Śrī Īśopaniṣad, Mantra 8

Prabhupada: [japa]

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?"]

Again repeat. [break]

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.]

[repeats verse]

This verse is little difficult, [chuckles] so chant and it will come, yes. Abhyāsa-yogena. Abhyāsa-yogena. Arjuna said that "It is impossible for me," so Kṛṣṅa said, abhyāsa-yogena. Abhyāsa-yogena means practicing repeated. Abhyāsa-yogena.

So everything is possible by abhyāsa-yoga. Yoga..., you have heard the name of yoga; practicing is also yoga. Abhyāsa-yoga-yuktena cetasā nānya-gāminā [Bg 8.8], one who practice.

[He who meditates on the Supreme Personality of Godhead, his mind constantly engaged in remembering Me, undeviated from the path, he, O Pārtha [Arjuna], is sure to reach Me.]

One who practices continually and does not allow the mind to go anywhere, he becomes successful.

[continues chanting verse, correcting pronunciation]

sa paryagāc chukram akāyam avraṅam asnāviraṁ 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.]

Try to chant.

Again.

So you try to understand the meaning.

Saḥ—that person; paryagāt—must know in fact; śukram—the omnipotent; akāyam—unembodied; avraṅam—without any reproach; asnāviram—without any veins; śuddham—antiseptic; apāpa-viddham—prophylactic; kaviḥ—omniscient; manīṣī—philosopher; paribhūḥ—the greatest of all; svayambhūḥ—self-sufficient; yāthātathyataḥ—just in pursuance of; arthān—desirables; vyadadhāt—awards; śāśvatībhyaḥ—immemorial; samābhyaḥ—time.

So this verse, you'll read what is important. "Such person must know in fact the greatest of all, who is unembodied, omniscient..." That is the distinction between God and ourself. We are embodied. This body is different from me; therefore when I leave this body, this body becomes "Dust thou art, dust thou..." That "thou" means this body. I am not dust; I am spirit soul.

So Kṛṣṅa is not embodied. He has no difference between His body and His soul. His soul and body, the same. He does not change His body, because He hasn't got material body. And because He does not change body, He remembers everything. We change body; therefore we do not remember what had happened in our last birth. We have forgotten who was...

Just like even in sleep, when we forget our body, we forget our all, I mean to say, environments. While sleeping or dreaming, you are in a dreamland. You don't remember even that you have got this body. Every day, every night, this is being experienced. Because this body..., I'm not body. The body becomes tired. It sleeps or it is inactive. But as I am, I work, I dream, I go somewhere, I fly or I go, I create another kingdom, another body, another environment. This we experience every day, every night. It is not difficult to understand.

Similarly, in every life we create a different environment. In this life I may think I am Indian; you may think you are American. Or next life, a different position. Next life, I may not be American, or I may not be Indian. And if I..., even I, I become American, I may not be a man; I may be a cow or bull. Then I am sent to the slaughterhouse. You see? This is going on.

This is the problem. Always changing body. Bhūtvā bhūtvā pralīyate [Bg 8.19].

[Again and again the day comes, and this host of beings is active; and again the night falls, O Pārtha, and they are helplessly dissolved.]

It is serious position. We should very..., take this life very seriously, that "I'm changing my body life after life. I have no fixed position. I do not know where I am put within these 8,400,000 species of life. So I must make a solution." And that solution is...

Kṛṣṅa says, yad gatvā na nivartante tad dhāma paramaṁ mama [Bg 15.6].

[That abode of Mine is not illumined by the sun or moon, nor by electricity. One who reaches it never returns to this material world.]

Mām upetya kaunteya duḥkhālayam aśāśvatam, nāpnuvanti mahātmānaḥ [Bg 8.15]

[After attaining Me, the great souls, who are yogīs in devotion, never return to this temporary world, which is full of miseries, because they have attained the highest perfection.]

If anyone, some way or other, by developing Kṛṣṅa consciousness, he comes to Me, he hasn't got any more to go back and accept a material body." He gets the same body as Kṛṣṅa, sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ [Bs 5.1].

[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.]

So we should very seriously execute this Kṛṣṅa consciousness—without any deviation, very seriously. We should not be neglectful, that this is a fashion or something imposed. No. This is the most important function. Human life is meant sim ply for developing Kṛṣṅa consciousness. He has no other business. But unfortunately, we have created so many engagements so that we forget Kṛṣṅa consciousness. This is called māyā. This is called māyā.

We are forgetting our real business. We are engaged in different..., so many businesses. Misleaders. Andhā yathāndhair upanīyamānāḥ [SB 7.5.31].

[Persons who are strongly entrapped by the consciousness of enjoying material life, and who have therefore accepted as their leader or guru a similar blind man attached to external sense objects, cannot understand that the goal of life is to return home, back to Godhead, and engage in the service of Lord Viṣṅu. As blind men guided by another blind man miss the right path and fall into a ditch, materially attached men led by another materially attached man are bound by the ropes of fruitive labor, which are made of very strong cords, and they continue again and again in materialistic life, suffering the threefold miseries.]

The rascal, blind leaders are leading to hell. Te 'pīśa tantryām uru-dāmni-baddhāḥ. All of them are tied up by the stringent rules and regulation of the material nature, and they have become leader. They do not like any authority. This is called māyā. This is called māyā. They are being misled; still they are following that. This is called māyā.

So try, some way or other, you have come in contact with Kṛṣṅa. So catch Him very tightly. Mām eva ye prapadyante māyām etāṁ taranti te [Bg 7.14].

[This divine energy of Mine, consisting of the three modes of material nature, is difficult to overcome. But those who have surrendered unto Me can easily cross beyond it.]

If you catch very tightly Kṛṣṅa's lotus feet, then māyā will not be able to do any harm.

Thank you very...

Devotees: Jaya. All glories to Śrīla Prabhupāda.

Prabhupāda: Chant Hare Kṛṣṅa. Govinda ādi-puruṣam.

Devotees: Hare Kṛṣṅa. [end]