (fruitive work). The karmis, or fruitive workers, can elevate themselves to the Svargaloka planets, which include the sun and the moon. Jnanis and yogis can attain still higher planets, such as Maharloka, Tapoloka and Brahmaloka, and when they become still more qualified through devotional service they can enter into the spiritual nature, either the illuminating cosmic atmosphere of the spiritual sky (Brahman) or the Vaikuntha planets, according to their qualification. It is certain, however, that no one can enter into the spiritual Vaikuntha planets without being trained in devotional service.

On the material planets, everyone from Brahma down to the ant is trying to lord it over material nature, and this is the material disease. As long as this material disease continues, the living entity has to undergo the process of bodily change. Whether he takes the form of a man, demigod or animal, he ultimately has to endure an unmanifested condition during the two devastations—the devastation during the night of Brahma and the devastation at the end of Brahma’s life. If we want to put an end to this process of repeated birth and death, as well as the concomitant factors of old age and disease, we must try to enter the spiritual planets, where we can live eternally in the association of Lord Krsna or His plenary expansions, His Narayana forms. Lord Krsna or His plenary expansions dominate every one of these innumerable planets, a fact confirmed in the sruti mantras: eko vasi sarva-gah krsna idyah/ eko ’pi san bahudha yo ’vabhati. (Gopala-tapani Upanisad 1.3.21)

No one can dominate Krsna. It is the conditioned soul who tries to dominate material nature and is instead subjected to the laws of material nature and the sufferings of repeated birth and death. The Lord comes here to reestablish the principles of religion, and the basic principle is the development of an attitude of surrender to Him. This is the Lord’s last instruction in the Bhagavad-gita (18.66): sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja. “Give up all other processes and just surrender unto Me alone.” Unfortunately, foolish men have misinterpreted this prime teaching and misled the masses of people in diverse ways. People have been urged to open hospitals but not to educate themselves to enter into the spiritual kingdom by devotional service. They have been taught to take interest only in temporary relief work, which can never bring real happiness to the living entity. They start varieties of public and semi-governmental institutions to tackle the devastating power of nature, but they don’t know how to pacify insurmountable nature. Many men are advertised as great scholars of the Bhagavad-gita, but they overlook the Gita’s message, by which material nature can be pacified. Powerful nature can be pacified only by the awakening of God consciousness, as clearly pointed out in the Bhagavad-gita (7.14).

In this mantra, Sri Isopanisad teaches that one must perfectly know both sambhuti (the Personality of Godhead) and vinasa (the temporary material manifestation), side by side. By knowing the material manifestation alone, one cannot be saved, for in the course of nature there is devastation at every moment (ahany ahani bhutani gacchantiha yama-layam). Nor can one be saved from these devastations by the opening of hospitals. One can be saved only by complete knowledge of the eternal life of bliss and awareness. The whole Vedic scheme is meant to educate men in this art of attaining eternal life. People are often misguided by temporary attractive things based on sense gratification, but service rendered to the sense objects is both misleading and degrading.

We must therefore save ourselves and our fellow man in the right way. There is no question of liking or disliking the truth. It is there. If we want to be saved from repeated birth and death, we must take to the devotional service of the Lord. There can be no compromise, for this is a matter of necessity.

Iso15

Mantra Fifteen

 hiranmayena patrena

 satyasyapihitam mukham

 tat tvam pusann apavrnu

 satya-dharmaya drstaye

SYNONYMS

hiranmayena—by a golden effulgence; patrena—by a dazzling covering; satyasya—of the Supreme Truth; apihitam—covered; mukham—the face; tat—that covering; tvam—Yourself; pusan—O sustainer; apavrnu—kindly remove; satya—pure; dharmaya—unto the devotee; drstaye—for exhibiting.

TRANSLATION

O my Lord, sustainer of all that lives, Your real face is covered by Your dazzling effulgence. Kindly remove that covering and exhibit Yourself to Your pure devotee.

PURPORT

In the Bhagavad-gita (14.27), the Lord explains His personal rays (brahmajyoti), the dazzling effulgence of His personal form, in this way:

brahmano hi pratisthaham
amrtasyavyayasya ca
sasvatasya ca dharmasya
sukhasyaikantikasya ca

“I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman, which is immortal, imperishable and eternal and is the constitutional position of ultimate happiness.” Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan are three aspects of the same Absolute Truth. Brahman is the aspect most easily perceived by the beginner; Paramatma, the Supersoul, is realized by those who have further progressed; and Bhagavan realization is the ultimate realization of the Absolute Truth. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (7.7), where Lord Krsna says that He is the ultimate concept of the Absolute Truth: mattah parataram nanyat. Therefore Krsna is the source of the brahmajyoti as well as the all-pervading Paramatma. Later in the Bhagavad-gita (10.42) Krsna further explains:

atha va bahunaitena
kim jnatena tavarjuna
vistabhyaham idam krtsnam
ekamsena sthito jagat

“But what need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe.” Thus by His one plenary expansion, the all-pervading Paramatma, the Lord maintains the complete material cosmic creation. He also maintains all manifestations in the spiritual world. Therefore in this sruti-mantra of Sri Isopanisad, the Lord is addressed as pusan, the ultimate maintainer.

The Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna, is always filled with transcendental bliss (ananda-mayo ’bhyasat). When He was present at Vrndavana in India five thousand years ago, He always remained in transcendental bliss, even from the beginning of His childhood pastimes. The killings of various demons—such as Agha, Baka, Putana and Pralamba—were but pleasure excursions for Him. In His village of Vrndavana He enjoyed Himself with His mother, brother and friends, and when He played the role of a naughty butter thief, all His associates enjoyed celestial bliss by His stealing. The Lord’s fame as a butter thief is not reproachable, for by stealing butter the Lord gave pleasure to His pure devotees. Everything the Lord did in Vrndavana was for the pleasure of His associates there. The Lord created these pastimes to attract the dry speculators and the acrobats of the so-called hatha-yoga system who wish to find the Absolute Truth.

Of the childhood play between the Lord and His playmates, the cowherd boys, Sukadeva Gosvami says in Srimad-Bhagavatam (10.12.11):

ittham satam brahma-sukhanubhutya
dasyam gatanam para-daivatena
mayasritanam nara-darakena
sakam vijahruh krta-punya-punjah

“The Personality of Godhead, who is perceived as the impersonal, blissful Brahman by the jnanis, who is worshiped as the Supreme Lord by devotees in the mood of servitorship, and who is considered an ordinary human being by mundane people, played with the cowherd boys, who had attained their position after accumulating many pious activities.”

Thus the Lord is always engaged in transcendental loving activities with His spiritual associates in the various relationships of santa (neutrality), dasya (servitorship), sakhya (friendship), vatsalya (parental affection) and madhurya (conjugal love).

Since it is said that Lord Krsna never leaves Vrndavana-dhama, one may ask how He manages the affairs of the creation. This is answered in the Bhagavad-gita (13.14–18): The Lord pervades the entire material creation by His plenary part known as the Paramatma, or Supersoul. Although the Lord personally has nothing to do with material creation, maintenance and destruction, He causes all these things to be done by His plenary expansion, the Paramatma. Every living entity is known as atma, soul, and the principal atma who controls them all is Paramatma, the Supersoul.

This system of God realization is a great science. The materialistic sankhya-yogis can only analyze and meditate on the twenty-four factors of the material creation, for they have very little information of the purusa, the Lord. And the impersonal transcendentalists are simply bewildered by the glaring effulgence of the brahmajyoti. If one wants to see the Absolute Truth in full, one has to penetrate beyond the twenty-four material elements and the glaring effulgence as well. Sri Isopanisad points toward this direction, praying for the removal of the hiranmaya-patra, the dazzling covering of the Lord. Unless this covering is removed so one can perceive the real face of the Personality of Godhead, factual realization of the Absolute Truth can never be achieved.

The Paramatma feature of the Personality of Godhead is one of three plenary expansions, or visnu-tattvas, collectively known as the purusa-avataras. One of these visnu-tattvas who is within the universe is known as Ksirodakasayi Visnu. He is the Visnu among the three principal deities—Brahma, Visnu and Siva—and He is the all-pervading Paramatma in each and every individual living entity. The second visnu-tattva within the universe is Garbhodakasayi Visnu, the collective Supersoul of all living entities. Beyond these two is Karanodakasayi Visnu, who lies in the Causal Ocean. He is the creator of all universes. The yoga system teaches the serious student to meet the visnu-tattvas after going beyond the twenty-four material elements of the cosmic creation. The culture of empiric philosophy helps one realize the impersonal brahmajyoti, which is the glaring effulgence of the transcendental body of Lord Sri Krsna. That the brahmajyoti is Krsna’s effulgence is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (14.27) as well as the Brahma-samhita (5.40):

yasya prabha-prabhavato jagad-anda-koti-
kotisv asesa-vasudhadi vibhuti-bhinnam
tad brahma niskalam anantam asesa-bhutam
govindam adi-purusam tam aham bhajami

“In the millions and millions of universes there are innumerable planets, and each and every one of them is different from the others by its cosmic constitution. All of these planets are situated in a corner of the brahmajyoti. This brahmajyoti is but the personal rays of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, whom I worship.” This mantra from the Brahma-samhita is spoken from the platform of factual realization of the Absolute Truth, and the sruti-mantra of Sri Isopanisad under discussion confirms this mantra as a process of realization. The Isopanisad mantra is a simple prayer to the Lord to remove the brahmajyoti so that one can see His real face. This brahmajyoti effulgence is described in detail in several mantras of the Mundaka Upanisad (2.2.10–12):

hiranmaye pare kose
virajam brahma niskalam
tac chubhram jyotisam jyotis
tad yad atma-vido viduh

 na tatra suryo bhati na candra-tarakam
nema vidyuto bhanti kuto ’yam agnih
tam eva bhantam anu bhati sarvam
tasya bhasa sarvam idam vibhati

brahmaivedam amrtam purastad brahma
pascad brahma daksinatas cottarena
adhas cordhvam ca prasrtam brahmai-
vedam visvam idam varistham

“In the spiritual realm, beyond the material covering, is the unlimited Brahman effulgence, which is free from material contamination. That effulgent white light is understood by transcendentalists to be the light of all lights. In that realm there is no need of sunshine, moonshine, fire or electricity for illumination. Indeed, whatever illumination appears in the material world is only a reflection of that supreme illumination. That Brahman is in front and in back, in the north, south, east and west, and also overhead and below. In other words, that supreme Brahman effulgence spreads throughout both the material and spiritual skies.”

Perfect knowledge means knowing Krsna as the root of this Brahman effulgence. This knowledge can be gained from such scriptures as Srimad-Bhagavatam, which perfectly elaborates the science of Krsna. In Srimad-Bhagavatam, the author, Srila Vyasadeva, has established that one will describe the Supreme Truth as Brahman, Paramatma or Bhagavan according to one’s realization of Him. Srila Vyasadeva never states that the Supreme Truth is a jiva, an ordinary living entity. The living entity should never be considered the all-powerful Supreme Truth. If he were the Supreme, he would not need to pray to the Lord to remove His dazzling cover so that the living entity could see His real face.

The conclusion is that one who has no knowledge of the potencies of the Supreme Truth will realize the impersonal Brahman. Similarly, when one realizes the material potencies of the Lord but has little or no information of the spiritual potencies, he attains Paramatma realization. Thus both Brahman and Paramatma realization of the Absolute Truth are partial realizations. However, when one realizes
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna, in full potency after the removal of the hiranmaya-patra, one realizes vasudevah sarvam iti: [Bg. 7.19] Lord Sri Krsna, who is known as Vasudeva, is everything—Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan. He is Bhagavan, the root, and Brahman and Paramatma are His branches.

In the Bhagavad-gita (6.46–47) there is a comparative analysis of the three types of transcendentalists—the worshipers of the impersonal Brahman (jnanis), the worshipers of the Paramatma feature (yogis) and the devotees of Lord Sri Krsna (bhaktas). It is stated there that the jnanis, those who have cultivated Vedic knowledge, are better than ordinary fruitive workers, that the yogis are still greater than the jnanis, and that among all yogis, those who constantly serve the Lord with all their energies are the topmost. In summary, a philosopher is better than a laboring man, a mystic is superior to a philosopher, and of all the mystic yogis, he who follows bhakti-yoga, constantly engaging in the service of the Lord, is the highest. Sri Isopanisad directs us toward this perfection.

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