Śrī Īśopaniṣad, Mantra 7

Prabhupāda:

oṁ pūrṅam adaḥ pūrṅam idaṁ pūrṅāt pūrṅam udacyate pūrṅasya pūrṅam ādāya pūrṅam evāvaśiṣyate [Īśo Invocation]

[The Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.]

īśāvāsyam idam sarvaṁ yat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam [Īśo mantra 1]

[Everything animate or inanimate that is within the universe is controlled and owned by the Lord. One should therefore accept only those things necessary for himself, which are set aside as his quota, and one should not accept other things, knowing well to whom they belong.]

kurvann eveha karmāṅi jijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ evaṁ tvayi nānyatheto 'sti na karma lipyate nare [Īśo mantra 2]

[One may aspire to live for hundreds of years if he continuously goes on working in that way, for that sort of work will not bind him to the law of karma. There is no alternative to this way for man.]

asuryā nāma te lokā andhena tamasāvṛtāḥ tāṁs te pretyābhigacchanti ye ke cātma-hano janāḥ [Īśo mantra 3]

[The killer of the soul, whoever he may be, must enter into the planets known as the worlds of the faithless, full of darkness and ignorance.]

anejad ekaṁ manaso javīyo nainad devā āpnuvan pūrvam arṣat tad dhāvato 'nyān atyeti tiṣṭhat tasminn apo mātariśvā dadhāti [Īśo mantra 4]

[Although fixed in His abode, the Personality of Godhead is swifter than the mind and can overcome all others running. The powerful demigods cannot approach Him. Although in one place, He controls those who supply the air and rain. He surpasses all in excellence.]

tad ejati tan naijati tad dūre tad v antike tad antar asya sarvasya tad u sarvasyāsya bāhyataḥ [Īśo mantra 5]

[The Supreme Lord walks and does not walk. He is far away, but He is very near as well. He is within everything, and yet He is outside of everything.]

yas tu sarvāṅi bhūtāny ātmany evānupaśyati sarva-bhūteṣu cātmānaṁ tato na vijugupsate [Īśo mantra 6]

[He who systematically sees everything in relation to the Supreme Lord, who sees all living entities as His parts and parcels, and who sees the Supreme Lord within everything never hates anything or any being.]

yasmin sarvāṅi bhūtāny ātmaivābhūd vijānataḥ tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka ekatvam anupaśyataḥ [Īśo mantra 7]

[One who always sees all living entities as spiritual sparks, in quality one with the Lord, becomes a true knower of things. What, then, can be illusion or anxiety for him?"]

sa paryagāc chukram akāyam avraṅam asnāviram śuddham apāpa-viddham kavir manīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhūr yāthātathyato 'rthān vyadadhāc chāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥ [Īśo mantra 8]

[Such a person must factually know the greatest of all, the Personality of Godhead, who is unembodied, omniscient, beyond reproach, without veins, pure and uncontaminated, the self-sufficient philosopher who has been fulfilling everyone's desire since time immemorial.]

Again repeat.

Next verse.

andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti ye 'vidyām upāsate tato bhūya iva te tamo ya u vidyāyām ratāḥ [Īśo mantra 9]

[Those who engage in the culture of nescient activities shall enter into the darkest region of ignorance. Worse still are those engaged in the culture of so-called knowledge.]

Chant.

Again.

Again.

Now this verse, verse number 7,

yasmin sarvāṅi bhūtāni ātmaivābhūd vijānataḥ tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka ekatvam anupaśyataḥ [Īśo mantra 7]

[One who always sees all living entities as spiritual sparks, in quality one with the Lord, becomes a true knower of things. What, then, can be illusion or anxiety for him?"]

[06:31]

This is the perfection of Kṛṣṅa consciousness. Ekatvam anupaśyataḥ. A Kṛṣṅa 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 Kṛṣṅa. That is diversity. Otherwise, the one: Kṛṣṅa, only Kṛṣṅa. Parasya brahmaṅaḥ śaktiḥ tathaiva akhilaṁ jagat [Viṣṅu Purāṅa].

Just as the illumination of a fire, which is situated in one place, is spread all over, the energies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Para-brahman, are spread all over this universe.]

The whole universe, parasya brahmaṅaḥ śakti... Parasya, the Supreme Brahman, Parameśvara, īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṅaḥ [Bs 5.1], His energy.

[Kṛṣṅa who is known as Govinda is the Supreme Godhead. He has an eternal blissful spiritual body. He is the origin of all. He has no other origin and He is the prime cause of all causes.]

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 Kṛṣṅa, but still, Kṛṣṅa is not everywhere. This philosophy... Therefore this very word is used here, vijānataḥ. Vijānataḥ means one who knows, knower of things, how things 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 Kṛṣṅa's internal energy, and this material world is Kṛṣṅa'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: antaraṅga-śakti, bahiraṅga-śakti, taṭasthā-śakti. Antaraṅga-śakti means internal energy; bahiraṅga śakti means external energy; and taṭasthā-śakti means these living entities. We are śakti. We are energy. We are not the energetic.

The Māyāvādī philosopher says that because the energies are not outside Brahman, therefore they're all the same. This is monism. Our Vaiṣṅava 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 vijānataḥ.

So their ekatvam, Māyāvāda philosophy's ekatvam, oneness, and our ekatvam of oneness—a little different. They say that the energy's false; the Brahman is real. Brahmā satyaṁ jagan mithyā [Śaṅkarācārya].

[The Supreme Brahman is the only truth, and this material world is false.]

We say that because Brahman is truth, therefore His energy's also truth. That is the difference between Vaiṣṅava philosophy and Māyāvāda 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 go. But when the trouble is there, it is true. We feel the consequence. We cannot say it is false. The Māyāvādī 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: vijānataḥ, "one who knows." Perfect knowledge must be there, vijānataḥ. When one is actual knower of the things, tatra ko mohaḥ, then there is no illusion. Illusion is for him who does not know things. But one who knows, there is no illusion. Tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka [Īśo mantra 7].

[One who always sees all living entities as spiritual sparks, in quality one with the Lord, becomes a true knower of things. What, then, can be illusion or anxiety for him?"]

No lamentation. When you are perfectly in conviction that there is nothing except Kṛṣṅa, and Kṛṣṅa's energy, the same, then there is no moha—moha means illusion—and śoka.

Moha and śoka, this is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā: brahma-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati na kāṅkṣati [Bg 18.54].

[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]

We were very much anxious to get things which we haven't got. That is kāṅkṣati, hankering after. And when things are lost, we lament. But if we know that Kṛṣṅa is the central point, so anything received, gained, profited, that is Kṛṣṅa's desire. Kṛṣṅa has given; accept. And if it is taken away by Kṛṣṅa, then what is the lamentation? Kṛṣṅa 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 Kṛṣṅa's service. And we have no..., nothing to offer Kṛṣṅa, then whatever you get, patraṁ puṣpaṁ phalaṁ toyam [Bg 9.26],

[If one offers Me with love and devotion a leaf, a flower, fruit or water, I will accept it.]

Kṛṣṅa is satisfied in every way. This is the meaning of vijānataḥ. 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-bhūtaḥ prasannātmā na śocati ne kāṅkṣati samaḥ sarveṣu bhūteṣu... [Bg 18.54]

[And of all yogīs, he who always abides in Me with great faith, worshiping Me in transcendental loving service, is most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.]

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-gītā: paṅḍitāḥ sama-darśinaḥ [Bg 5.18].

[The humble sage, by virtue of true knowledge, sees with equal vision a learned and gentle brāhmaṅa, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater [outcaste]]

Paṅḍitāḥ means learned. He's vijānataḥ, one who knows.

So in the Vedic literature you won't find something different in Bhagavad-gītā and some things different in Īśopaniṣad or something is different in the Vedas. No. They are the same thing is explained in different languages in different scriptures. But one has to know the art, how to understand them.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: All glories to Your Divine Grace.

Prabhupāda: Chant Hare Kṛṣṅa.

Devotee: Hare Kṛṣṅa.

[18:20] [kīrtana] [Prabhupāda plays gong] [end]