D. Hence one should respect all things as parts and parcels of His Supreme Body

Each and every item of the material manifestation entails a part of the body of the gigantic form, and thus the flickering mind can be fixed in the Lord only and nothing else. This process of concentrating on the different bodily parts of the Lord will gradually diminish the demoniac challenge of godlessness and bring about gradual development of devotional service to the Lord. Everything being a part and parcel of the Complete Whole, the neophyte student will gradually realize the hymns of Isopanisad which state that the Supreme Lord is everywhere, and thus he will learn the art of not committing any offense to the body of the Lord. This sense of God-mindedness will diminish one's pride in challenging the existence of God. Thus one can learn to show respect to everything, for all things are parts and parcels of the supreme body.

(SB 2.1.38 P The First Step in God Realization)

e. One can enjoy a fragment of this material creation under the control of the Lord, but not self-sufficiently.

The conditioned soul can enjoy a fragment of this material creation under the control of the Lord, but not self-sufficiently. That is the instruction in the Isopanisad. One should be satisfied with things awarded by the Lord of the universe. It is out of madness only that one tries to encroach upon another's share of material possessions.

(SB 2.4.20 P The Process of Creation)

A pure devotee knows well that everything in the universe is the property of the Lord and that a living entity can enjoy a thing as ordained by the Lord. A living being cannot even touch a thing which is not allotted to him. This idea of the original enjoyer is explained very nicely in the Isopanisad. One who knows this difference between the Lord and himself never accepts anything without first offering it to the Lord.

(SB 2.7.15 P Scheduled Incarnations with Specific Functions)

In modern society there is always a great quarrel between the laborers and the capitalists. This quarrel has taken an international shape, and the world is in danger. Men face one another in enmity and snarl just like cats and dogs. Sri Isopanisad cannot give advice to the cats and dogs, but it can deliver the message of Godhead to man through the bona fide acaryas (holy teachers). The human race should take the Vedic wisdom of Sri Isopanisad and not quarrel over material possessions. One must be satisfied with whatever privileges are given to him by the mercy of the Lord.

(Iso 1)

Everything belongs to God. You are son of God. So you live. But don't encroach... Ma grdhah kasya svid dhanam. That is the instruction of Isopanisad. Isavasyam idam sarvam. Everything belongs to God. Tena tyaktena bhunjitha. So you have got the right to enjoy what is allotted for you. Don't encroach upon others' right. This is renunciation. But they are encroaching upon others' right. Especially the human society. And that is the cause of all troubles. Because they have no God consciousness, they have no sense about God, and there is no sense about next life...

(730722rc.lon Conversations)

Prabhupada: Reaction. Everything... Yajnarthe karmano yatra loko 'yam karma-bandhanah. Whatever you do, you are bound up by the reaction. That is nature's law. (break) ...and occasionally there will be big war, and they'll kill themselves. That's all. Now they are killing animals. That is a separate from human being. But time will come, the human beings, they will kill themselves, one another. Not only one, two, but wholesale. Daily, millions or thousands will be killed. They want to avoid war. For that reason, they invented the United Nations. Eh?

Bhagavan: Yeah.

Prabhupada: So why they want to avoid war? What is the reason?

Bhagavan: For avoiding war?

Prabhupada: Yes.

Bhagavan: They want to maintain their pleasure.

Prabhupada: (laughs) Why encroach upon others' pleasure? Tena tyaktena bhunjitha ma grdhah kasya svid dhanam. Isopanisad says, "Don't encroach upon others' pleasure."

(731221mw.la Conversations)

f. Vidya and avida are very nicely explained in Isopanisad:

In the language of the Bhagavad-gita (7.15), people who are engaged in gross sense gratification are mudhas--asses. The ass is a symbol of stupidity. Those who simply engage in the profitless pursuit of sense gratification are worshiping avidya, according to Sri Iso

(Iso 9)

Vidya and avidya are very nicely described in Isopanisad. It is said there that sometimes, due to avidya, or a poor fund of knowledge, one accepts the Absolute Truth as ultimately impersonal. But in fact the impersonal and personal realizations develop in proportion to the development of devotional service. The more we develop our devotional service, the more closely we approach the Absolute Truth, which, in the beginning, when we realize the Absolute Truth from a distant place, is manifest as impersonal.

(SB 4.9.16 P Dhruva Maharaja Returns Home)

"O scion of Bharata [Arjuna], O conqueror of the foe, all living entities are born into delusion, overcome by the dualities of desire and hate."

This condition of life is called avidya. Opposed to this avidya is real knowledge. Sri Isopanisad distinguishes between vidya and avidya, knowledge and ignorance.By avidya (ignorance) one becomes conditioned, and by vidya (knowledge) one becomes liberated. Puranjana admits herein that he is attracted by avidya. Now he wishes to see the complete feature of avidya and so requests the girl to raise her head so that he can see her face to face. He thus wishes to see the various features that make avidya attractive.

(SB 4.25.31 P The Descriptions of the Characteristics of King Puranjana)

g. The Lord is apapa-viddham and suddham:

Although He lives everywhere within the material world, He is not contaminated by the modes of nature. The Lord is therefore described in Isopanisad as apapa-viddham. He is never contaminated by the modes of material nature.

(SB 4.30.42 P The Activities of the Pracetas)

To confirm that the Lord is always pure and uncontaminated, Sri Isopanisad describes Him as suddham (antiseptic) and apapa-viddham (prophylactic). He is antiseptic in the sense that even an impure thing can become purified just by touching Him. The word "prophylactic" refers to the power of His association. As mentioned in the Bhagavad-gita (9.30-31), a devotee may appear to be su-duracara, not well behaved, in the beginning, but he should be accepted as pure because he is on the right path. This is due to the prophylactic nature of the Lord's association. The Lord is also apapa-viddham because sin cannot touch Him.

(Iso 8)

Krsna hasn't got that aptitude. He's a master. Just like "King can do no wrong." This is the British Constitution. You cannot accuse the king in any way, neither you can judge. That is British Constitution. Similarly, Krsna, as it is stated in the Isopanisad, apapa-viddham. He cannot be criminal like us. He's above. He cannot be charged with any criminal charges. Apapa-viddham. Papa does not touch Him. Although it appears that He is doing something which is papa, but that is not papa.

(741003SB.MAY Lectures)

Lord Parasurama killed all the ksatriyas, and their accumulated blood flowed like a stream. Lord Parasurama dug five big lakes at Samanta-pancaka and filled them with this blood. Lord Parasurama is visnu-tattva. As stated in the Isopanisad, visnu-tattva cannot be contaminated by any sinful activity. Yet although Lord Parasurama is fully powerful and uncontaminated, in order to exhibit ideal character, He performed great sacrifices at Samanta-pancaka to atone for His so-called sinful killing of the ksatriyas.

(KB 82 Lord Krsna and Balarama Meet the Inhabitants of Vrndavana)

In the Bhagavad-gita it is clearly said that the aim of the Vedic way of searching out the Absolute Truth is to find the personal God. One who is satisfied only with the other aspects of the Absolute Truth, namely the Paramatma feature or the Brahman feature, is to be considered possessed of a poor fund of knowledge. Recently we have published our Sri Isopanisad, a Vedic literature, and in this small booklet we have thoroughly discussed this point.

(SSR 3 Discovering the Roots)

Isopanisad says that such persons who accept Brahman or Paramatma as the final word of God-realization will be "still more" condemned. This is because they are offenders of God and are very stubborn to accept the Supreme Personality. If one refuses to progress to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then he is sure to fall down again into darkness. The worshippers of the demigods at least have fear of some higher personality, and that may eventually develop into fear of the Supreme Personality. But the impersonalists think that everything is Brahma, everyone is God, therefore they can do whatever they want; and that is a still more dangerous position. I think this will clear up the matter for you.

I hope this will meet you in good health.

Your ever well-wisher,

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami

(69-10-15.Bra Letter: Brahmananda)

h. Liberating work is described in the pages of Sri Isopanisad:

One should execute all one’s activities in relation with isavasya, the God-centered conception:

An ordinary man works for his own sense enjoyment, and when this principle of sense enjoyment is extended to include his society, nation or humanity in general, it assumes various attractive names such as altruism, socialism, communism, nationalism and humanitarianism. These "isms" are certainly very attractive forms of karma-bandhana (karmic bondage), but the Vedic instruction of Sri Isopanisad is that if one actually wants to live for any of the above "isms," he should make them God-centered. There is no harm in becoming a family man, or an altruist, a socialist, a communist, a nationalist or a humanitarian, provided that one executes his activities in relation with isavasya, the God-centered conception.

(Iso 2)

The greatest danger of life is the danger of gliding down again into the evolutionary cycle of birth and death among the 8,400,000 species. If somehow or other a man misses the spiritual opportunity afforded by his human form of life and falls down again into the evolutionary cycle, he must be considered most unfortunate. Due to his defective senses, a foolish man cannot see that this is happening. Consequently Sri Isopanisad advises us to exert our energy in the spirit of isavasya. Being so engaged, we may wish to live for many, many years; otherwise a long life in itself has no value.

One should therefore not indulge in hearing and speaking of the rubbish activities of worldly politicians and so-called big men in society but should mold his life in such a way that he can engage in godly activities without wasting a second. Sri Isopanisad directs us toward such godly activities.

(Iso 17)

Intelligent men well know that both good and bad work equally bind one to the material miseries. Consequently they seek that work which will free them from the reactions of both good and bad work. Such liberating work is described here in the pages of Sri Isopanisad.

(Iso 2)

When altruistic activities are executed in the spirit of Sri Isopanisad, they become a form of karma-yoga. Such activities are recommended in the Bhagavad-gita (18.5-9), for they guarantee their executor protection from the danger of sliding down into the evolutionary process of birth and death. Even though such God-centered activities may be half-finished, they are still good for the executor because they will guarantee him a human form in his next birth. In this way one can have another chance to improve his position on the path of liberation.

(Iso 2)

i. Killer of the soul to suffer perpetually:

Sri Isopanisad warns in clear terms that the killer of the soul is destined to enter into the darkest region of ignorance to suffer perpetually....Some of the regions where the asuras are sent to work are revealed in this verse of Sri Isopanisad. If a man fails to discharge his duties as a human being, he is forced to transmigrate to the asurya planets and take birth in degraded species of life to work hard in ignorance and darkness.

(Iso 3)

Sri Isopanisad warns of the futility of trying to establish the identity of the Lord through mental speculation. One should try to learn of the Transcendence from the Lord Himself, the supreme source of the Vedas, for the Lord alone has full knowledge of the Transcendence.

Every part and parcel of the Complete Whole is endowed with some particular energy to act according to the Lord's will. When the part-and-parcel living entity forgets his particular activities under the Lord's will, he is considered to be in maya, illusion. Thus from the very beginning Sri Isopanisad warns us to be very careful to play the part designated for us by the Lord. This does not mean that the individual soul has no initiative of his own. Because he is part and parcel of the Lord, he must partake of the initiative of the Lord as well. When a person properly utilizes his initiative, or active nature, with intelligence, understanding that everything is the Lord's potency, he can revive his original consciousness, which was lost due to association with maya, the external energy.

(Iso 4)

j. God is a person even if we cannot see Him with our eyes:

We should not take it for granted that because we cannot see God with our eyes the Lord has no personal existence. Sri Isopanisad refutes this argument by declaring that the Lord is far away but very near also.

(Iso 5)

k. Arca-vigraha descends at the requests of the acaryas:

The arca-vigraha of the Lord descends at the request of the acaryas, the holy teachers, and works exactly in the original way of the Lord by virtue of the Lord's omnipotence. Foolish people who have no knowledge of Sri Isopanisad or any of the other sruti-mantras consider the arca-vigraha, which is worshiped by pure devotees, to be made of material elements.

(Iso 8)

l. Lord rewards everyone’s desires:

Thus this mantra of Sri Isopanisad uses the very appropriate word yathatathyatah, indicating that the Lord rewards the living entities just in pursuance of their desires. If a living being wants to go to hell, the Lord allows him to do so without interference, and if he wants to go back home, back to Godhead, the Lord helps him.

(Iso 8)

m. Not to make one-sided attempts to win the struggle for existence:

The whole point here is that even Hiranyakasipu, the most powerful of materialists, could not become deathless by his various plans. What, then, can be accomplished by the tiny Hiranyakasipus of today, whose plans are thwarted from moment to moment? Sri Isopanisad instructs us not to make one-sided attempts to win the struggle for existence. Everyone is struggling hard for existence, but the laws of material nature are so hard and fast that they do not allow anyone to surpass them. In order to attain a permanent life, one must be prepared to go back to Godhead….Sri Isopanisad herein warns that we must not follow this dangerous path leading to death. On the contrary, we must develop the culture of spiritual knowledge so that we may become completely free from the cruel hands of death.

(Iso 11)

n. Worship Krsna, not demogods:

Since the living being is materially entangled, he has to be relieved from material bondage entirely to attain permanent relief on the spiritual plane, where eternal bliss, life and knowledge exist. Sri Isopanisad therefore instructs that we should not seek temporary relief of our difficulties by worshiping the dependent demigods, who can bestow only temporary benefit. Rather, we must worship the Absolute Personality of Godhead, Krsna, who is all-attractive and who can bestow upon us complete freedom from material bondage by taking us back home, back to Godhead.

(Iso 12)

Sri Isopanisad points out that one who worships the demigods and attains to their material planets still remains in the darkest region of the universe….The problems of life cannot be solved simply by going to the moon planet or to some other planet above or below it. Therefore Sri Isopanisad advises us not to bother with any destination within this dark material universe, but to try to get out of it and reach the effulgent kingdom of God.

(Iso 12)

o. Destination of pseudo religionists:

Sri Isopanisad confirms that these pseudo religionists are heading toward the most obnoxious place in the universe after the completion of their spiritual master business, which they conduct simply for sense gratification.

(Iso 12)

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 958