Go to Vanipedia | Go to Vanisource | Go to Vanimedia


Vaniquotes - the compiled essence of Vedic knowledge


ISO Mantra 04 anejad ekam manaso javiyo... cited: Difference between revisions

(Created page with '<div id="compilation"> <div id="facts"> {{terms|"jijivinec chatam samah"|"kurvann eveha karmani"|"na karma lipyate nare"|"that sort of work will not bind him to the law of karma"…')
 
 
Line 1: Line 1:
<div id="compilation">
<div id="compilation">
<div id="facts">
<div id="facts">
{{terms|"jijivinec chatam samah"|"kurvann eveha karmani"|"na karma lipyate nare"|"that sort of work will not bind him to the law of karma"}}
{{terms|"Although fixed in His abode, the Personality of Godhead is swifter than the mind"|"anejad ekam manaso javiyo"}}
{{notes|VedaBase query: "Iso mantra 2" or "kurvann eveha karmani" or "na karma lipyate nare" or "jijivinec chatam samah" or "that sort of work will not bind him to the law of karma"}}
{{notes|VedaBase query: "Iso mantra 4" or "Isopanisad 4" or "anejad ekam manaso javiyo" or "Although fixed in His abode, the Personality of Godhead is swifter than the mind"}}
{{compiler|MadhuGopaldas}}
{{compiler|MadhuGopaldas}}
{{complete|ALL}}
{{complete|ALL}}
{{first|11Feb11}}
{{first|11Feb11}}
{{last|11Feb11}}
{{last|11Feb11}}
{{totals_by_section|BG=0|SB=0|CC=0|OB=1|Lec=5|Con=1|Let=0}}
{{totals_by_section|BG=0|SB=1|CC=0|OB=1|Lec=1|Con=0|Let=0}}
{{total|7}}
{{total|3}}
{{toc right}}
{{toc right}}
[[Category:Sri Isopanisad ... Cited Verses]]
[[Category:Sri Isopanisad - Cited Verses]]
</div>
</div>
<div id="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" class="section" sec_index="3" parent="compilation" text="Other Books by Srila Prabhupada"><h2>Other Books by Srila Prabhupada</h2>
<div id="Srimad-Bhagavatam" class="section" sec_index="1" parent="compilation" text="Srimad-Bhagavatam"><h2>Srimad-Bhagavatam</h2>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Sri_Isopanisad" class="sub_section" sec_index="8" parent="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" text="Sri Isopanisad"><h3>Sri Isopanisad</h3>
<div id="SB_Canto_8" class="sub_section" sec_index="8" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam" text="SB Canto 8"><h3>SB Canto 8</h3>
</div>
</div>
<div id="ISO2_0" class="quote" parent="Sri_Isopanisad" book="OB" index="4" link="ISO 2" link_text="Sri Isopanisad 2">
<div id="SB8526_0" class="quote" parent="SB_Canto_8" book="SB" index="128" link="SB 8.5.26" link_text="SB 8.5.26">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:ISO 2|Sri Isopanisad 2, Translation and Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">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.</p>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:SB 8.5.26|SB 8.5.26, Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="purport text"><p style="display: inline;">The Lord is supreme because no one can evaluate Him by mental speculation or jugglery of words. The Lord can travel more quickly than the mind. In the śruti-mantras of Īśopaniṣad it is said:</p>
:anejad ekaṁ manaso javīyo
:nainad devā āpnuvan pūrvam arṣat
:tad dhāvato 'nyān atyeti tiṣṭhat
:tasminn apo mātariśvā dadhāti
<p>"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." (Īśopaniṣad 4) Thus the Supreme is never to be equaled by the subordinate living entities.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div class="purport text"><p>No one wants to die: everyone wants to live as long as he can drag on. This tendency is visible not only individually but also collectively in the community, society and nation. There is a hard struggle for life by all kinds of living entities, and the Vedas say that this is quite natural. The living being is eternal by nature, but due to his bondage in material existence he has to change his body over and over. This process is called transmigration of the soul or karma-bandhana, bondage by one's work. The living entity has to work for his livelihood because that is the law of material nature, and if he does not act according to his prescribed duties, he transgresses the law of nature and binds himself more and more to the cycle of birth and death in the many species of life.</p>
<p>Other life forms are also subject to the cycle of birth and death, but when the living entity attains a human life, he gets a chance to get free from the chains of karma. Karma, akarma and vikarma are very clearly described in the Bhagavad-gītā. Actions that are performed in terms of one's prescribed duties, as mentioned in the revealed scriptures, are called karma. Actions that free one from the cycle of birth and death are called akarma. And actions that are performed through the misuse of one's freedom and that direct one to the lower life forms are called vikarma. Of these three types of action, that which frees one from the bondage to karma is preferred by intelligent men. Ordinary men wish to perform good work in order to be recognized and achieve some higher status of life in this world or in heaven, but more advanced men want to be free altogether from the actions and reactions of work. 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 Śrī Īśopaniṣad.</p>
<p>The instructions of Śrī Īśopaniṣad are more elaborately explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, sometimes called the Gītopaniṣad, the cream of all the Upaniṣads. In the Bhagavad-gītā (3.9-16) the Personality of Godhead says that one cannot attain the state of naiṣkarmya, or akarma, without executing the prescribed duties mentioned in the Vedic literature. This literature can regulate the working energy of a human being in such a way that he can gradually realize the authority of the Supreme Being. When he realizes the authority of the Personality of Godhead—Vāsudeva, or Kṛṣṇa—it is to be understood that he has attained the stage of positive knowledge. In this purified stage the modes of nature—namely goodness, passion and ignorance—cannot act, and he is able to work on the basis of naiṣkarmya. Such work does not bind one to the cycle of birth and death.</p>
<p>Factually, no one has to do anything more than render devotional service to the Lord. However, in the lower stages of life one cannot immediately adopt the activities of devotional service, nor can one completely stop fruitive work. A conditioned soul is accustomed to working for sense gratification—for his own selfish interest, immediate or extended. 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 Śrī Īśopaniṣad 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 īśāvāsya, the God-centered conception.</p>
<p>In the Bhagavad-gītā (2.40) Lord Kṛṣṇa states that God-centered activities are so valuable that just a few of them can save a person from the greatest danger. 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 Śrī Īśopaniṣad advises us to exert our energy in the spirit of īśāvāsya. Being so engaged, we may wish to live for many, many years; otherwise a long life in itself has no value. A tree lives for hundreds and hundreds of years, but there is no point in living a long time like trees, or breathing like bellows, or begetting children like hogs and dogs, or eating like camels. A humble God-centered life is more valuable than a colossal hoax of a life dedicated to godless altruism or socialism.</p>
<p>When altruistic activities are executed in the spirit of Śrī Īśopaniṣad, they become a form of karma-yoga. Such activities are recommended in the Bhagavad-gītā (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.</p>
<p>How one can execute God-centered activities is elaborately explained in the Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. We have rendered this book into English as The Nectar of Devotion. We recommend this valuable book to all who are interested in performing their activities in the spirit of Śrī Īśopaniṣad.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" class="section" sec_index="3" parent="compilation" text="Other Books by Srila Prabhupada"><h2>Other Books by Srila Prabhupada</h2>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
<div id="Sri_Isopanisad" class="sub_section" sec_index="8" parent="Other_Books_by_Srila_Prabhupada" text="Sri Isopanisad"><h3>Sri Isopanisad</h3>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="1" parent="Lectures" text="Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures"><h3>Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures</h3>
<div id="ISO4_0" class="quote" parent="Sri_Isopanisad" book="OB" index="6" link="ISO 4" link_text="Sri Isopanisad 4">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:ISO 4|Sri Isopanisad 4, Translation and Purport]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="trans text"><p style="display: inline;">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.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB211NewYorkApril101969_0" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="348" link="Lecture on SB 2.1.1 -- New York, April 10, 1969" link_text="Lecture on SB 2.1.1 -- New York, April 10, 1969">
<div class="purport text"><p>Through mental speculation, even the greatest philosopher cannot know the Supreme Lord, who is the Absolute Personality of Godhead. He can be known only by His devotees through His mercy. In the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.34) it is stated that even if a nondevotee philosopher travels through space at the speed of the wind or the mind for hundreds of millions of years, he will still find that the Absolute Truth is far, far away from him. The Brahma-saṁhitā (5.37) further describes that the Absolute Personality of Godhead has His transcendental abode, known as Goloka, where He remains and engages</p>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 2.1.1 -- New York, April 10, 1969|Lecture on SB 2.1.1 -- New York, April 10, 1969]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Not this. First of all Īśopaniṣad. Yes. Īśopaniṣad. (devotees and Prabhupāda chant together Invocation and first two mantras of Īśopaniṣad (Īśo mantra 1, Īśo mantra 2) That's all. That's all. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Now oṁ namo bhagavate, chant.</p>
<p>in His pastimes, yet by His inconceivable potencies He can simultaneously reach every part of His creative energy. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa His potencies are compared to the heat and light that emanate from a fire. Although situated in one place, a fire can distribute its light and heat for some distance; similarly, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, although fixed in His transcendental abode, can diffuse His different energies everywhere.</p>
<p>Although His energies are innumerable, they can be divided into three principal categories: the internal potency, the marginal potency and the external potency. There are hundreds and millions of subheadings to each of these categories. The dominating demigods who are empowered to control and administer such natural phenomena as air, light and rain are all classified within the marginal potency of the Absolute Person. Lesser living beings, including humans, also belong to the Lord's marginal potency. The material world is the creation of the Lord's external potency. And the spiritual sky, where the kingdom of God is situated, is the manifestation of His internal potency.</p>
<p>Thus the different energies of the Lord are present everywhere. Although the Lord and His energies are nondifferent, one should not mistake these energies for the Supreme Truth. Nor should one wrongly consider that the Supreme Lord is distributed everywhere impersonally or that He loses His personal existence. Men are accustomed to reaching conclusions according to their capacity for understanding, but the Supreme Lord is not subject to our limited capacity for understanding. It is for this reason that the Upaniṣads warn us that no one can approach the Lord by his own limited potency.</p>
<p>In the Bhagavad-gītā (10.2) the Lord says that not even the great ṛṣis and suras can know Him. And what to speak of the asuras, for whom there is no question of understanding the ways of the Lord? This fourth mantra of Śrī Īśopaniṣad very clearly suggests that the Absolute Truth is ultimately the Absolute Person; otherwise there would have been no need to mention so many details in support of His personal features.</p>
<p>Although the individual parts and parcels of the Lord's potencies have all the symptoms of the Lord Himself, they have limited spheres of activity and are therefore all limited. The parts and parcels are never equal to the whole; therefore they cannot appreciate the Lord's full potency. Under the influence of material nature, foolish and ignorant living beings who are but parts and parcels of the Lord try to conjecture about the Lord's transcendental position. Śrī Īśopaniṣad 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.</p>
<p>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 māyā, illusion. Thus from the very beginning Śrī Īśopaniṣad 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 māyā, the external energy.</p>
<p>All power is obtained from the Lord; therefore each particular power must be utilized to execute the will of the Lord and not otherwise. The Lord can be known by one who has adopted such a submissive service attitude. Perfect knowledge means knowing the Lord in all His features, knowing His potencies and knowing how these potencies work by His will. These matters are described by the Lord in the Bhagavad-gītā, the essence of all the Upaniṣads.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSB551LosAngelesJanuary201969_1" class="quote" parent="Srimad-Bhagavatam_Lectures" book="Lec" index="511" link="Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Los Angeles, January 20, 1969" link_text="Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Los Angeles, January 20, 1969">
<div id="Lectures" class="section" sec_index="4" parent="compilation" text="Lectures"><h2>Lectures</h2>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Los Angeles, January 20, 1969|Lecture on SB 5.5.1 -- Los Angeles, January 20, 1969]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">So īśāvāsyam... So all this belongs to God. And we, we are, because we are His sons, we have got the right to use our father's property, but not illegally. What is allotted to us by our father we can accept, that's all. One who lives... That is stated in the Īśopaniṣad, that kurvann eveha karmāṇi jijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ. If you accept this principle, then you can live for hundreds of years without any sin.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Sri_Isopanisad_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="4" parent="Lectures" text="Sri Isopanisad Lectures"><h3>Sri Isopanisad Lectures</h3>
<div id="Sri_Isopanisad_Lectures" class="sub_section" sec_index="4" parent="Lectures" text="Sri Isopanisad Lectures"><h3>Sri Isopanisad Lectures</h3>
</div>
</div>
<div id="SriIsopanisadMantra1LosAngelesMay21970_2" class="quote" parent="Sri_Isopanisad_Lectures" book="Lec" index="6" link="Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 1 -- Los Angeles, May 2, 1970" link_text="Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 1 -- Los Angeles, May 2, 1970">
<div id="SriIsopanisadMantra1LosAngelesMay21970_0" class="quote" parent="Sri_Isopanisad_Lectures" book="Lec" index="6" link="Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 1 -- Los Angeles, May 2, 1970" link_text="Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 1 -- Los Angeles, May 2, 1970">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 1 -- Los Angeles, May 2, 1970|Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 1 -- Los Angeles, May 2, 1970]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">(Prabhupāda and devotees chant Invocation and Mantras 1-14)</p>
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 1 -- Los Angeles, May 2, 1970|Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 1 -- Los Angeles, May 2, 1970]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">(Prabhupāda and devotees chant Invocation and Mantras 1-14)</p>
:oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ
:oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ
Line 106: Line 110:
<p>Gargamuni: The last sentence. "This point is confirmed by the Bhagavad-gītā in the Seventh Chapter, where parā and aparā prakṛti are discussed. The elements of nature—earth, fire, water, air, sky, mind, intelligence and ego—all belong to the inferior, or material, energy of the Lord, whereas the living being, the organic energy, is the superior energy, the parā prakṛti of the Lord. Both the prakṛtis, or energies, are emanations from the Lord, and ultimately He is the controller of everything that exists. There is nothing in this universe which does not belong either to the parā or aparā prakṛti, and therefore everything is under the..."</p>
<p>Gargamuni: The last sentence. "This point is confirmed by the Bhagavad-gītā in the Seventh Chapter, where parā and aparā prakṛti are discussed. The elements of nature—earth, fire, water, air, sky, mind, intelligence and ego—all belong to the inferior, or material, energy of the Lord, whereas the living being, the organic energy, is the superior energy, the parā prakṛti of the Lord. Both the prakṛtis, or energies, are emanations from the Lord, and ultimately He is the controller of everything that exists. There is nothing in this universe which does not belong either to the parā or aparā prakṛti, and therefore everything is under the..."</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: "...proprietary right of the Supreme Being." So here, in the Īśopaniṣad also, the same thing is explained, that īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam ([[Vanisource:ISO 1|ISO 1]]).</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: "...proprietary right of the Supreme Being." So here, in the Īśopaniṣad also, the same thing is explained, that īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam ([[Vanisource:ISO 1|ISO 1]]).</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="SriIsopanisadMantra24LosAngelesMay61970_3" class="quote" parent="Sri_Isopanisad_Lectures" book="Lec" index="9" link="Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 2-4 -- Los Angeles, May 6, 1970" link_text="Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 2-4 -- Los Angeles, May 6, 1970">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 2-4 -- Los Angeles, May 6, 1970|Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 2-4 -- Los Angeles, May 6, 1970]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">(devotees chant Invocation and first two mantras)</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Again from the beginning. (devotees repeat) Again. (devotees repeat) This is very important verse. Evaṁ tvayi nānyathe..., nānyathā ato asti na karma lipyate nare. If you know it that everything belongs to Kṛṣṇa, in this way if you live for hundreds of years and do your duties, there will be no reaction. The very thing is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā: yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ ([[Vanisource:BG 3.9|BG 3.9]]). Except working for Kṛṣṇa, any work will bind you, good or bad. If you do good work, you'll have to enjoy, so-called enjoyment. And if you do bad work, then you have to suffer. But if you work for Kṛṣṇa, there is no such reaction. Na karma lipyate nare All right. Then next verse. (devotees repeat word for word)</p>
:asuryā nāma te lokā
:andhena tamasāvṛtāḥ
:tāṁs te pretyābhigacchanti
:ye ke cātma-hano janāḥ
<p>(repeats) Now you try it. (devotees chant) Yes. Again.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="LectureonSriIsopanisadMantra3LosAngelesMay51970_4" class="quote" parent="Sri_Isopanisad_Lectures" book="Lec" index="10" link="Lecture on Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 3 -- Los Angeles, May 5, 1970" link_text="Lecture on Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 3 -- Los Angeles, May 5, 1970">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Lecture on Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 3 -- Los Angeles, May 5, 1970|Lecture on Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 3 -- Los Angeles, May 5, 1970]]: </span><div style="display: inline;" class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Nama om bhagavate vāsudevāya. (aside:) You sit down properly, back side. Yes. (chants Īśopaniṣad 1-10 with devotees) Anyone can explain the third verse? Kurvann eveha karmāṇi jijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ. Who will explain, please stand up. Nobody? (laughs) How is that? Huh? Yes?</p>
<p>Devotee (1): (explaining text 2) This explains that the human form of life is meant for realizing our spiritual nature.</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: No, I wanted that śloka, kurvann eva. That is 2, yes. That's all right. So anyone will explain this,</p>
:kurvann eveha karmāṇi
:jijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ
:evaṁ tvayi nānyatheto 'sti
:na karma lipyate nare
<p>So you should try to read the explanation, these word meanings. So kurvann eveha karmāṇi jijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ. Samāḥ means years. You can live hundreds of years if you understand the philosophy of life. Otherwise, what is the use of living? The trees are also living for five hundred years, for thousands years.</p>
</div>
</div>
<div id="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="section" sec_index="5" parent="compilation" text="Conversations and Morning Walks"><h2>Conversations and Morning Walks</h2>
</div>
<div id="1977_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" class="sub_section" sec_index="10" parent="Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" text="1977 Conversations and Morning Walks"><h3>1977 Conversations and Morning Walks</h3>
</div>
<div id="RoomConversationOctober91977Vrndavana_0" class="quote" parent="1977_Conversations_and_Morning_Walks" book="Con" index="243" link="Room Conversation -- October 9, 1977, Vrndavana" link_text="Room Conversation -- October 9, 1977, Vrndavana">
<span class="link">[[Vanisource:Room Conversation -- October 9, 1977, Vrndavana|Room Conversation -- October 9, 1977, Vrndavana]]: </span><div class="text"><p style="display: inline;">Prabhupāda: Very good. The Gurukula is meant for this purpose. Teach them and let them go around the world to teach. Taroho e bhava-sindhu. Durlabha mānava-janama sat-saṅge, taroho e bhava-sindhu re. This is our mission. Īśopaniṣad?</p>
<p>Yaśodā-nandana: Īśopaniṣad? Recite?</p>
<p>Brahmānanda: Sing it, Śrīla Prabhupāda?</p>
<p>Prabhupāda: Jijīviṣo. What is that verse? Jijīviṣo?</p>
<p>Gurukṛpā:</p>
:kurvann eveha karmāṇi
:jijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ
:evaṁ tvayi nānyatheto 'sti
:na karma lipyate nare
<p>Prabhupāda: How many things we have to do for preaching, for teaching. And live hundreds of years. That is jijīviṣo śataṁ yaḥ?</p>
<p>Yaśodā-nandana: Jijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ.</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>

Latest revision as of 17:50, 11 February 2011

Expressions researched:
"Although fixed in His abode, the Personality of Godhead is swifter than the mind" |"anejad ekam manaso javiyo"

Notes from the compiler: VedaBase query: "Iso mantra 4" or "Isopanisad 4" or "anejad ekam manaso javiyo" or "Although fixed in His abode, the Personality of Godhead is swifter than the mind"

Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB Canto 8

SB 8.5.26, Purport:

The Lord is supreme because no one can evaluate Him by mental speculation or jugglery of words. The Lord can travel more quickly than the mind. In the śruti-mantras of Īśopaniṣad it is said:

anejad ekaṁ manaso javīyo
nainad devā āpnuvan pūrvam arṣat
tad dhāvato 'nyān atyeti tiṣṭhat
tasminn apo mātariśvā dadhāti

"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." (Īśopaniṣad 4) Thus the Supreme is never to be equaled by the subordinate living entities.

Other Books by Srila Prabhupada

Sri Isopanisad

Sri Isopanisad 4, Translation and Purport:

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.

Through mental speculation, even the greatest philosopher cannot know the Supreme Lord, who is the Absolute Personality of Godhead. He can be known only by His devotees through His mercy. In the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.34) it is stated that even if a nondevotee philosopher travels through space at the speed of the wind or the mind for hundreds of millions of years, he will still find that the Absolute Truth is far, far away from him. The Brahma-saṁhitā (5.37) further describes that the Absolute Personality of Godhead has His transcendental abode, known as Goloka, where He remains and engages

in His pastimes, yet by His inconceivable potencies He can simultaneously reach every part of His creative energy. In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa His potencies are compared to the heat and light that emanate from a fire. Although situated in one place, a fire can distribute its light and heat for some distance; similarly, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, although fixed in His transcendental abode, can diffuse His different energies everywhere.

Although His energies are innumerable, they can be divided into three principal categories: the internal potency, the marginal potency and the external potency. There are hundreds and millions of subheadings to each of these categories. The dominating demigods who are empowered to control and administer such natural phenomena as air, light and rain are all classified within the marginal potency of the Absolute Person. Lesser living beings, including humans, also belong to the Lord's marginal potency. The material world is the creation of the Lord's external potency. And the spiritual sky, where the kingdom of God is situated, is the manifestation of His internal potency.

Thus the different energies of the Lord are present everywhere. Although the Lord and His energies are nondifferent, one should not mistake these energies for the Supreme Truth. Nor should one wrongly consider that the Supreme Lord is distributed everywhere impersonally or that He loses His personal existence. Men are accustomed to reaching conclusions according to their capacity for understanding, but the Supreme Lord is not subject to our limited capacity for understanding. It is for this reason that the Upaniṣads warn us that no one can approach the Lord by his own limited potency.

In the Bhagavad-gītā (10.2) the Lord says that not even the great ṛṣis and suras can know Him. And what to speak of the asuras, for whom there is no question of understanding the ways of the Lord? This fourth mantra of Śrī Īśopaniṣad very clearly suggests that the Absolute Truth is ultimately the Absolute Person; otherwise there would have been no need to mention so many details in support of His personal features.

Although the individual parts and parcels of the Lord's potencies have all the symptoms of the Lord Himself, they have limited spheres of activity and are therefore all limited. The parts and parcels are never equal to the whole; therefore they cannot appreciate the Lord's full potency. Under the influence of material nature, foolish and ignorant living beings who are but parts and parcels of the Lord try to conjecture about the Lord's transcendental position. Śrī Īśopaniṣad 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 māyā, illusion. Thus from the very beginning Śrī Īśopaniṣad 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 māyā, the external energy.

All power is obtained from the Lord; therefore each particular power must be utilized to execute the will of the Lord and not otherwise. The Lord can be known by one who has adopted such a submissive service attitude. Perfect knowledge means knowing the Lord in all His features, knowing His potencies and knowing how these potencies work by His will. These matters are described by the Lord in the Bhagavad-gītā, the essence of all the Upaniṣads.

Lectures

Sri Isopanisad Lectures

Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 1 -- Los Angeles, May 2, 1970:

(Prabhupāda and devotees chant Invocation and Mantras 1-14)

oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ
pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate
pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya
pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyate
(Īśo Invocation)
īśāvāsyam idam sarvaṁ
yat kiñca jagatyāṁ jagat
tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā
mā gṛdhaḥ kasya svid dhanam
kurvann eveha karmāṇi
jijīviṣec chataṁ samāḥ
evaṁ tvayi nānyatheto 'sti
na karma lipyate nare
asuryā nāma te lokā
andhena tamasāvṛtāḥ
tāṁs te pretyābhigacchanti
ye ke cātma-hano janāḥ
anejad ekaṁ manaso javīyo
nainad devā āpnuvan pūrvam arṣat
tad dhāvato 'nyān atyeti tiṣṭhat
tasminn apo mātariśvā dadhāti
tad ejati tan naijati
tad dūre tad v antike
tad antar asya sarvasya
tad u sarvasyāsya bāhyataḥ
yas tu sarvāṇi bhūtāny
ātmany evānupaśyati
sarva-bhūteṣu cātmānaṁ
tato na vijugupsate
yasmin sarvāṇi bhūtāny
ātmaivābhūd vijānataḥ
tatra ko mohaḥ kaḥ śoka
ekatvam anupaśyataḥ
sa paryagāc chukram akāyam avraṇam
asnāviram śuddham apāpa-viddham
kavir manīṣī paribhūḥ svayambhūr
yāthātathyato 'rthān vyadadhāc chāśvatībhyaḥ samābhyaḥ
andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti
ye 'vidyām upāsate
tato bhūya iva te tamo
ya u vidyāyām ratāḥ
anyad evāhur vidyayā-
nyad āhur avidyayā
iti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṁ
ye nas tad vicacakṣire
vidyāṁ cāvidyāṁ ca yas
tad vedobhayaṁ saha
avidyayā mṛtyuṁ tīrtvā
vidyayāmṛtam aśnute
andhaṁ tamaḥ praviśanti
ye 'sambhūtim upāsate
tato bhūya iva te tamo
ya u sambhūtyām ratāḥ
anyad evāhuḥ sambhavād
anyad āhur asambhavāt
iti śuśruma dhīrāṇāṁ
ye nas tad vicacakṣire

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Read.

Gargamuni: Fourteen.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Gargamuni: The last sentence. "This point is confirmed by the Bhagavad-gītā in the Seventh Chapter, where parā and aparā prakṛti are discussed. The elements of nature—earth, fire, water, air, sky, mind, intelligence and ego—all belong to the inferior, or material, energy of the Lord, whereas the living being, the organic energy, is the superior energy, the parā prakṛti of the Lord. Both the prakṛtis, or energies, are emanations from the Lord, and ultimately He is the controller of everything that exists. There is nothing in this universe which does not belong either to the parā or aparā prakṛti, and therefore everything is under the..."

Prabhupāda: "...proprietary right of the Supreme Being." So here, in the Īśopaniṣad also, the same thing is explained, that īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1).