Sri Isopanisad - Mantra 18

Mantra Eighteen of The Sri Isopanisad

agni naya supatha raye asman
visvani deva vayunani vidvan
yuyodhy asmaj juhuranam eno
bhuyistham te nama-uktim vidhema

Srila Prabhupada’s Translation

O my Lord, as powerful as fire, O omnipotent one, now I offer You all obeisances, falling on the ground at Your feet. O my Lord, please lead me on the right path to reach You, and since You know all that I have done in the past, please free me from the reactions to my past sins so that there will be no hindrance to my progress.

My Notes

• "By surrendering to the Lord and praying for His causeless mercy, the devotee can progress on the path of complete self realization."
• Karma-kanda is a gradual path of self-realization which, if even slightly deviated from, can cause ones actions to be transformed into vikarma, keeping him in this material world.
• "To err is human. A conditioned soul is very often apt to commit mistakes,and the only remedial measure to take against such unintentional sins is to give oneself up to the lotus feet of the Lord so that he may guide one to avoid such pitfalls."

As stated in a lecture by HG. Bhakti Vidya Purna Maharaja, one cannot understand the scriptures without bhakti. He then used the example of the one and the zero; one can be a scholar with the biggest brain around but without bhakti his intelligence will still only add up to zero. Like this, a devotee can never be completely self realized without surrendering first to Krishna. On the other hand, someone following the karma-kanda path of self-realization, a path layed out in previous yugas when people had longer lives and attention spans, will progress very slowly and become bored with the path, so he will fall back into maya. This can be expected, as Srila Prabhupada says above: "to err is human." Materially conditioned souls will make mistakes and therefore fall down unless they surrender to Krishna's mercy.

Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada ends his purports on the Sri Isopanisad by saying

Buy a copy of the Sri Isopanisad.

"By hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord, one becomes cleansed of all undesirable things, and then one's devotion becomes fixed upon the lord. At this stage the devotee acquires brahminical qualifications, and the effects of the lower modes of nature (passion and ignorance) completely vanish. The devotee becomes fully enlightened by virtue of his devotional service, and thus he comes to know the path of the Lord and how to attain Him. As all doubts diminish, he becomes a pure devotee."

Sri Isopanisad - Mantra 17

Mantra Seventeen of The Sri Isopanisad

vayor anilam amrtam
athedam bhasmantam sariram
om krato smara krtam smara
krtam smara krtam smara

Srila Prabhupada’s Translation

Let this temporary body be burnt to ashes, and let the air of life be merged with the totality of air. Now, O my Lord, please remember all my sacrifices, and because You are the ultimate beneficiary, please remember all that I have done for You.
My Notes

• One must fall down even if he is part of the Brahmajyti.
• "Hearing and chanting of the science of God is the basic principle of devotional life."

As mentioned in my notes on Mantra Sixteen, both Jiva Goswami and Srila Prabhupada as well as many other acharyas in the Brahma Sampradaya have spoken out strongly against impersonal liberation to the brahmajyoti. Brahmajyoti liberation is only a partial liberation of Krsna, and in this age of Kali, the best way to return to Him is by "hearing and chanting of the science of God [Krishna]."

"The revealed scriptures mention nine means of attaining devotional service, of which the first and foremost is hearing from authority. The seed of devotion cannot sprout unless watered by the process of hearing and chanting. One should submissively receive the transcendental messages from spiritually advanced sources and chant the very same messages for one's own benefit as well as the benefit of one's audience."
~His Devine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Prabhupada, Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila  2.117

Sri Isopanisad - Mantra 16

Mantra Sixteen of The Sri Isopanisad

pussan ekarse yama surya prajapatya
vyuha rasmin samuha
tejo yat te rupam kalyana-tamam
tat te pasyami yo 'sav asau purasah so 'ham asmi

Srila Prabhupada’s Translation

O my Lord, O primeval philosopher, maintainer of the universe, O regulating principle, destination of the pure devotees, well-wisher of the progenitors of mankind, please remove the effulgence of Your transcendental rays so that I can see Your form of bliss. You are the eternal Supreme Personality of Godhead, like unto the sun, as am I.

My Notes

• The impersonalist philosopher, blinded as they are by the Brahmajyoti, can realize neither the factual abode of the lord nor His transcendental form.
• Since He is addressed as the primeval philosopher and maintainer and well-wisher of the universe, the Supreme Truth cannot be impersonal.
• Bhagavat-sandarbha by Srila Jiva Goswami says: "The full potency of the Absolute Truth is not realized in the Brahmajyoti; therefore Brahman realization is only a partial realization of the Personality of Godhead."

The impersonalist philosophers spend their time chasing after impersonal liberation, a subject of which Jiva Goswami commented the above, and Srila Prabhupada commented that

"In the Brahmajyoti the spirit souls on account of their impersonal views are devoid of a body, exactly like here in Maya there are ghosts who are devoid of any gross bodies. The spirit souls in the Brahmajyoti, although they have no desire for sense gratification, still they feel inconvenience like the ghost, and they fall down again in the Maya's atmosphere and develop a material body."
~Letter to Rupanuga -- July 24, 1969

Because they believe the lord is impersonal, they cannot attain a higher situation than Brahman realization. But, as Srila Prabhupada commented so perfectly above, the Lord cannot be impersonal, because if he was, he could not be the ever well-wisher of the entire universe. Therefore impersonalist philosophy is defeted in the above verse and commentary be His Devine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.

By a copy of his Sri Isopanisad here.

Sri Isopanisad - Mantra 15

Mantra Fifteen of The Sri Isopanisad

hiranmayena patrena
satyasyapihitam mukham
tat tvam pusann apavrnu
satya-dharmaya drstaye

Srila Prabhupada’s 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.

My Notes

• Unless this covering is removed so one can percieve the real face of the Personality of Godhead, factual realization of the Absolute Truth can never be achieved.

The Mundaka Upanisad (2.2.10-12) describes the Brahmajyoti as
-Beyond the material covering
-Unlimited
-"The light of all lights"
-In which there us no need for sunshine, moonshine, fire or electricity for illumination.
-Spreads throughout material and spiritual skies
However, the Bhagavad-gita (12.5) forewarns us of the impersonal aspect of the lord, brahmajyoti, with the following words:
"For those whose minds are attached to the unmanifested, impersonal feature of the supreme, advancement is very troublesome. To make progress in that discipline is always difficult for those who are embodied."

Therefore we can only pray for darshan of the lord, hoping he will be merciful and bless us with passage Back To Godhead.

Sri Isopanisad - Mantra 14

Mantra Fourteen of The Sri Isopanisad

sambhūtiṁ ca vināśaṁ ca
yas tad vedobhayaṁ saha
vināśena mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā
sambhūtyāmṛtam aśnute

Srila Prabhupada’s 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 it's temporary demigods, man 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.

My Notes

• "The entire material universe is called Martyaloka, the place of death."


• "If we want to be saved from repeated birth and death, we must take to the devotional service of the lord."


• "This cosmic manifestation within the jurisdiction of the various Brahmas is but a display of on fourth of the energy of the lord."

King Yudhisthira, in answer to the question "What is the most amazing thing?" posed by his father, Dharma, said ahany ahani bhutany gacchantiha yamalayam "The most wonderful thing is that, although we see people dying everyday, we still make plans how to forever live comfortably." This cosmic manifestation is called Martyaloka because all living beings, even the many Brahmas, will one day die. In the next point, we are given clear instructions as to how we can be saved from this place of death, how we can easily return to the transcendental abode of Sri Krsna, lord and master of all that is. The purport goes into detail on the human speculation that by opening hospitals and performing other relief work humanity can be helped. But in all reality, the only true relief of humanity would be it's ceasing to exist, and all jiva souls returning to their forever home, never again to reside in this material world that is but one fourth of Krishna's energy.

Sri Isopanisad - Mantra 10

Mantra Ten of The Sri Isopanisadanyad evahur vidyaya
nyad ahur avidyaya
iti susruma dhiranam
ye nas tad vicacaksire
 Srila Prabhupada’s Translation
 The wise have explained that one result is derived from the culture of knowledge and that a different result is obtained from the culture of nescience.

My Notes

• “(18) One should become a scientist or philosopher and conduct research into spiritual knowledge, recognizing that spiritual knowledge is permenent whereas material knowledge ends with the death of the body.”
• “Such foolish people draw up various plans to render national demarcations perfectly, a task that is totally immpossible.”

In the beginning of Srila Prabhupada’s Purport he quotes from Bhagavad-gita (13.8-12), listing 18 rules for the culturing of knowledge. I listed this one specifically to show that, although Srila Prabhupada dispised the fake knowledge taught in modern day schools, he was approving of the use of scienceand philosophy to study spiritual knowledge.
It is true that so much of modern life is governed by political discisions and wars that, as Srila Prabhupada says here in the second note, are pointless. As said earlier on in the purport: “(16) One should become an unnalloyed devotee of the Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna, and serve Him with rapt attention.” In this way we should turn our interest away from the impossible task of drawing up national borders and turn towords Sri Krishna, serving him with unalloyed devotion.

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The Brahma Samhita Prayers, Letter to Mukunda Goswami

Recently I wrote a letter to Mukunda Goswami, one of the founding members of ISKCON, and asked him a question I would like to share. I enquired why he picked verses 30 and 32 out of the 26 mantras that make up the Cintamini Parayers for Yamuna's recording which is played every morning at ISKCON temples.

He answered that, in relation to the verses, "they were the only ones we knew" and "Srila Prabhupada sang those alot."

I then sent a thank you letter to Mukunda Goswami and thanked him for his answer and gave him my best wishes on the book he has been writing about Srila Prabhupada, which is being published now.

Srila Prabhupada and His Disciples, ki-jai!