Śrī Īśopaniṣad mantra 11

Prabhupāda: Ānanda-mayo 'bhyāsāt. So Gopāla Kṛṣṅa, how you are feeling? How do you see this temple?

Gopāla Kṛṣṅa: [indistinct]

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṅa. [devotees chant japa]

Prabhupāda: Oṁ…

Devotees:

oṁ pūrṅam adaḥ pūrṅam idaṁ pūrṅāt pūrṅam udacyate

Prabhupāda: Loudly.

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.]

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.]

anyad evāhur vidyayā- nyad āhur avidyayā iti śuśruma dhīrāṅāṁ ye nas tad vicacakṣire [Īśo mantra 10]

[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.]

So up to this verse we have done. Next.

vidyāṁ cāvidyāṁ ca yas tad vedobhayaṁ saha avidyayā mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā vidyayāmṛtam aśnute [Īśo mantra 11]

[Only one who can learn the process of nescience and that of transcendental knowledge side by side can transcend the influence of repeated birth and death and enjoy the full blessings of immortality.]

[corrects devotees’ pronunciation]

Vidyayāmṛtam aśnute. When they are compounded they are called vidyayāmṛtam aśnute. So you read as the English translation.

vidyāṁ cāvidyāṁ ca yas tad vedobhayaṁ saha avidyayā mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā vidyayāmṛtam aśnute [Īśo mantra 11]

[Only one who can learn the process of nescience and that of transcendental knowledge side by side can transcend the influence of repeated birth and death and enjoy the full blessings of immortality.]

[06:35]

Prabhupāda: “Only one who can learn the process of nescience and that of transcendental knowledge side by side can transcend the influence of repeated birth and death and enjoy the full blessings of immortality.”

So we have to learn. Knowledge means, just like darkness and light, if we know “this is darkness” and “this is light,” that is perfect knowledge. If you simply know darkness, or if you simply know light, that is not perfect. So the living entity is called tatasta śakti, marginal. There are two sides: one is darkness, one is light, and the living entity is marginal potency.

As it is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, there are two…, three prakṛtis: parā, aparā… Two prakṛtis practically, but the living entities belong to the superior energy. But because it is prone to fall down to the inferior energy, it is called marginal. So there are two sides. Just like the seashore: immediately land, immediately water, side by side. On the land you are safe; as soon as you are in the water, unsafe.

So you are on the margin. Just like I was walking on the beach, so I was very careful so that the water may not come and wet my shoes. So we are little bit careful. Side by side there is. So one should have perfect knowledge, that “this is water,” “this is land.” Because water means if you fall into the water, your death; and if you stand on the land, you are secure. Therefore here it is stated:

vidyāṁ cāvidyāṁ ca yas tad vedobhayaṁ saha [Īśo mantra 11]

[Only one who can learn the process of nescience and that of transcendental knowledge side by side can transcend the influence of repeated birth and death and enjoy the full blessings of immortality.]

One should know what is my secure place and what is my unsecure place. Because I am prone. I am not God; I am little spark. God has no such fear, either this land or this water. He is controller of everything. But so far I am concerned, I am tiny. Although I am part and parcel of God, I am tiny. Therefore I must know what is my secure place and what is my unsecure place.

The unsecure place is Kṛṣṅa, and unsecure place is māyā. So if you know what is māyā and what is Kṛṣṅa, this knowledge, if there is perfect knowledge, then avidyayā mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā. Avidyayā, I am in the nescience, māyā, now, where there is death, repeated birth and death. So if I become conversant what is Kṛṣṅa, then I become transcendental to this birth and death, mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā vidyayāmṛtam aśnute. Āmṛtam means eternal life.

We are eternal by nature. As God is eternal, we are also eternal living entities. That is stated in the Bhagavad-gītā, second chapter [Bg 2.20]

[For the soul there is never birth nor death. Nor, having once been, does he ever cease to be. He is unborn, eternal, ever-existing, undying and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain.]

na jāyate mriyate vā. These living entities, actually they do not take birth or do not die. The birth and death is just like changing of this dress. Just like I am now in this dress, next moment I will take out all these dresses—I become naked body.

So birth and death—which we call birth and death—death means sleeping. Death is taking place every day, every night. When we sleep, that is death, but because the duration of life continues, therefore we again come to consciousness and take up this body in the morning. But that sleeping is also death. Sometimes one man dies, appears to be sleeping for seven days, and all of a sudden it is seen that—coma; it is called coma—no more breathing.

So death means sleeping of this body. As soon as this body becomes old enough, useless, somehow or other, then the soul does not come back again to this body; he accepts another body, just like changing dress. So actually if you take sleep as death… But death, that is al... As sleep is temporary, a few hours, similarly this death means sleeping for a few months. That's all. Seven months or ten months—actually seven months.

The child in the womb of the mother sleeps, unconscious, and when the body is made up, he has got his hands, legs, eyes, everything manufactured; then consciousness comes back, and that time the child moves and desires to come out, prays. One who is advanced in his previous life, he understands, “Oh, I am again put into this condition. I did not utilize my life for Kṛṣṅa consciousness; therefore I am again put into this condition.” It is very risky. Don't try to go again into the womb of the mother. It is very, I mean to say, distressful, packed-up.

We all forget this. Sometimes the child is killed by the modern civilization. The most sinful child does not see the light. It is being killed from one womb to another womb. You see? This is going on. Those who are killing this, using these pills, they will be put into that womb, and they will never see light, and from womb to womb they will be transferred—horrible life, ghostly life.

So these are nescience. People do not know, and they are advancing: “I am civilized.” What nonsense civilization you have got. Try to understand this Vedic knowledge, then your life will be successful. Otherwise if you remain in the darkness, then this human form of... And this human form of life is important. Why?

This book is meant for the human beings, not for the cats and dogs and animals. This Īśopaniṣad, the Vedic knowledge, this Kṛṣṅa consciousness movement, it is meant for human beings. So if we do not take advantage of this knowledge and keep ourself into darkness of animal life, then you are doomed.

Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya Śrīla Prabhupāda. [offer obeisances] [break]

Prabhupāda: Chant. Chant please.

[16:55]

[kīrtana] [Prabhupāda plays gong] [end]