Category:Sri Isopanisad Mantras 01 to 18, Translations and Purports
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Pages in category "Sri Isopanisad Mantras 01 to 18, Translations and Purports"
The following 742 pages are in this category, out of 742 total.
A
- A conditioned soul is accustomed to working for sense gratification - for his own selfish interest, immediate or extended
- A conditioned soul is very often apt to commit mistakes, and the only remedial measure to take against such unintentional sins is to give oneself up to the lotus feet of the Lord so that He may guide one to avoid such pitfalls
- A devotee automatically attains the qualifications of an expert brahmana authorized to perform sacrifices, even though the devotee may not have taken his birth in a brahmana family. Such is the omnipotence of the Lord
- A dhira realizes that the material body and mind he has acquired by chance through material association are but foreign elements; therefore he simply makes the best use of a bad bargain
- A godless civilization arises from illusion, and the result of such a civilization is lamentation. A godless civilization, such as that sponsored by the modern politicians, is always full of anxieties because it may be crushed at any moment
- A godless civilization directed toward the so-called advancement of education is more dangerous than a civilization in which the masses of people are less "educated"
- A human being should not only become a strict vegetarian but should also become a devotee of the Lord
- A laborer cannot claim to be a proprietor of a thing just because he has worked hard to manufacture it
- A living being desires something, and the Lord supplies the object of that desire in proportion to one's qualification
- A living being who lives in the mundane world has four defects: (1) he is certain to commit mistakes; (2) he is subject to illusion; (3) he has a propensity to cheat others; and (4) his senses are imperfect
- A mahatma, or great soul, is very rarely seen because such transcendental realization is achieved only after many, many births. Once it is attained, however, there is no longer any illusion or lamentation or the miseries of material existence
- A man who enters upon the path of self-realization but does not complete the process, despite having sincerely tried to realize his relationship with God, is given a chance to appear in a family of suci or srimat
- A patient must regain his health before he can truly enjoy sense pleasure again. Thus the aim of human life should not be to enjoy perverted sense enjoyment but to cure the material disease
- A philosopher is better than a laboring man, a mystic is superior to a philosopher, and of all the mystic yogis, he who follows bhakti-yoga, constantly engaging in the service of the Lord, is the highest. Sri Isopanisad directs us toward this perfection
- Above the madhyama-adhikari is the uttama-adhikari, who sees everything in relation to the Supreme Lord. Such a devotee does not discriminate between an atheist and a theist but sees everyone as part and parcel of God
- Above the senses is the mind, and above the mind is the intelligence, and above the intelligence is the soul. Thus the aim of real education should be self-realization, realization of the spiritual values of the soul
- According to the Bhagavad-gita (2.42, 7.15), mistaken mundane educators are known as veda-vada-rata and mayayapahrta-jnana. They may also be atheistic demons, the lowest of men
- According to the Bhagavad-gita, only one who is already on the liberated platform can become an uttama-adhikari devotee and see every living being as his own brother. This vision cannot be had by politicians, who are always after some material gain
- According to the Bhagavad-gita, the most perfect man surrenders unto the Lord after many, many lifetimes of culturing knowledge
- According to the Vedanta-sutra, sambhuta is the source of birth and sustenance, as well as the reservoir that remains after annihilation (janmady asya yatah (SB 1.1.1)
- According to these laws, even the Brahmas, of which there are millions in different universes, are all liable to death either today or tomorrow. Therefore the entire material universe is called Martyaloka, the place of death
- Actually, the explanation of this mantra and of practically all the mantras of the Vedic hymns is summarized in the Vedanta-sutra and properly explained in Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srimad-Bhagavatam is the mature fruit of the Vedic tree of wisdom
- Advancement of material knowledge for sense gratification, is the path of repeated birth and death. As he exists spiritually, the living entity has no birth or death. Birth and death apply to the outward covering of the spirit soul, the body
- After many, many lifetimes of cultivating transcendental knowledge, one becomes perfect when he surrenders unto the Lord. This is the general procedure
- After surpassing the impersonal brahmajyoti and seeing the personal aspect of the Lord and His most auspicious eternal form, the devotee realizes the Absolute Truth in full
- Again, when the entire universe is vanquished at the end of Brahma's lifetime, there is another avyakta state. But beyond these two unmanifested states is another unmanifested state, the spiritual atmosphere, or nature
- Aggravation of the material disease is no sign of knowledge, but a sign of avidya, ignorance. For good health, a person should not increase his fever from 105 degrees to 107 degrees but should reduce his temperature to the normal 98.6
- All facilities are given to the small complete units (namely the living beings) to enable them to realize the Complete Whole
- All forms of incompleteness are experienced due to incomplete knowledge of the Complete Whole
- All living creatures throughout the universe-including birds, reptiles, ants, aquatics, trees and so on-are emanations of the marginal potency of the SL. Therefore all of them belong to the family of the Supreme Being. There is no clash of interest
- All of these planets are situated in a corner of the brahmajyoti. This brahmajyoti is but the personal rays of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, whom I worship
- All planets in the material universe are temporary residences; the only permanent planets are the Vaikunthalokas. These are found in the spiritual sky, where the Personality of Godhead Himself predominates
- All the facilities suggested in this mantra can be easily obtained by constant contact with the personal feature of the Absolute Truth
- All the material planets-upper, lower and intermediate, including the sun, moon and Venus-are scattered throughout the universe. These planets exist only during the lifetime of Brahma
- All these activities (sense gratification under the flags of industrialism, economic development, altruism, political activism) are more or less based on satisfaction of the senses, to the exclusion of the kind of God consciousness
- All Vedic literature confirms that Narayana, or Krsna, is the cause of all causes. In the Brahma-samhita (5.1) also it is said that the Supreme Lord is Sri Krsna, Govinda, the delighter of every living being and the primeval cause of all causes
- Although Brahma granted him all these benedictions, he was killed by the Personality of Godhead in the form of Nrsimha, the Lord's half-lion, half-man incarnation, & no weapon was used to kill him, for he was killed by the Lord's nails
- Although fixed in His abode, the Personality of Godhead is swifter than the mind and can overcome all others running
- Although from the analytical point of view heat and light are different from fire, there is no meaning to the word "fire" without heat and light. In synthesis, therefore, heat, light and fire are the same
- Although He dwells there with His eternal associates, He is omnipresent throughout the complete material and spiritual cosmic manifestations. This fact has already been explained in Mantra Four. The Lord is present everywhere, just like the sun
- Although His (Krsna) energies are innumerable, they can be divided into three principal categories: the internal potency, the marginal potency and the external potency
- Although the Lord personally has nothing to do with material creation, maintenance and destruction, He causes all these things to be done by His plenary expansion, the Paramatma
- Although there is oneness, however, the Lord in His personal form still enjoys unlimitedly all the pleasures enjoyed minutely by the tiny part-and-parcel living entities
- 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 etc
- Animals do not have developed consciousness by which to recognize the Lord, but a human being is sufficiently intelligent to take lessons from the Vedic literature and thereby know how the laws of nature are working and derive profit out of such knowledge
- Anu means "to follow," and pasyati means "to observe." Thus the word anupasyati means that one should not see things as he does with the naked eye but should follow the previous acaryas. Due to material defects, the naked eye cannot see anything properly
- Any common man can very easily understand that a person can reach his destination only when he has purchased a ticket for that destination. A person who has purchased a ticket for Calcutta can reach Calcutta, but not Bombay
- Any lowborn person can be purified by the guidance of a pure devotee of the Lord, for the Lord is extraordinarily powerful
- Anyone can qualify as a brahmana if he follows the path of devotional service under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master
- Apart from the material platform is the spiritual platform, where the Supreme Being enjoys Himself with His innumerable associates. On that platform there is no trace of material qualities, and therefore that platform is called nirguna
- Arca-vigraha form may be seen as material by the imperfect eyes of foolish people or kanistha-adhikaris, but such people do not know that the Lord, being omnipotent and omniscient, can transform matter into spirit and spirit into matter, as He desires
- Arjuna worshiped the Lord by fighting with his so-called relatives, and in this way he became a pure devotee of the Lord. Such accomplishments are possible only when one worships the real Krsna and not some fabricated "Krsna" invented by foolish men
- As antaryami He (God) witnesses everything that is going on, and He awards us the results of our actions as karma-phala
- As confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (8.22), He (Krsna) can be approached only by unalloyed devotional service and not by the processes of jnana (philosophy), yoga (mysticism) or karma (fruitive work)
- As described in the previous mantras, the real or ultimate aspect of the Absolute is His feature as the Personality of Godhead, and His impersonal brahmajyoti feature is a dazzling covering over His face
- As far as others are concerned, God gives sanction to the doer only at the risk of the doer. But in the case of a devotee, the Lord directs him in such a way that he never acts wrongly
- As far as vidya is concerned, the first mantra has explained very clearly that the Supreme Lord is the proprietor of everything and that forgetfulness of this fact is ignorance. The more a man forgets this fact of life, the more he is in darkness
- As long as the living spiritual sparks manipulate the dead lumps of matter, the dead world appears to be a living world. Actually it is the living souls, the parts and parcels of the supreme living being, who move the world
- As long as the proportion of devotional service does not come to the right point, there is a chance for an occasional exhibition of worldliness
- 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
- As soon as one becomes proud of his birth as the son of a brahmana and neglects to acquire the qualifications of a real brahmana he at once becomes degraded and falls from the path of self-realization. Thus his life's mission as a human being is defeated
- As stated in the Bhagavad-gita (18.66), the Lord at once takes charge of such a surrendered soul and frees him from all the reactions to his sinful acts
- As stated in the Bhagavad-gita (7.14), no one but those who surrender at the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord can surpass the stringent laws of nature
- As the controller of all energies, He (God) cannot at any time be under their influence, as we are
- As we have learned from previous mantras, the brahmajyoti emanating from the transcendental body of the Lord is full of spiritual sparks that are individual entities with the full sense of existence
- Asuras, devoid of self-realization and knowledge of isavasya, the Lord's universal proprietorship, are certain to enter into the darkest regions
- At once the atheist king shattered the pillar in front of him to pieces, and the Lord instantly appeared as Nrsimha, the half-man, half-lion incarnation, and killed the atheist king
- At present there are many commentaries on the revealed scriptures, but most of them are not in the line of disciplic succession coming from Srila Vyasadeva, who originally compiled the Vedic wisdom
- At the present moment there are many interpreters and translators of this sublime dialogue who care nothing for Lord Krsna or Arjuna
- At this stage (devotion becomes fixed upon the Lord) the devotee acquires the brahminical qualifications, and the effects of the lower modes of nature (passion and ignorance) completely vanish
B
- Because the living entity cannot enjoy the life of the senses without being dovetailed with the Complete Whole, the misleading life of sense enjoyment is illusion
- Because we do not know that there is a complete arrangement in nature for our maintenance, we make efforts to utilize the resources of nature to create a so-called complete life of sense enjoyment
- Becoming one with the brahmajyoti does not represent mature knowledge. Only by surrendering unto the Lord completely and developing one's sense of spiritual service does one reach the highest perfectional stage
- Before hearing the Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna was disturbed by the material whirlpool, by his affection for his family, society and community. Thus Arjuna wanted to become a philanthropic, nonviolent man of the world
- Being the creator, He can bestow all necessary qualifications upon His devotees so that they can ultimately reach Him
- Beyond the jurisdiction of Brahma is the spiritual nature, which is called tripad-vibhuti, three fourths of the Lord's energy. This is the superior energy, or para-prakrti
- Bhagavad-gita (8.6) confirms this truth, "Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, O son of Kunti, that state he will attain without fail." Thus the mind carries the living entity's propensities into the next life
- Birthright is not everything, for one still has to attain the brahminical qualifications for himself
- Both Brahman and Paramatma realization of the Absolute Truth are partial realizations
- Both the living entities and inanimate objects are controlled by the laws of nature and ultimately by the Lord's potency
- Brahman is the aspect most easily perceived by the beginner; Paramatma, the Supersoul, is realized by those who have further progressed; and Bhagavan realization is the ultimate realization of the Absolute Truth
- Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan are three aspects of the same Absolute Truth
- Brahminical culture includes truthfulness, sense control, forbearance, simplicity, full knowledge and full faith in God. It is not that one simply becomes proud of his high parentage
- By a false display of religious sentiments, they present a show of devotional service while indulging in all sorts of immoral activities. In this way they pass as spiritual masters and devotees of God
- By adopting only one of these nine principles, the following renowned devotees of the Lord were able to achieve the highest perfection: (1) By hearing of the Lord, Maharaja Pariksit, the hero of Srimad-Bhagavatam, attained the desired result
- By conceiving of the Absolute in this way, one can at the utmost reach the impersonal effulgence of God, known as Brahman, but one cannot make further progress to Bhagavan, the Personality of Godhead
- By hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord, one becomes cleansed of all undesirable things, and then one's devotion becomes fixed upon the Lord
- By His (Lord Krsna) one plenary expansion, the all-pervading Paramatma, the Lord maintains the complete material cosmic creation
- By its so-called advancement of knowledge human civilization has created many material things, including spaceships & atomic energy. Yet it has failed to create a situation in which people need not die, take birth again, become old or suffer from disease
- By knowing the material manifestation alone, one cannot be saved, for in the course of nature there is devastation at every moment (ahany ahani bhutani gacchantiha yama-layam). Nor can one be saved from these devastations by the opening of hospitals
- By knowing the science of God, one gradually becomes freed from material attachments, and one's doubtful mind becomes crystal clear by the grace of the Lord
- By meeting the Personality of Godhead Himself face to face, the devotee experiences the most auspicious feature of the Supreme
- By realizing the impersonal brahmajyoti, one experiences the auspicious aspect of the Supreme, and by realizing the Paramatma, or all-pervading feature of the Supreme, one experiences an even more auspicious enlightenment
- By simply attempting to realize God, one is guaranteed birth in a wealthy or aristocratic family
- By such expansions (as the Purusas), He creates, maintains and annihilates the cosmic manifestation
- By surrendering to the Lord and praying for His causeless mercy, the devotee can progress on the path of complete self-realization. The Lord is addressed as fire because He can burn anything into ashes, including the sins of the surrendered soul
- By worshiping the Lord, Prthu Maharaja attained perfection. (6) By serving the lotus feet of the Lord, the goddess of fortune, Laksmi, attained perfection. (7) By rendering personal service to the Lord, Hanuman attained the desired result
C
- Cats and dogs can kill other animals for food without incurring sin, but if a man kills an animal for the satisfaction of his uncontrolled taste buds, he is responsible for breaking the laws of nature. Consequently he must be punished
- Certainly half-educated "spiritual leaders" who are disturbed by the tides of material existence cannot know Him fully
D
- Death is compared to the taking off and birth to the putting on of outward garments. Foolish human beings who are grossly absorbed in the culture of avidya, nescience, do not mind this cruel process
- Definition of the Absolute by negation is not complete. Such negative definitions lead one to create a concept of one's own; thus one imagines that the Absolute must be formless and without qualities
- Despite the Lord's being so far away, He can at once, within less than a second, descend before us with a speed swifter than that of the mind or wind
- Devotees in this stage consider the Lord to be present at the place of worship and nowhere else. They cannot ascertain who is in what position in devotional service, nor can they tell who has realized the Supreme Lord
- Devotional service to the Lord consists essentially of nine transcendental activities: (1) hearing about the Lord, (2) glorifying the Lord, (3) remembering the Lord, (4) serving the lotus feet of the Lord, (5) worshiping the Lord
- Devotional service to the Lord consists essentially of nine transcendental activities: 6) offering prayers to the Lord, (7) serving the Lord, (8) enjoying friendly association with the Lord, and (9) surrendering everything unto the Lord
- Directions are given to the sincere devotee in two ways: one is by way of the saints, scriptures and spiritual master, and the other is by way of the Lord Himself, who resides within the heart of everyone
- Due to his defective senses, a foolish man cannot see that this (falling down again into the evolutionary cycle) is happening
- During (the night of Brahma) this time no living beings or species remain manifest, although spiritually they continue to exist. This unmanifested stage is called avyakta
E
- Enamored with the beauty of the illusory energy, they undergo the same miseries repeatedly and do not learn any lessons from the laws of nature. Therefore the culture of vidya, or transcendental knowledge, is essential for the human being
- Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, offer obeisances to Me and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me
- Even after attaining knowledge of one's spiritual identity if one doesn't come to the point of knowing that the living entities are eternal parts & parcels of the whole & can never become the whole, one has to fall down again into the material atmosphere
- 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
- Even if at the time of death a devotee does not remember his service to the Lord, the Lord does not forget him
- 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
- Every living entity is known as atma, soul, and the principal atma who controls them all is Paramatma, the Supersoul
- Every part and parcel of the Complete Whole is endowed with some particular energy to act according to the Lord's will
- Everyone who desires to be free from all anxieties should always hear about, glorify and remember the Personality of Godhead, who is the supreme director of everything, the extinguisher of all difficulties, and the Supersoul of all living entities
- Everything the Lord did in Vrndavana was for the pleasure of His associates there. The Lord created these pastimes to attract the dry speculators and the acrobats of the so-called hatha-yoga system who wish to find the Absolute Truth
- Except for the madhyama-adhikari and uttama-adhikari discussed above, no one can correctly see the spiritual position of a living being
F
- Factually, no one has to do anything more than render devotional service to the Lord
- 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
- For a devotee, the modes of passion and ignorance are removed by the grace of the Lord. In this way the devotee becomes situated in the quality of goodness, the sign of a perfect brahmana
- For Him (God) there is no difference between the material and spiritual energies, because He is the source of all energies
- For the unsurrendered soul He (God) is far, far away and cannot be approached
- Forgetting aim of life, one tries to adjust things by various plans & programs but this is like chewing what has already been chewed. Nonetheless, the Lord is so kind that He allows the forgetful living entity to continue in this way without interference
- Formerly there was no need to record the messages of the Vedas, because people in earlier ages were more intelligent and had sharper memories. They could follow the instructions simply by hearing once from the mouth of a bona fide spiritual master
- From His kingdom the Personality of Godhead sends His bona fide servants to propagate this message by which one can return to Godhead, and sometimes the Lord comes Himself to do this work
- From the highest planet in the material world down to the lowest, all are places of misery wherein repeated birth and death take place. But one who attains My abode, O son of Kunti, never takes birth again
- From the Puranas we learn of the activities of Hiranyakasipu, a king who was very much advanced materially. Wanting to conquer cruel death by his material acquisitions and the strength of his nescience, he underwent a type of meditation
- Fruitive activities, or the karma-kanda path of self-realization, is the lowest stage in this endeavor. As soon as such activities even slightly deviate from the regulative principles of the Vedas, they are transformed into vikarma
H
- He (a human being) must offer everything for the Lord's service and partake only of the remnants of food offered to the Lord
- He (God) can also run so swiftly that no one can surpass Him. This has already been described in the previous verse - ISO 4
- He (God) can make a man born in a brahmana family as degraded as a lowborn dog-eater, and He can also make a lowborn dog-eater superior to a qualified brahmana simply on the strength of devotional service
- He (God) 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
- He (God) is described there as sac-cid-ananda-vigraha, which means that He is the eternal form fully representing transcendental existence, knowledge and bliss. As such, He does not require a separate body or mind, as we do in material existence
- He (God) is full of inconceivable potencies, God can accept our service through any sort of medium, and He can convert His different potencies according to His own will
- He (God) is known as the constant companion of the living being because the Paramatma fully cooperates with the atma
- He (God) is often compared to the sun because in all circumstances He is suddham, most purified. The sun extracts moisture from many untouchable places on the earth, yet it remains pure
- He (God) is the Complete Whole, and His mind, body and He Himself are all one and the same
- He (Govinda) is always served with great reverence and affection by hundreds of thousands of Laksmis, or goddesses of fortune
- He (Hiranyakasipu) then asked Brahma for the benediction of becoming amara, by which one does not die. Brahma said that he could not award the benediction because even he, the material creator who rules all planets, is not amara
- He (Krsna) also maintains all manifestations in the spiritual world. Therefore in this sruti-mantra of Sri Isopanisad, the Lord is addressed as pusan, the ultimate maintainer
- He (Krsna) is Bhagavan, the root, and Brahman and Paramatma are His branches
- He (Krsna) lifted Govardhana Hill without ever practicing weight-lifting. He danced with the gopis without social restriction and without reproach
- He (Krsna) says in Bhagavad-gita that the foolish deride Him, considering Him a mortal being. He is not a mortal being, nor does He come before us with a body produced of material nature
- He (Lord Krsna) danced with the gopis without social restriction and without reproach. Although the gopis approached Him with a paramour's feelings of love, the relationship between the gopis and Lord Krsna was worshiped even by Lord Caitanya
- He (Supreme Lord) can be known only by His devotees through His mercy
- He (Supreme Lord) is far away, but He is very near as well
- He (Supreme Lord) is within everything, and yet He is outside of everything
- He who sees systematically 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
- Hearing and chanting the glories of the Lord is itself an act of piety. The Lord wants everyone to hear and chant His glories because He is the well-wisher of all living entities
- Here (in ISO 5) is a description of some of the Supreme Lord's transcendental activities, executed by His inconceivable potencies. The contradictions given here prove the inconceivable potencies of the Lord. He walks, and He does not walk
- Here in the material world, material nature forces the living entity to change his body due to his different desires for sense gratification
- Here is a correct description of the Supreme Lord, given by the Lord Himself. The words sarvasya pra-bhavah indicate that Krsna is the creator of everyone, including Brahma, Visnu and Siva
- Here is a description of the transcendental and eternal form of the Absolute Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Lord is not formless. He has His own transcendental form, which is not at all similar to the forms of the mundane world
- Hiranya means "gold," and kasipu means "soft bed." This cunning gentleman Hiranyakasipu was interested in these two things-money and women-and he wanted to enjoy them by becoming immortal
- Hiranyakasipu forced the creator of the universe, the demigod Brahma, to come down to him. He then asked Brahma for the benediction of becoming amara, by which one does not die
- His (Krsna) 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
- How much more this is so of the righteous brahmanas, the devotees and the saintly kings. Therefore, having come to this temporary, miserable world, engage in loving service unto Me
- How one can execute God-centered activities is elaborately explained in the Bhakti-rasamrta-sindhu, by Srila Rupa Gosvami
- Human activities diseased by a tendency toward sense gratification have been regulated in the Vedas under the principles of salvation. This system employs religion, economic development, sense gratification and salvation
- Human beings are not meant to quarrel like cats and dogs.They must be intelligent enough to realize the importance and aim of human life
- Human life is distinguished from animal life due to its heavy responsibilities
- Human life is the best opportunity for the culture of spiritual knowledge, and a human being who does not take advantage of this opportunity is called a naradhama, the lowest of human beings
- Human teeth are so made that they can chew and cut fruit and vegetables, although there are two canine teeth so that primitive humans can eat flesh if they so desire
I
- I (Krsna) am the source of all spiritual and material worlds. Everything emanates from Me. The wise who perfectly know this engage in My devotional service and worship Me with all their hearts
- I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman, which is immortal, imperishable and eternal and is the constitutional position of ultimate happiness
- I worship Govinda, the primeval Lord, the first progenitor, who is tending the cows fulfilling all desires in abodes filled with spiritual gems and surrounded by millions of wish-fulfilling trees
- 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
- 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
- If a man wants to be a high-court judge, he must acquire not only the necessary qualifications but also the consent of the authority who can award the title of high-court judge
- If even a fallen candidate is given a chance to take birth in a respectable and noble family, one can hardly imagine the status of one who has achieved success
- If God were ever entrapped by maya, maya would be more powerful than God. Such men say that God is all-powerful, but they do not consider that if He is all-powerful there is no possibility of His being overpowered by maya
- If in this human life of full consciousness the living entity does not realize his completeness in relation to the Complete Whole, he loses the chance to realize his completeness and is again put into the evolutionary cycle by the law of material nature
- If one is on the right path, even an occasional occurrence of worldliness does not hamper one in the advancement of self-realization
- If one takes shelter of a bona fide spiritual master, it is to be understood that he has obtained the grace of the Lord. The Lord appears as the spiritual master for the devotee
- If one wants to see the Absolute Truth in full, one has to penetrate beyond the twenty-four material elements and the glaring effulgence as well
- 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
- If the children obey the father's will, family affairs will run smoothly, with one interest and a pleasing atmosphere. The same situation is transcendentally arranged in the absolute family of the Para-brahman, the Supreme Spirit
- If the entities were equal to the Lord in potency-if they were omnipotent and omniscient - there would be no question of their begging from the Lord, even for so-called liberation. Real liberation means going back to Godhead
- If the individual living being were equal to the Supreme Lord both qualitatively and quantitatively, there would be no question of his being under the influence of the material energy
- If the sun, which is a material object, is so powerful, then we can hardly begin to imagine the purifying strength of the all-powerful Lord
- If they (communists or capitalists) do not recognize the proprietorship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, all the property they claim to be their own is stolen
- If we do not care for self-realization, the laws of nature force us to work very hard, even though we may not want to do so. Human beings in this age have been forced to work hard like the asses and bullocks that pull carts
- If we want to put an end to this process of repeated birth and death, as well as the concomitant factors of old age and disease, we must try to enter the spiritual planets
- If we wish to get rid of all sorts of illusion and anxiety and create unity out of all diverse interests, we must bring God into all our activities
- If we wish to remain on this wretched planet with our planning commissions and our stopgap political adjustments, we can certainly do that also
- If we worship the Supreme Lord, we will certainly reach Him in His eternal abode, and if we worship demigods like the sun-god or moon-god, we can reach their respective planets without a doubt
- If, with all these facilities (of Human body), a human being does not fully utilize his life for self-realization, he must be considered atma-ha, a killer of the soul
- Impersonalists do not even worship the demigods according to the scriptural recommendations
- Impersonalists generally pose themselves as incarnations of God to foolish persons who have no knowledge of Vedic wisdom. If such foolish men have any knowledge at all, it is more dangerous in their hands than ignorance itself
- In any case, the material bodies of all animals and men are foreign to the living entity. They change according to the living entity's desire for sense gratification. In the cycle of evolution, the living entity changes bodies one after another
- In comparison to the vastness of space, these material lumps are like dust particles in the air. Because God has kindly made these lumps of matter complete in themselves, they are perfectly equipped with all necessities for floating in space
- In devotional service to the Lord, the path of bhakti, there is practically no chance of incurring sinful reactions
- In his Bhagavat-sandarbha, Srila Jiva Gosvami states: "The complete conception of the Absolute Truth is realized in the Personality of Godhead because He is almighty and possesses full transcendental potencies"
- In His childhood He killed many powerful demons, such as Aghasura, Bakasura and Sakatasura, and there was no question of His having acquired such power through any extraneous endeavor
- In His village of Vrndavana He enjoyed Himself with His mother, brother and friends, and when He played the role of a naughty butter thief, all His associates enjoyed celestial bliss by His stealing
- In India, as in many other countries, some people follow the custom of leading a procession with a decorated dead body for the pleasure of the lamenting relatives
- In material nature, everyone is under the stringent laws of matter and must pass through six stages of existence: birth, growth, maintenance, production of by-products, deterioration and finally death
- In materially conditioned life, the soul is different from the gross embodiment and subtle mind. For the Supreme Lord, however, there is never any such difference between Him and His body and mind
- In modern society there is always a great quarrel between the laborers and the capitalists
- In modern times the number of such pretenders has increased considerably, and it has become a problem for the pure devotees of the Lord to save the masses of people from the unholy propaganda of these pretenders and pseudo incarnations
- In order to guarantee further sense gratification after death, in heaven, there is some system of religious observance. But this is not the purpose of religion
- In our present state of imperfect material existence, we cannot see the Supreme Lord due to imperfect vision
- In Sri Isopanisad it is verified that one achieves different results by different modes of worship
- In Srimad-Bhagavatam (7.5.30-31) it is stated that those who are captivated by the temporary beauties of the external energy forget the real aim of life, which is to go back to Godhead
- In Srimad-Bhagavatam this particular mantra is explained in the questions and answers between Maharaja Pariksit & Sukadeva Gosvami at the very beginning of their meeting. Hearing & chanting of the science of God is the basic principle of devotional life
- In Srimad-Bhagavatam, the author, Srila Vyasadeva, has established that one will describe the Supreme Truth as Brahman, Paramatma or Bhagavan according to one's realization of Him
- In that (spiritual) realm there is no need of sunshine, moonshine, fire or electricity for illumination. Indeed, whatever illumination appears in the material world is only a reflection of that supreme illumination
- In the Atharva Veda (Gopala-tapani Upanisad 1.24) it is similarly said, "He who existed before the creation of Brahma and who enlightened Brahma with Vedic knowledge is Lord Sri Krsna"
- In the BG (15.15) it is said that the purpose of the Vedas is to know the Personality of Godhead, but these veda-vada-rata men are not at all interested in the SPG. On the contrary, they are fascinated by such fruitive results as the attainment of heaven
- In the Bhagavad-gita (4.11) the Lord says that how He treats His devotee depends on the devotee's degree of surrender
- In the Bhagavad-gita (6.41-42) we are assured by the Lord that the souls fallen from the path of self-realization, are given a chance to rectify themselves by taking birth either in the families of good brahmanas or in the families of rich merchants
- In the Bhagavad-gita (6.46-47) there is a comparative analysis of the three types of transcendentalists - the worshipers of the impersonal Brahman (jnanis), the worshipers of the Paramatma feature (yogis) and the devotees of Lord Sri Krsna (bhaktas)
- In the Bhagavad-gita (7.23) it is clearly stated that the results derived from worshiping the demigods are not permanent
- In the Bhagavad-gita (7.23) it is said that only unintelligent, bewildered persons driven by a strong desire for sense gratification worship the demigods for the temporary relief of temporary problems
- In the Bhagavad-gita (9.11-12) the Lord regrets the fallen condition of men with little knowledge who deride Him because He descends like a man into this world
- In the Bhagavad-gita (9.25) it is clearly said that those who worship none but Lord Krsna, the supreme cause of all causes, reach Him in His spiritual sky
- In the Bhagavad-gita (9.25) it is clearly said that those who worship the pitrs, or forefathers, attain the planets of the forefathers, that the gross materialists who make plans to remain here stay in this world
- In the Brahma-samhita (5.35) it is said that Govinda, the primeval Lord, enters everything by His plenary portion. He enters the universe as well as all the atoms of the universe. He is outside in His virat form, and He is within everything as antaryami
- In the Hari-bhakti-sudhodaya (3.11.12), the advancement of education by a godless people is compared to decorations on a dead body
- In the language of the Bhagavad-gita, 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
- In the lower stages of life one cannot immediately adopt the activities of devotional service, nor can one completely stop fruitive work
- In the millions and millions of universes there are innumerable planets, and each and every one of them is different from the others by its cosmic constitution
- In the modern civilization, 99.9 percent of the people are engaged in the activities of sense gratification under the flags of industrialism, economic development, altruism, political activism, and so on
- In the modern society, even a boy thinks himself self-sufficient and pays no respect to elderly men. Due to the wrong type of education being imparted in our universities, boys all over the world are giving their elders headaches
- In the previous mantras it has already been discussed that no living being-not even the powerful demigods-can surpass the Supreme Being in any respect. Therefore ekatvam does not mean that a living being is equal in all respects to the Supreme Lord
- In the scriptures there are recommendations for worshiping demigods under certain circumstances, but at the same time these scriptures state that there is normally no need for this
- In the spiritual realm, beyond the material covering, is the unlimited Brahman effulgence, which is free from material contamination. That effulgent white light is understood by transcendentalists to be the light of all lights
- In the sruti-mantras it is also said that although the Lord has no hands and legs like ours, He has a different type of hands and legs, by which He can accept all that we offer Him and run faster than anyone
- In the Vedic literature - whether the Upanisads, Vedanta-sutra, Bhagavad-gita or Srimad-Bhagavatam - it is declared that the Lord is a sentient being and is supreme over all other living entities. His glorious activities are identical with Himself
- In the Vedic scriptures it is said that one can reach other planets by any one of these three ways, but the most common way is by worshiping the demigod presiding over a particular planet
- In this mantra of Sri Isopanisad the word sam-bhavat, "by worship of the supreme cause," is very significant. Lord Krsna is the original Personality of Godhead, and everything that exists has emanated from Him
- In this mantra of Sri Isopanisad, the devotee prays to the Lord to rectify him from within his heart. To err is human
- In this mantra the living entity prays to enter the spiritual kingdom of God after relinquishing his material body and material air
- In this mantra the words ekatvam anupasyatah indicate that one should see the unity of all living entities from the viewpoint of the revealed scriptures
- In this mantra, as well as in many other Vedic mantras, it is clearly stated that the Lord has been supplying goods to the living entities from time immemorial
- In this prayer, therefore, Sri Isopanisad petitions the Lord to remove the effulgent rays of the brahmajyoti so that the pure devotee can see His all-blissful transcendental form
- Instead of hearing of the activities of Lord Krsna, such pseudo spiritual masters advertise themselves by inducing their followers to sing about them
- Intelligent human beings must always remember that the soul obtains a human form after an evolution of many millions of years in the cycle of transmigration
- 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
- Isopanisad is part of the Yajur Veda, and consequently it contains information concerning the proprietorship of all things existing within the universe
- It does, however, indicate that in a broader sense there is one interest, just as in a family the interest of all members is one, or in a nation the national interest is one, although there are many different individual citizens
- It is certain, however, that no one can enter into the spiritual Vaikuntha planets without being trained in devotional service
- It is clearly stated here that He is un-embodied, which means that there is no difference between His body and His soul. Nor is He forced to accept a body according to the laws of nature, as we are
- It is further stated that with each and every part of His body He can do the work of the other senses. This means that the Lord can walk with His hands, accept things with His legs, see with His hands and feet, eat with His eyes, etc
- It is said that He (God) can run faster than anyone. Those who are running after other planets are certainly persons, and if the Lord can run faster than all of them, how can He be impersonal?
- It is said that one result is obtained by worshiping the supreme cause of all causes and that another result is obtained by worshiping what is not supreme. All this is heard from the undisturbed authorities, who clearly explained it
- It is said that the mudhas deride the Personality of Godhead because they do not have complete knowledge from the undisturbed acarya. One who is disturbed by the whirlpool of material energy is not qualified to become an acarya
- It is stated in the Bhagavad-gita (7.23) that the worshipers of the demigods can go to the planets of the demigods. The moon worshipers can go to the moon, the sun worshipers to the sun, etc
- It should be noted that such worldliness cannot continue for long because, by the grace of the Lord, such imperfections will come to an end very shortly. Therefore the path of devotional service is the only right path
J
- Just as being born the son of a big man affords one a chance to become a big man, so being born the son of a brahmana gives one a chance to become a brahmana
- Just by glorifying the Lord, Sukadeva Gosvami, the speaker of Srimad-Bhagavatam, attained his perfection. (3) By praying to the Lord, Akrura attained the desired result. (4) By remembering the Lord, Prahlada Maharaja attained the desired result
K
- Kanistha-adhikaris are actually materialistic devotees who are simply trying to transcend the material boundary to reach the spiritual plane
- Kanistha-adhikaris devotees follow the routine formulas and sometimes quarrel among themselves, considering one type of devotion better than another
- Krsna clearly says that only those who have lost their sense worship the demigods for paltry rewards (7.20, 23)
- Krsna Himself states in the Moksa-dharma, "I created the Prajapatis and the Rudras. They do not have complete knowledge of Me because they are covered by My illusory energy"
- Krsna is the creator of all that exists in the material and spiritual worlds because these three principal deities (Brahma, Visnu and Siva) of the material world are created by the Lord
- Krsna is the origin of the powers delegated to demigods, great sages and mystics. Although they are endowed with great powers, these powers are limited, and thus it is very difficult for them to know how Krsna Himself appears
- Ksirodakasayi Visnu is the Visnu among the three principal deities-Brahma, Visnu and Siva-and He is the all-pervading Paramatma in each and every individual living entity
L
- 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
- Let this temporary body be burnt to ashes, and let the air of life be merged with the totality of air. Now, O my Lord, please remember all my sacrifices, and because You are the ultimate beneficiary, please remember all that I have done for You
- Liberation as conceived of by an impersonalist is a myth, and begging for sense gratification has to continue eternally unless the beggar comes to his spiritual senses and realizes his constitutional position
- Limited by their (impersonalist philosophers) poor fund of knowledge, such impersonalist thinkers cannot understand the all-blissful transcendental form of Lord Krsna
- Living beings are part and parcel of the Complete Whole, and if they are severed from the Complete Whole, the illusory representation of completeness cannot fully satisfy them
- Lord Krsna or His plenary expansions dominate every one of these innumerable planets, a fact confirmed in the sruti mantras: eko vasi sarva-gah krsna idyah/ eko 'pi san bahudha yo 'vabhati. (Gopala-tapani Upanisad 1.21)
- Lord Krsna states that God-centered activities are so valuable that just a few of them can save a person from the greatest danger
- Lord Krsna, who is perceived as the impersonal, blissful Brahman by the jnanis, who is worshiped as the SL by devotees in the mood of servitorship, played with the cowherd boys, who had attained their position after accumulating many pious activities
- Lord Nrsimha appeared from within the pillar not by the order of the atheist king but by the wish of His devotee Prahlada. An atheist cannot order the Lord to appear, but the Lord will appear anywhere and everywhere to show mercy to His devotee
- Lord Visnu, the Personality of Godhead, possesses different energies, known as para (superior) and apara (inferior). The living entities belong to the superior energy. The material energy, in which we are presently entangled, is the inferior energy
M
- Madhyama-adhikari adores the Lord, considering Him the object of love; he makes friends with those who are in DS; he tries to awaken the dormant love of God in the hearts of the innocent; and he avoids the atheists, who deride the very name of the Lord
- Madhyama-adhikaris observe the distinctions between four categories of being: (1) the SL; (2) the devotees of the Lord; (3) the innocent, who have no knowledge of the Lord; and (4) the atheists, who have no faith in the Lord and hate those in DS
- Maharaja Pariksit's main question was: "What is the duty of every man, specifically at the time of death?"
- Many men are advertised as great scholars of the Bhagavad-gita, but they overlook the Gita's message, by which material nature can be pacified
- Many philosophers and great rsis, or mystics, try to distinguish the Absolute from the relative by their tiny brain power. This can only help them reach the negative conception of the Absolute
- Material nature displays wonderful workmanship by creating varieties of bodies for the living beings according to their propensities for sense gratification. The living entity who wants to taste stool is given a body that is suitable for eating stool
- Material science can discover the nuclear bomb to accelerate the process of death, but it cannot discover anything that can protect man from the cruel hands of old age, disease and death
- Material scientists and politicians are trying to make this place deathless because they have no information of the deathless spiritual nature
- Materialistic asuras sometimes make a show of religion, but their ultimate aim is material prosperity
- Men face one another in enmity and snarl just like cats and dogs
- Modern civilization has advanced considerably in the field of mass education, but the result is that people are more unhappy than ever before because of the stress placed on material advancement to the exclusion of the spiritual aspect
- Modern civilization is a patchwork of activities meant to cover the perpetual miseries of material existence. All such activities are aimed toward sense gratification
- Modern politicians who pose themselves as dhiras are actually adhiras, and one cannot expect perfect knowledge from them. They are simply busy seeing to their own remuneration in dollars and cents
- Modern scientists are now venturing to the moon with the help of rockets, but this is not really a new attempt. With their advanced consciousness, human beings are naturally inclined to travel in outer space and to reach other planets
- More than fifty percent of a nation's energy is devoted to defense measures and thus spoiled. No one cares for the cultivation of real knowledge, yet people are falsely proud of being advanced in both material and spiritual knowledge
N
- Narayana is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and from Him the four-headed Brahma was manifested, as well as Rudra, who later became omniscient
- Nationalism has developed in different parts of the world due to the cultivation of nescience by the general people. No one considers that this tiny earth is just a lump of matter floating in immeasurable space along with many other lumps
- No living entity is originally formless, as is wrongly thought by those with a poor fund of knowledge. This mantra verifies the fact that the living entity exists after the annihilation of the material body
- No one can approach the Lord by his own limited potency
- No one can dominate Krsna. It is the conditioned soul who tries to dominate material nature and is instead subjected to the laws of material nature and the sufferings of repeated birth and death
- No one in contact with material nature can be beyond these six laws of transformation; therefore no one-whether demigod, man, animal or plant-can survive forever in the material world
- No one should try to reach any conclusion about the Vedas without receiving instructions from members of Vyasadeva's disciplic succession, who believe in the Personality of Godhead and His diverse energies as they are explained in Sri Isopanisad
- No one wants to die: everyone wants to live as long as he can drag on
- No one with these four imperfections can deliver perfect knowledge
- No other unit in the universe need make an extraneous effort to try to maintain the universe. The universe functions on its own time scale, which is fixed by the energy of the Complete Whole, and when that schedule is completed
- Nonbelievers argue either that the Lord cannot incarnate Himself at all, or that if He does He descends in a form of material energy
- Nondevotees are under the sway of passion and ignorance. One who is in passion cannot become detached from material hankering, and one who is in ignorance cannot know what he is or what the Lord is
- Nor does the Lord become a formless entity at any time, for ultimately He is the eternal form, the primeval Lord. His impersonal aspect, or Brahman effulgence, is but the glow of His personal rays, just as the sun's rays are the glow of the sun-god
- Nor is the arca form fashioned according to the whims of the worshiper. This form is eternally existent with all paraphernalia. This can be actually felt by a sincere devotee, but not by an atheist
- Not considering the respective actions of the brahmana and the dog, the uttama-adhikari tries to do good to both. Such a learned devotee is not misled by material bodies but is attracted by the spiritual spark within them
- Nowhere in authentic scriptures is it said that one will ultimately reach the same goal by doing anything or worshiping anyone
O
- O learned sages, the first syllable of the word bhagavan (bha) has two meanings: the first is 'one who fully maintains,' and the second is 'guardian.' The second syllable (ga) means 'guide,' 'leader' or 'creator.'
- O Lord, O primeval philosopher, maintainer of the universe, O regulating principle, destination of the pure devotees, well-wisher of the progenitors of mankind, please remove the effulgence of Your transcendental rays so that I can see Your form of bliss
- O my Lord, as powerful as fire, O omnipotent one, now I offer You all obeisances, falling on the ground at Your feet
- O my Lord, please lead me on the right path to reach You, and since You know all that I have done in the past, please free me from the reactions to my past sins so that there will be no hindrance to my progress
- O my Lord, sustainer of all that lives, Your real face is covered by Your dazzling effulgence. Kindly remove that covering and exhibit Yourself to Your pure devotee
- O son of Kunti, declare it boldly that My devotee never perishes. O son of Prtha, those who take shelter in Me, though they be of lower birth-women, vaisyas (merchants) as well as sudras (workers) - can attain the supreme destination
- Of the different classes of men-karmis, jnanis and yogis - the karmis are those who are engaged in the activities of sense gratification
- On the material planets, everyone from Brahma down to the ant is trying to lord it over material nature, and this is the material disease. As long as this material disease continues, the living entity has to undergo the process of bodily change
- On the nirguna platform there is never a clash over the object of enjoyment. Here in the material world there is always a clash between different individual beings because here the proper center of enjoyment is missed
- One (Human beings) may aspire to live for hundreds of years if he continuously goes on working in that (accept only necessary) way, for that sort of work will not bind him to the law of karma
- One can be saved only by complete knowledge of the eternal life of bliss and awareness. The whole Vedic scheme is meant to educate men in this art of attaining eternal life
- One can become a dhira only by submissively hearing from a bona fide spiritual master. Arjuna, for example, became a dhira by submissively hearing from Lord Krsna, the Personality of Godhead Himself
- One cannot see properly unless one has heard from a superior source, and the highest source is the Vedic wisdom, which is spoken by the Lord Himself
- One must approach a bona fide spiritual master in order to understand the transcendental message of the Vedas. That is the direction of the Mundaka Upanisad (1.2.12)
- One must be satisfied with whatever privileges are given to him by the mercy of the Lord
- One must perform these two different functions along parallel lines, because a conditioned soul cannot give up the maintenance of his body
- One of our years is equal to only twenty-four hours, or one day and night, on many of the upper planets
- One should "observe," or systematically see. This means that one must follow the previous acaryas, the perfected teachers. Anupasyati is the exact Sanskrit word used in this connection. Anu means "to follow," and pasyati means "to observe"
- One should accept only those things that are set aside by the Lord as his quota
- One should culture knowledge in the following way: In order to approach the platform of self-realization, one must follow the regulative principles enjoined in the revealed scriptures. One must be fixed in the tenets of the revealed scripture
- One should culture knowledge in the following way: One should always remember that as long as he has a material body he must face the miseries of repeated birth, old age, disease and death
- One should culture knowledge in the following way: One should become a perfect gentleman and learn to give proper respect to others. One should not pose himself as a religionist simply for name and fame
- One should culture knowledge in the following way: One should become a scientist or philosopher and conduct research into spiritual knowledge, recognizing that spiritual knowledge is permanent whereas material knowledge ends with the death of the body
- One should culture knowledge in the following way: One should completely refrain from practices which are detrimental to the interest of self-realization. One should not accept more than he requires for the maintenance of the body
- One should culture knowledge in the following way: One should develop a liking for residence in a secluded place with a calm and quiet atmosphere favorable for spiritual culture, and one should avoid congested places where nondevotees congregate
- One should culture knowledge in the following way: One should not be attached to more than the necessities of life required for spiritual advancement. One should not be more attached to wife, children and home than the revealed scriptures ordain
- One should culture knowledge in the following way: One should not be happy or distressed over desirables and undesirables, knowing that such feelings are just created by the mind. One should become an unalloyed devotee of Lord Krsna
- One should culture knowledge in the following way: One should not become a source of anxiety to others by the actions of his body, by the thoughts of his mind, or by his words. One should learn forbearance even in the face of provocation from others
- One should culture knowledge in the following way: One should not falsely identify himself with the gross material body, nor should one consider those who are related to his body to be his own
- One should culture knowledge in the following way: One should search out a bona fide spiritual master who can lead him gradually to the stage of spiritual realization, and one must submit himself to such a spiritual master
- One should culture knowledge in the following way: There is no use in making plans to get rid of these miseries of the material body. The best course is to find out the means by which one may regain his spiritual identity
- One should hear about Krsna as He is by hearing from the Bhagavad-gita or Srimad-Bhagavatam, and in this way one's mind will gradually be cleansed of all contaminated things
- One should know perfectly the Personality of Godhead Sri Krsna and His transcendental name, form, qualities and pastimes, as well as the temporary material creation with its temporary demigods, men and animals
- One should not be proud of being a strict vegetarian
- One should not think that such devotees, who are in the lowest stage of devotional service, are worshiping an idol. They are factually worshiping the Lord, who has agreed to appear before them in an approachable way
- 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
- One should therefore be intelligent enough to know that except for the Lord no one is a proprietor of anything
- 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
- One should try to understand the real purport of the word su-duracara. A conditioned soul has to act for double functions-namely for the maintenance of the body and again for self-realization
- One who (a human being) is sober, who knows the laws of nature, and who is not influenced by unnecessary attachment or aversion is sure to be recognized by the Lord and thus become eligible to go back to Godhead, back to the eternal home
- 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?
- One who attains this stage is a liberated soul and can see the Lord in every step of life. This is the perfection of sambhava, as described in this mantra of Sri Isopanisad
- One who imitates the symptoms of an uttama-adhikari may serve another's outward body for the purpose of fame or material reward, but he does not serve the spirit soul. Such an imitator can have no information of the spiritual world
- One who is a devotee of the Lord attains all the good qualifications of the Lord Himself, what to speak of those of a brahmana
- One who is completely under the rule of material nature remembers the heinous activities he performed during the existence of his material body, and consequently he gets another material body after death
- One who surrenders at the very beginning, as recommended in this mantra, at once surpasses all preliminary stages simply by adopting the devotional attitude
- One who wants to eat the flesh and blood of other animals may be given a tiger's body equipped with suitable teeth and claws. But the human being is not meant for eating flesh, nor does he have any desire to taste stool, even in the most aboriginal state
- 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
- Only the Lord's devotee and friend can understand the Gita. This also means that only one who follows the path of Arjuna can understand the Bhagavad-gita
- Only the Supreme Lord is self-sufficient. When Lord Krsna appeared on earth five thousand years ago, He displayed His full manifestation as the Personality of Godhead through His various activities
- Ordinarily the living being does not know what to ask from the Lord, nor which post to seek
- Ordinarily, if someone can walk, it is illogical to say he cannot walk. But in reference to God, such a contradiction simply serves to indicate His inconceivable power
- Others (those who are not cleansed of all sinful reactions) will continue hovering on the material platform with their paltry ways of worship and thus will be misled from the real path under the false impression that all paths lead to the same goal
- Our dwelling, which is made of earth, wood, stone, iron, cement and so many other material things. If we think in terms of Sri Isopanisad, we must know that we cannot produce any of these building materials ourselves
P
- People are often misguided by temporary attractive things based on sense gratification, but service rendered to the sense objects is both misleading and degrading
- People have been urged to open hospitals but not to educate themselves to enter into the spiritual kingdom by DS. They have been taught to take interest only in temporary relief work, which can never bring real happiness to the living entity
- Perfect knowledge means knowing Krsna as the root of this Brahman effulgence. This knowledge can be gained from such scriptures as Srimad-Bhagavatam, which perfectly elaborates the science of Krsna
- Poorly informed persons do not know the omnipotence of the Lord. Thus the Lord does not manifest Himself in full to the mental speculators. He can be appreciated only in proportion to one's surrender to Him
- Powerful nature can be pacified only by the awakening of God consciousness, as clearly pointed out in the Bhagavad-gita (7.14)
- Pseudo religionists cannot, however, escape the law of the Supreme, who has clearly declared in the Bhagavad-gita that envious demons in the garb of religious propagandists shall be thrown into the darkest regions of hell (16.19-20)
- Pseudo religionists ignore the Vedic injunction acaryopasana - "One must worship the acarya" - and Krsna's statement in the Bhagavad-gita (4.2) evam parampara-praptam, "This supreme science of God is received through the disciplic succession"
- Pseudo religionists pass as spiritual masters and devotees of God; such violators of religious principles have no respect for the authoritative acaryas
R
- Real sense enjoyment is possible only when the disease of materialism is removed. In our pure spiritual form, free from all material contamination, real enjoyment of the senses is possible
- Real service to humanity is rendered when one teaches surrender to and worship of the Supreme Lord with full love and energy. That is the instruction of Sri Isopanisad in this mantra
- Realization of the Personality of Godhead is realization of all the transcendental features - sat, cit and ananda, bliss
- Religious principles are taught for the sake of name and fame only and not for the sake of practical action. Thus there is animosity not only in social and political fields but in the field of religion as well
S
- Sacrifice means denying the interest of the senses. One has to learn this art by employing the senses in the service of the Lord during one's lifetime. One can utilize the results of such practice at the time of death
- Self-realization is possible in the human form of life, but not in other forms. There are 8,400,000 species, or forms of life, of which the human form qualified by brahminical culture presents the only chance to obtain knowledge of transcendence
- Since all living beings are His beloved sons, His parts and parcels, God is more sorry than we ourselves to see the sufferings we are constantly undergoing in this material condition
- Since Brahma told him that he could not grant the gift of immortality, Hiranyakasipu requested that he not be killed by any man, animal, god or any other living being within the 8,400,000 species
- Since He is addressed as the primeval philosopher and maintainer and well-wisher of the universe, the Supreme Truth cannot be impersonal. This is the verdict of Sri Isopanisad
- Since it is said that Lord Krsna never leaves Vrndavana-dhama, one may ask how He manages the affairs of the creation. This is answered in the Bhagavad-gita: The Lord pervades the entire material creation by His plenary part known as the Paramatma
- Since its covering is airtight, the darkness within is dense, and therefore the sun and the moon are required for illumination. Outside the universe is the vast and unlimited brahmajyoti expansion, which is filled with Vaikunthalokas
- Since Narayana is a plenary manifestation of Lord Krsna, Narayana and Krsna are one and the same. The Narayana Upanisad (4) also states, "Devaki's son (Krsna) is the Supreme Lord"
- Since the creation of the material world, everyone has been trying to attain a permanent life, but the laws of nature are so cruel that no one has been able to avoid the hand of death. No one wants to die, nor does anyone want to become old or diseased
- Since the entire material universe is impermanent, whatever is achieved within the darkness of material existence is also impermanent. The question is how to obtain real and permanent life
- 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
- Since the living entities are all members of the same supreme family, their interest and that of the Supreme Being are not different. Every living being is the son of the Supreme Being
- Since the Lord is the origin of both Paramatma and Brahman, He is the origin of all living entities and all else that exists. One who knows this engages himself at once in the devotional service of the Lord
- Since the omnipotent Lord is situated within the heart of everyone, He can give directions to His sincere devotees by which they can attain the right path. Such directions are especially offered to the devotee, even if he desires something else
- So-called human society is generally engaged at night in sleeping and having sex and during the daytime in earning as much money as possible or else in shopping for family maintenance. People have very little time to talk about God
- Social status, mental development, cleanliness, austerity, nourishment and the struggle for existence are all for the maintenance of the body
- Some lower planets, however, are vanquished after the end of one day of Brahma and are again created during the next day of Brahma. On the upper planets, time is calculated differently
- Some materialistic politicians in spiritual guise decry the present system of civilization as satanic, but unfortunately they do not care about the culture of real knowledge as it is described in the Bhagavad-gita
- Sometimes these living entities want to enjoy their senses, and therefore they are placed in the material world to become false lords under the dictation of the senses
- Sparks are not fire as far as quantity is concerned, for the quantity of heat and light present in the sparks is not equal to that in fire
- 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
- Sri Isopanisad advises us to exert our energy in the spirit of isavasya
- Sri Isopanisad advises us to pour water on the root, the source of all germination. Worship of the mass of humanity by rendering bodily service, which can never be perfect, is less important than service to the soul
- 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)
- 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
- 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
- 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
- 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 whole universe is covered by the gigantic material elements
- Sri Isopanisad points toward this direction, praying for the removal of the hiranmaya-patra, the dazzling covering of the Lord
- Sri Isopanisad teaches that one must perfectly know both sambhuti (the Personality of Godhead) and vinasa (the temporary material manifestation), side by side
- 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
- 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
- Sri Isopanisad warns of the futility of trying to establish the identity of the Lord through mental speculation
- Sri Isopanisad warns us of this faulty type of education, and the Bhagavad-gita gives instructions as to the development of real knowledge
- Sri Krsna, is always filled with transcendental bliss (ananda-mayo 'bhyasat). When He was present at Vrndavana in India five thousand years ago, He always remained in transcendental bliss, even from the beginning of His childhood pastimes
- Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains these verses in this way: "One should regard a devotee of Krsna to be on the right path of the saints, even though such a devotee may seem to be su-duracara, 'a person of loose character'
- Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, a great acarya, maintained that all forms of material knowledge are merely external features of the illusory energy and that by culturing them one becomes no better than an ass. This same principle is found here in Isopanisad
- Srila Vyasadeva never states that the Supreme Truth is a jiva, an ordinary living entity
- Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.2.17) says, "By hearing of the activities of the Lord, the devotee draws the attention of the Lord. Thus the Lord, being situated in the heart of every living being, helps the devotee by giving him proper directions"
- Such (veda-vada-rata) people misguide others by misinterpreting the Vedic literature. Sometimes they even condemn the Puranas, which are authentic Vedic explanations for laymen
- Such a pure and fully cognizant devotee of the Lord is fully attached to Him in heart and soul, and whenever such a devotee assembles with similar devotees, they have no engagement but the glorification of the Lord's transcendental activities
- Such births (birth in brahmana family or in the family of rich merchants) afford higher chances for self-realization. If these chances are misused due to illusion, one loses the good opportunity of human life afforded by the almighty Lord
- Such days and nights (four ages of earth) accumulate into months and years, and Brahma lives for one hundred such years. At the end of Brahma's life, the complete universal manifestation is vanquished
- Such foolish people draw up various plans to render national demarcations perfectly, a task that is totally impossible. Yet for this purpose each and every nation has become a source of anxiety for others
- Such foolish theories (that one will ultimately reach the same goal by doing anything or worshiping anyone) are offered by self-made "spiritual masters" who have no connection with the parampara, the bona fide system of disciplic succession
- Such interpreters (who care nothing for Lord Krsna or Arjuna) explain the verses of the Bhagavad-gita in their own way and postulate all sorts of rubbish in the name of the Gita. Such interpreters believe neither in Sri Krsna nor in His eternal abode
- Such men (mayayapahrta-jnana), unable to recognize their own foolishness, never consider how it is that God can be entrapped by maya, His own illusory energy
- Such mental speculators do not know that the Absolute Personality of Godhead is Krsna, that the impersonal Brahman is the glaring effulgence of His transcendental body, or that the Paramatma, the Supersoul, is His all-pervading plenary representation
- Such special favors are bestowed upon His pure devotees only. Sri Isopanisad thus points to the favor of the Lord, which is beyond the purview of the brahmajyoti
- Such veda-vada-ratas are especially condemned in this mantra by the very appropriate Sanskrit words vidyayam ratah
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- That Brahman is in front and in back, in the north, south, east and west, and also overhead and below. In other words, that supreme Brahman effulgence spreads throughout both the material and spiritual skies
- 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
- The Absolute Truth is realized by the broadminded man who has attained knowledge and detachment by following the eighteen principles of the Bhagavad-gita described in the purport to Mantra Ten
- 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
- The activities of the material senses are perverted reflections of the activities of the original, spiritual senses. In his diseased condition, the spirit soul engages in material activities under the material covering
- The advancement of learning by a godless people is as dangerous as a valuable jewel on the hood of a cobra. A cobra decorated with a valuable jewel is more dangerous than one not decorated
- The aim of real education should be self-realization, realization of the spiritual values of the soul. Any education which does not lead to such realization must be considered avidya, or nescience
- The all-pervading feature of the Lord-which exists in all circumstances of waking and sleeping as well as in potential states and from which the jiva-sakti (living force) is generated as both conditioned and liberated souls-is known as Brahman
- The anatomy of a material body must have a mechanical construction with veins and so forth, but the transcendental body of the Supreme Lord has nothing like veins
- 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
- The arca-vigraha worshiped in temples is also an expanded form of the Lord. By worshiping the arca-vigraha, one can at once approach the Lord, who accepts the service of a devotee by His omnipotent energy
- The Atharva Veda (Maha Upanisad 1) also states, "Only Narayana existed in the beginning, when neither Brahma, nor Siva, nor fire, nor water, nor stars, nor sun, nor moon existed. The Lord does not remain alone but creates as He desires"
- The atheist directly denies the existence of the SPG, and the impersonalists support the atheists by stressing the impersonal aspect of the Supreme Lord. Thus far we have not come across any mantra in Sri Isopanisad in which the SPG is denied
- The atheists and impersonalists lead such foolish pseudo religionists into the darkest regions by preaching the cult of atheism
- The atma-bhuta interest mentioned in this mantra and the brahma-bhuta (SB 4.30.20) interest mentioned in the Bhagavad-gita (18.54) are one and the same
- The attempt by these so-called spiritual leaders is something like pouring water on the leaves of a tree instead of the root
- The Bhagavad-gita (4.8) similarly states that the Lord appears in order to vanquish nonbelievers and protect believers
- The bhagavatas know that without inconceivable potencies there can be no meaning to the words "Supreme Lord"
- The biggest and highest planet in the brahmajyoti is Krsnaloka, or Goloka Vrndavana, where the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna Himself, resides. Lord Sri Krsna never leaves Krsnaloka
- The bona fide spiritual master cannot say that all paths lead to the same goal and that anyone can attain this goal by his own mode of worship of the demigods or of the Supreme or whatever
- The bona fide spiritual master, who has also heard the sruti-mantras, or Vedic knowledge, from his undisturbed acarya, never presents anything that is not mentioned in the Vedic literature
- The brahma-jyotir is described in the Brahma-samhita as the rays emanating from that supreme spiritual planet, Goloka Vrndavana, just as the sun's rays emanate from the sun globe
- The capitalists cannot curb the communists simply by political maneuvering, nor can the communists defeat the capitalists simply by fighting for stolen bread
- The central purpose of these eighteen principles is the attainment of transcendental devotional service to the Personality of Godhead. Therefore all classes of men are encouraged to learn the art of devotional service to the Lord
- The complete Bhagavatam was heard by Maharaja Pariksit and chanted by Sukadeva Gosvami. Maharaja Pariksit inquired from Sukadeva because Sukadeva was a greater spiritual master than any great yogi or transcendentalist of his time
- The Complete Whole must contain everything both within and beyond our experience; otherwise He cannot be complete
- The Complete Whole, or the Supreme Absolute Truth, is the complete Personality of Godhead. Realization of impersonal Brahman or of Paramatma, the Supersoul, is incomplete realization of the Absolute Complete
- The conception of universal brotherhood must be learned from an uttama-adhikari and not from a foolish person who does not properly understand the individual soul or the Supreme Lord's Supersoul expansion, who dwells everywhere
- The conclusion is that one who has no knowledge of the potencies of the Supreme Truth will realize the impersonal Brahman
- The conditioned living being has forgotten his eternal relationship with God and has mistakenly accepted the temporary place of his birth as all in all
- The conviction that Krsna is all in all is established when one hears the transcendental message from the undisturbed acarya with faith and love. One who has no faith in or love for Lord Krsna cannot be convinced of this simple truth
- The cow, for instance, gives milk, but she does not drink that milk: she eats grass and straw, and her milk is designated as food for human beings
- The culture of empiric philosophy helps one realize the impersonal brahmajyoti, which is the glaring effulgence of the transcendental body of Lord Sri Krsna
- The culture of knowledge reaches perfection only when the knower comes to the point of surrendering unto the Supreme Lord, Vasudeva
- The culture of nescience is different from that of knowledge. The universities are, so to speak, centers of nescience only; consequently scientists are busy discovering lethal weapons to wipe out the existence of other countries
- The culture of spiritual knowledge necessitates the help of the body and mind; therefore maintenance of the body and mind is required if we are to reach our goal
- The culture of vidya, or transcendental knowledge, is essential for the human being. Sense enjoyment in the diseased material condition must be restricted as far as possible
- The dependent demigods and great sages imperfectly consider Him to be a powerful demigod, and they consider the Brahman effulgence to be the Absolute Truth
- The desire for lordship is the material disease of the living being, for under the spell of sense enjoyment he transmigrates through the various bodies manifested in the material world
- The devotee becomes fully enlightened by virtue of his devotional service, and thus he comes to know the path of the Lord and the way to attain Him. As all doubts diminish, he becomes a pure devotee
- The devotee prays to the Lord to remember his activities and the sacrifices he has performed before his material body is turned into ashes. He makes this prayer at the time of death, with full consciousness of his past deeds and of the ultimate goal
- The devotee, thus protected all around, is sure to reach the ultimate destination of perfection. The entire process is hinted at in this mantra, and Srimad-Bhagavatam (1.2.17-20) explains it further
- The devotees of Krsna, by dint of their surrendering unto Him and their unalloyed devotion, can know that He is the Absolute Person and that everything emanates from Him
- The devotees of the Lord see the Lord eye to eye by His causeless mercy; thus the Lord helps His devotees reach the supermost spiritual planet, Goloka Vrndavana
- The devotees, however, develop a sense of love for Godhead by practicing devotional service to the Lord
- 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
- The drivers of our spaceships may be very proud of their achievements, but they do not consider the supreme driver of these greater, more gigantic spaceships called planets
- The duration of life varies according to species. Brahma, the chief living being within this material universe, lives for millions & millions of years, while a minute germ lives for some hours only. But no one in the material world can survive eternally
- The duties human beings have to perform are higher than those of animals, who are always engaged in simply feeding their hungry stomachs. Yet the modern soul-killing civilization has only increased the problems of the hungry stomach
- The dying human being can remember the activities of his life like dreams at night; therefore his mind remains surcharged with material desires, and consequently he cannot enter into the spiritual kingdom with a spiritual body
- The elements of nature - earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and ego - all belong to the Lord's inferior, material energy (apara prakrti),whereas the living being, the organic energy, is His superior energy (para prakrti)
- The external potency is not exactly manifested by Him, for He expands Himself as the purusas, and it is in these forms that He maintains the features of the material manifestation
- The facilities of devotional service are denied the impersonalists because they are attached to the brahmajyoti feature of the Lord. As suggested in the previous mantras, they cannot penetrate the brahma-jyoti because they do not believe in the SPG
- The fact is that there is nothing but God within and without. Everything is a manifestation of His different energies, like the heat and light emanating from a fire, and in this way there is a oneness among His diverse energies
- The fallen condition of the living entities is due entirely to forgetfulness of their relationship with God
- The father extends himself through his children and maintains them in order to derive pleasure
- The final, most perfect and sublime work by Srila Vyasadeva is Srimad-Bhagavatam, which is the natural commentary on the Vedanta-sutra
- The foolish politicians are crying that at any moment the world may go to hell. That is the result of the advancement of material knowledge and the neglect of the most important part of life, the culture of spiritual knowledge
- The forms of the living entities in this world are embodied in material nature, and they work like any material machine
- The four ages of earth (Satya, Treta, Dvapara and Kali) last only twelve thousand years according to the time scale of the upper planets. Such a length of time multiplied by one thousand constitutes one day of Brahma, and one night of Brahma is the same
- The full potency of the Absolute Truth is not realized in the brahmajyoti; therefore Brahman realization is only partial realization of the Personality of Godhead
- 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
- The hand of a body is a complete unit only as long as it is attached to the complete body. When the hand is severed from the body, it may appear like a hand, but it actually has none of the potencies of a hand
- The highest developed form is this human form when it is possessed of a full sense of spiritual knowledge
- The highest development of one's spiritual sense is described in this mantra: One should give up the material body, which will be turned to ashes, and allow the air of life to merge into the eternal reservoir of air
- The human being is given all facilities for a comfortable life by the laws of nature because the human form of life is more important and valuable than animal life
- The human form of life is a complete manifestation of the consciousness of the living being, and it is obtained after evolving through 8,400,000 species of life in the cycle of birth and death
- The human form of life offers one a chance to get out of this entanglement simply by reestablishing the lost relationship between the living entity and the SL. The Lord comes personally to teach this philosophy of surrender unto the Supreme, the sambhuta
- The human race should take the Vedic wisdom of Sri Isopanisad and not quarrel over material possessions
- The identity of Narayana with the supreme cause has also been accepted and confirmed by Sripada Sankaracarya, even though Sankara does not belong to the Vaisnava, or personalist, cult
- The identity of the living entity is never impersonal or formless; on the contrary, it is the material dress that is formless and that takes a shape according to the form of the indestructible person
- The ignorant pseudo religionists and the manufacturers of so-called incarnations who directly violate the Vedic injunctions are liable to enter into the darkest region of the universe because they mislead those who follow them
- The impersonal conception of the Supreme Lord is another form of ignorance, arising from an imperfect conception of the Absolute Truth
- The impersonal transcendentalists are simply bewildered by the glaring effulgence of the brahmajyoti
- The impersonalist philosophers of the Mayavada school accept only the Lord's impersonal activities and reject His personal feature
- The impersonalist philosophers, blinded as they are by the dazzling brahmajyoti, can realize neither the factual abode of the Lord nor His transcendental form
- 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 individual sparks of the supreme whole (the Lord) possess almost eighty percent of the known qualities of the whole, but they are not quantitatively equal to the Supreme Lord
- The intelligent man sees oneness not in the variety of the bodies but in the spiritual identity
- The Isopanisad mantra is a simple prayer to the Lord to remove the brahmajyoti so that one can see His real face. This brahmajyoti effulgence is described in detail in several mantras of the Mundaka Upanisad
- The jnanis, those who have cultivated Vedic knowledge, are better than ordinary fruitive workers, that the yogis are still greater than the jnanis, and that among all yogis, those who constantly serve the Lord with all their energies are the topmost
- The kanistha-adhikari is in the lowest stage of realization. He goes to a place of worship, such as a temple, church or mosque, according to his religious faith, and worships there according to scriptural injunctions
- The karmis, or fruitive workers, can elevate themselves to the Svargaloka planets, which include the sun and the moon. Jnanis and yogis can attain still higher planets, such as Maharloka, Tapoloka and Brahmaloka
- The killings of various demons-such as Agha, Baka, Putana and Pralamba-were but pleasure excursions for Him (Krsna)
- The law of nature, however, does not allow anyone immunity from old age, disease or death. Nor has the advancement of material knowledge solved these problems
- The laws of nature are so cruel, however, that despite his denunciation of the need for self-realization and his (Human being) eagerness to work hard to fill his stomach, he is always threatened by unemployment
- The living being is eternal by nature, but due to his bondage in material existence he has to change his body over and over
- The living being is perpetually suffering in different types of bodies from the material miseries of birth, old age, disease and death
- The living being's activities are performed within the body through the movements of different kinds of air, known in summary as prana-vayu. The yogis generally study how to control the airs of the body
- The living beings who are encaged in the material tabernacle are constantly seeking enjoyment, but they are seeking it on the wrong platform
- The living entities are also differentiated expansions of the Lord's Self & because some of them desire to be lords & imitate the SL He allows them to enter into the cosmic creation with the option to fully utilize their propensity to lord it over nature
- The living entities are given full facilities to lord it over material nature, but the ultimate controller is the Lord Himself in His plenary feature as Paramatma, the Supersoul, who is one of the purusas
- The living entities are not without spiritual senses; every living being in his original, spiritual form has all the senses, which are now materially manifested, being covered by the material body and mind
- The living entities are qualitatively one with the Supreme Lord, just as the sparks of a fire are qualitatively one with the fire
- The living entities, the entire phenomenal world is stirred into action and reaction because of the presence of His parts and parcels
- 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
- The living entity should never be considered the all-powerful Supreme Truth. If he were the Supreme, he would not need to pray to the Lord to remove His dazzling cover so that the living entity could see His real face
- The living entity takes on different bodies according to his pious and vicious activities. The human body is highly developed and has full consciousness
- The Lord always helps the pure devotees by imparting necessary knowledge within their hearts, and thus out of His special favor He dissipates all the darkness of ignorance
- The Lord awards enjoyment to living entities in proportion to their qualifications, but good qualifications in themselves are not sufficient to enable one to receive awards. The mercy of the Lord is also required
- The Lord can appear in the form of the arca-vigraha, a Deity supposedly made of earth, stone or wood. Deity forms, although engraved from wood, stone or other matter, are not idols, as the iconoclasts contend
- The Lord clearly describes His intimate relationship with His devotees in the BG (9.30-34): "Even if one commits the most abominable action, if he is engaged in DS he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated in his determination
- The Lord clearly told Arjuna (4.3) that it was because Arjuna was His devotee and friend that he could understand the principles of the Bhagavad-gita. In other words, only the Lord's devotee and friend can understand the Gita
- The Lord comes here to reestablish the principles of religion, and the basic principle is the development of an attitude of surrender to Him
- The Lord directly states that He accepts vegetarian food from the hands of a pure devotee
- The Lord fully maintains His unalloyed devotees, and He guides them progressively on the path toward devotional perfection. As the leader of His devotees, He ultimately awards the desired results of devotional service by giving Himself to them
- The Lord has kindly delivered the above-mentioned scriptures in India and other scriptures in other countries to remind the forgetful human being that his home is not here in this material world
- The Lord has sufficient energies and agents who can vanquish atheists, but it pleases Him to personally favor a devotee. Therefore He descends as an incarnation. Actually, He descends only to favor His devotees and not for any other purpose
- The Lord is also apapa-viddham because sin cannot touch Him. Even if He acts in a way that appears to be sinful, such actions are all-good, for there is no question of His being affected by sin
- The Lord is always engaged in transcendental loving activities with His spiritual associates in the various relationships of santa (neutrality), dasya (servitorship), sakhya (friendship), vatsalya (parental affection) and madhurya (conjugal love)
- The Lord is far away but very near also. The abode of the Lord is beyond the material sky, and we have no means to measure even this material sky. If the material sky extends so far, then what to speak of the spiritual sky, which is altogether beyond it?
- The Lord is purnam, all-perfect, there is no possibility of His being subjected to the laws of material nature, which He controls
- The Lord is so kind to the devotee who is fully surrendered to His lotus feet that even though the devotee sometimes falls into the entanglement of vikarma - acts against the Vedic directions - the Lord at once rectifies such mistakes from within
- The Lord is the cause of all causes. In other words, since there is nothing that caused Him, He is the original cause. Consequently He enjoys His own Self by manifesting His own internal potency
- The Lord is within everything, and He creates everything by His different energies. Through His inconceivable powers He can appear at any place in order to favor His sincere devotee
- The Lord reserves the right not to reveal Himself to anyone and everyone but to show Himself only to those souls who surrender unto Him
- The Lord says that not even the great rsis 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?
- The Lord states that as soon as one reaches Him by devotional service-which is the one and only way to approach the Personality of Godhead-one attains complete freedom from the bondage of birth and death
- The Lord takes charge of fully surrendered souls; thus all problems are solved simply by surrendering oneself unto the Lord and acting in terms of His directions
- The Lord's fame as a butter thief is not reproachable, for by stealing butter the Lord gave pleasure to His pure devotees
- The Lord's inner direction cleanses the devotee's heart of all contamination produced by the material modes of passion and ignorance
- The Lord's original form is that of Sri Krsna, and Sri Krsna expands Himself into an unlimited number of forms, such as Baladeva, Rama, Nrsimha and Varaha. All of these forms are one and the same Personality of Godhead
- The Lord's proprietorship over everything within the universe is confirmed in the Seventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita (7.4-5), where para and apara prakrti are discussed
- The Lord's worshipable form (arca-vigraha), which is installed in temples by authorized acaryas who have realized the Lord in terms of Mantra Seven, is nondifferent from the original form of the Lord
- The maha-bhagavata, the great devotee, sees oneness in the sense that he sees everything as the energy of the Supreme Lord. Since there is no difference between the energy and the energetic, there is the sense of oneness
- The material body and mind are bad bargains for the spiritual living entity. The living entity has actual functions in the living, spiritual world, but this material world is dead
- The material energy works according to His (God's) direction; therefore He can use that energy for His purposes without ever being influenced by any of the qualities of that energy. In this sense He is nirguna, "without qualities."
- The material energy, in which we are presently entangled, is the inferior energy. The material creation is made possible by this energy, which covers the living entities with ignorance (avidya) and induces them to perform fruitive activities
- The material world is sometimes compared to an ocean, and the human body is compared to a solid boat designed especially to cross this ocean
- The mayayapahrta-jnana class of men are self-made "Gods." Such men think that they themselves are God and that there is no need of worshiping any other God
- The members of the Bhagavata school, adopting the perfect conception of the Lord, accept His inconceivable potencies and thus understand that He is both personal and impersonal
- The mental speculators, however, think that the activities of the Lord are imaginary; therefore they refrain from hearing of them and invent some word jugglery without any substance to divert the attention of the innocent masses of people
- The miseries of this material world serve to indirectly remind us of our incompatibility with dead matter. Intelligent living entities generally take note of these reminders and engage themselves in the culture of vidya, or transcendental knowledge
- The modern trend of material civilization is to increase the temperature of the feverish material condition, which has reached the point of 107 degrees in the form of atomic energy
- The Narayana Upanisad (1) states, "From Narayana, Brahma was born. Narayana created all the Prajapatis. Narayana created Indra. Narayana created the eight Vasus. Narayana created the eleven Rudras. Narayana created the twelve Adityas"
- The Narayana Upanisad (1) states, "Then the Supreme Person, Narayana, desired to create all living beings"
- The natural process is to pour water on the root, but such disturbed leaders are more attracted to the leaves than the root. Despite their perpetually watering the leaves, however, everything dries up for want of nourishment
- The normal temperature should be maintained at 98.6 degrees, and the great sages and saints of India have attempted to do this by a balanced program of spiritual and material knowledge
- The Parabrahman is as much a person as the individual entities. Neither the Lord nor the living entities are impersonal
- The Paramatma feature of the Personality of Godhead is one of three plenary expansions, or visnu-tattvas, collectively known as the purusa-avataras. One of these visnu-tattvas who is within the universe is known as Ksirodakasayi Visnu
- The parts and parcels are never equal to the whole; therefore they cannot appreciate the Lord's full potency
- The path of religion is actually meant for self-realization, and economic development is required just to maintain the body in a sound, healthy condition. A man should lead a healthy life with a sound mind just to realize vidya, true knowledge
- The path of salvation from the material clutches fully depends on the principles of knowledge and detachment gained from serving the Lord
- The path of vidya is most perfectly presented in Srimad-Bhagavatam, which directs a human being to utilize his life to inquire into the Absolute Truth. The Absolute Truth is realized step by step as Brahman, Paramatma and finally Bhagavan, the PG
- The perfect disciple must be like Arjuna, and the spiritual master must be as good as the Lord Himself. This is the process of learning vidya (knowledge) from the dhira (the undisturbed)
- The person who fails to achieve self-realization is given a better chance in his next life due to his sincere efforts in this life
- 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
- The Personality of Godhead, who is considered an ordinary human being by mundane people, played with the cowherd boys, who had attained their position after accumulating many pious activities
- 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
- The powerful demigods cannot approach Him (God). Although in one place, He controls those who supply the air and rain. He surpasses all in excellence
- The predominating Supreme Person residing within the spiritual nature is Krsna
- The primeval Lord, Sri Krsna, also says in the Bhagavad-gita (BG 7.26) that He is fully conscious of past, present and future and that no one, including demigods such as Siva and Brahma, knows Him fully
- The problems of life cannot be solved simply by going to the moon planet or to some other planet above or below it
- The process by which one goes back to Godhead is a different branch of knowledge, and it has to be learned from revealed Vedic scriptures such as the Upanisads, Vedanta-sutra, Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam
- The process is to give up one material body and then enter into another. But the highest perfection of such changes occurs only when the living entity is able to give up the material body altogether, and enter into the spiritual atmosphere
- The proportion of activities for maintenance of the body decreases, however, in proportion to the increase in devotional service
- The pseudo religionists have neither knowledge nor detachment from material affairs, for most of them want to live in the golden shackles of material bondage under the shadow of philanthropic activities disguised as religious principles
- The purpose of all Vedic literature is to awaken this God consciousness in the forgetful living being, and this same purpose is presented in various ways in the different scriptures of the world for the understanding of a foolish mankind
- The qualifications in themselves are insufficient for one to occupy the post: it must be awarded by some superior authority
- The real center of enjoyment is the Supreme Lord, who is the center of the sublime and spiritual rasa dance
- The really learned persons know this from evidence given by the great sages and the Vedas, and thus they decide to worship Lord Krsna as all in all. Such persons are called budha, or really learned, because they worship only Krsna
- The regulative principles are such that one who follows them is promoted from the platform of fruitive activities to the platform of transcendental knowledge
- The results of our activities must be used to serve the interest of the Lord, and not for any other purpose. Only by serving the Lord's interest can we perceive the atma-bhuta interest mentioned herein
- The S. P. of Godhead is sac-cid-ananda-vigraha. Realization of impersonal Brahman is realization of His sat feature, or His aspect of eternity, and Paramatma realization is realization of His sat and cit features, His aspects of eternity and knowledge
- The Sanskrit word asambhuti refers to those who have no independent existence. Sambhuti is the Absolute Personality of Godhead, who is absolutely independent of everything
- The second visnu-tattva within the universe is Garbhodakasayi Visnu, the collective Supersoul of all living entities. Beyond these two is Karanodakasayi Visnu, who lies in the Causal Ocean. He is the creator of all universes
- The self-realization part of one's activities is executed in one's occupation as a devotee of the Lord, and one performs actions in that connection also
- The simple way to worship the Supreme Lord in this age of disturbance is to hear and chant about His great activities
- The so-called spiritual masters say that any and all paths will take one to the supreme goal. Such mundane and compromising offers attract many foolish creatures, who become puffed up with their manufactured methods of spiritual realization
- The so-called students of the Vedas are condemned herein because they are ignorant of the actual purpose of the Vedas on account of their disobeying the acaryas
- The soul is supposed to rise from one circle of air to another until it rises to the brahma-randhra, the highest circle. From that point the perfect yogi can transfer himself to any planet he likes
- The soul is the root that generates different types of bodies according to the law of karma
- The source of the energies is one and the same, the energies can be utilized according to the will of their source
- The span of human life is scheduled for about a hundred years, although it is gradually decreasing. Thanks to the culture of nescience, befooled men have created their own nations within these planets in order to grasp sense enjoyment
- The speculative philosophers and yogis cannot imagine this, because they more or less depend on their own strength. As stated in the Katha Upanisad (1.2.23), the Lord can be known only by those whom He favors, and not by anyone else
- The spiritual entities are meant for enjoyment, as stated in the Vedanta-sutra (1.1.12): ananda-mayo 'bhyasat. By nature and constitution, every living being-including the Supreme Lord and each of His parts and parcels-is meant for eternal enjoyment
- The spiritual master, the Vedic injunctions and the Lord Himself from within-all guide the devotee in full strength. In this way there is no chance for a devotee to fall again into the mire of material illusion
- The spiritual sky is situated far, far away from the material universe is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita
- The spiritual sky, where the kingdom of God is situated, is the manifestation of His (Krsna) internal potency.
- The spiritual spark, which is part and parcel of the Supreme Lord, is the same whether he is in a body of a hog or in the body of a demigod
- The Srimad-Bhagavatam, the natural commentary on the Vedanta-sutra by the same author, maintains that the source of all emanations is not like a dead stone but is abhijna, or fully conscious
- The sun and its rays are one and the same qualitatively. Similarly, the Lord and the living entities are one and the same in quality
- The sun is one, but the molecules of the sun's rays are innumerable. The sun's rays constitute part of the sun, and the sun and its rays conjointly constitute the complete sun
- The supreme atma, or soul, is the Lord Himself, and the minute atma is the living entity. The supreme atma, or Paramatma, alone maintains all the individual minute beings, for the Supreme Lord wants to derive pleasure out of their affection
- The Supreme Being, the Absolute Personality of Godhead, is the complete person, He has complete and perfect intelligence to adjust everything by means of His different potencies
- The Supreme Lord walks and does not walk
- The syllable van indicates that every being lives in Him (God) and that He also lives in every being
- The system of hearing from undisturbed authorities is approved in this mantra. Unless one hears from a bona fide acarya, who is never disturbed by the changes of the material world, one cannot have the real key to transcendental knowledge
- The temporary material body is certainly a foreign dress. The Bhagavad-gita (2.20) clearly says that after the destruction of the material body the living entity is not annihilated, nor does he lose his identity
- The transcendental sound bhagavan represents infinite knowledge, potency, energy, opulence, strength and influence-all without a tinge of material inebriety
- The ultimate purpose of all religions is to bring one back to Godhead
- The Upanisads indirectly draw our attention to the primeval Lord, Sri Krsna, but the Bhagavad-gita, which is the summary of all the Upanisads, directly points to Sri Krsna
- The uttama-adhikari sees the spirit soul within the material body and serves him as spirit. Thus the material aspect is automatically served
- The veda-vada-rata people, instead of realizing that the purpose of the Vedas is to revive the forgetful soul's lost relationship with the SPG, take it for granted that such side issues as the attainment of heavenly pleasure for sense gratification
- The Vedic literature clearly states that the Lord's transcendental body is completely different from ours; thus He is sometimes described as formless. This means that He has no form like ours and that He is devoid of a form we can conceive of
- The Vedic literature is meant for humanity and not for cats and dogs
- The Vedic scriptures and the acaryas, or saintly teachers, are compared to expert boatmen, and the facilities of the human body are compared to favorable breezes that help the boat ply smoothly to its desired destination
- 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?
- 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
- The word pusan ("maintainer") is especially significant, for although the Lord maintains all beings, He specifically maintains His devotees
- The word saguna does not imply that when the Lord appears with perceivable qualities He must take on a material form and be subject to the laws of material nature
- The words spoken by the Lord are called apauruseya, which indicates that they are not delivered by any mundane person
- The yoga system teaches the serious student to meet the visnu-tattvas after going beyond the twenty-four material elements of the cosmic creation
- Their (impersonalists) business is mostly word jugglery and mental speculation. Consequently the impersonalists pursue a fruitless labor, as confirmed in the Twelfth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita (12.5)
- There are a great number of spiritual planets in this atmosphere, and these planets exist eternally, even when all the planets within this material universe are vanquished at the end of Brahma's life
- There are innumerable suns and innumerable planetary systems also. As infinitesimal parts and parcels of the Supreme Lord, we small creatures are trying to dominate these unlimited planets. Thus we take repeated birth and death
- There are many material universes, each under the jurisdiction of a Brahma, & this cosmic manifestation within the jurisdiction of the various Brahmas is but a display of one fourth of the energy of the Lord (ekapad-vibhuti). This is the inferior energy
- There are many pseudo worshipers who become religionists only for the sake of name and fame. Such pseudo religionists do not wish to get out of this universe and reach the spiritual sky. They only want to maintain the status quo in the material world
- There are many sinful reactions involved in karma-kanda activities, whereas in jnana-kanda, the path of philosophical development, the number of such sinful activities is smaller
- There are many so-called scholars who contend that the Lord descends in a body made of matter, just like an ordinary living being. Not knowing His inconceivable power, such foolish men place the Lord on an equal level with ordinary men
- There is a gulf of difference between the living entity (atma) and the controlling Lord (Paramatma), the soul and the Supersoul. Paramatma is the controller, and the atma is the controlled; therefore they are in different categories
- There is a hard struggle for life by all kinds of living entities, and the Vedas say that this is quite natural
- There is also the Bhagavad-gita, which was spoken by the Lord Himself and recorded by Vyasadeva. These are the most important revealed scriptures, and any commentary that contradicts the principles of the Bhagavad-gita or Srimad-Bhagavatam is unauthorized
- There is another part of the Lord's superior energy that is different from both this material, inferior energy and the living entities. That superior energy constitutes the eternal, deathless abode of the Lord
- There is complete agreement among the Upanisads, Vedanta-sutra, Vedas, Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam
- There is no question of liking or disliking the truth. It is there. If we want to be saved from repeated birth and death, we must take to the devotional service of the Lord. There can be no compromise, for this is a matter of necessity
- There is no question of stopping activities, just as there is no question of wiping out one's temperature altogether when trying to recover from a disease. "To make the best use of a bad bargain" is the appropriate expression
- There is nothing in the universe that does not belong to either the para or the apara prakrti
- There is nothing in the universe that does not belong to either the para or the apara prakrti; therefore everything is the property of the Supreme Being
- These arguments (that God cannot incarnate Himself or that He has to accept a material body) are nullified if we accept the existence of the Lord's inconceivable potencies
- These desires (for sense gratification) are represented in the various species of life, from germs to the most perfected material bodies, those of Brahma and the demigods. All of these living entities have bodies composed of matter in different shapes
- These eighteen items (ways to culture knowledge) combine to form a gradual process by which real knowledge can be developed. Except for these, all other methods are considered to be in the category of nescience
- These nine principles of devotional service-taken all together or one by one-help a devotee remain constantly in touch with God. In this way, at the end of life it is easy for the devotee to remember the Lord
- These rogues (pseudo religionists) are the most dangerous elements in human society. Because there is no religious government, they escape punishment by the law of the state
- These self-made "Gods" cannot answer all these questions very clearly; they are simply satisfied to have become "God" themselves
- They (activities in the spirit of Sri Isopanisad) guarantee their executor protection from the danger of sliding down into the evolutionary process of birth and death
- They (foolish men) start varieties of public and semi-governmental institutions to tackle the devastating power of nature, but they don't know how to pacify insurmountable nature
- They (half-educated "spiritual leaders") try to make some compromise by making the mass of humanity the object of worship, but they do not know that such worship is only a myth because the masses are imperfect
- They (mayayapahrta-jnana class of men) will agree to worship an ordinary man if he happens to be rich, but they will never worship the Personality of Godhead
- They (veda-vada-rata people) fall even further into ignorance than those who have no knowledge of the Vedas at all
- They are simply busy seeing to their own remuneration in dollars and cents. How, then, can they lead the mass of people to the right path of self-realization? Thus one must hear submissively from a dhira in order to attain actual education
- They have dismissed God's existence in so many ways, primarily by declaring Him to be impersonal, that is, without sense perception
- They have only one aim in life-sense gratification-and in order to achieve this end they make plans for economic development. Misguided men think that religion should be maintained because it contributes to economic development
- Things are born or created under certain conditions, they stay for some time, and, if they continue to live, they grow, procreate, gradually dwindle and finally vanish
- This (material scientists have no information of the deathless spiritual nature) is due to their ignorance of the Vedic literature, which contains full knowledge confirmed by mature transcendental experience
- This is a description of the maha-bhagavata, the great personality who sees everything in relation to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Supreme Lord's presence is realized in three stages
- This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita (7.7), where Lord Krsna says that He is the ultimate concept of the Absolute Truth: mattah parataram nanyat. Therefore Krsna is the source of the brahmajyoti as well as the all-pervading Paramatma
- This is the Lord's last instruction in the Bhagavad-gita (18.66): sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja. "Give up all other processes and just surrender unto Me alone"
- This mantra from the Brahma-samhita is spoken from the platform of factual realization of the Absolute Truth, and the sruti-mantra of Sri Isopanisad under discussion confirms this mantra as a process of realization
- This mantra of Sri Isopanisad is more applicable today than at any time in the past
- 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
- This mantra offers a comparative study of vidya and avidya. Avidya, or ignorance, is undoubtedly dangerous, but vidya, or knowledge, is even more dangerous when mistaken or misguided
- This mantra states that the instructions of vidya (knowledge) must be acquired from a dhira. A dhira is one who is not disturbed by material illusion. No one can be undisturbed unless he is perfectly spiritually realized
- This phenomenal world is also complete in itself. The twenty-four elements of which this material universe is a temporary manifestation
- This prayer is given to remind the Lord of the devotee's sacrifices, but even if there is no such reminder, the Lord does not forget the service rendered by His pure devotee
- This supreme science was thus received through the chain of disciplic succession, and the saintly kings understood it in that way. But in course of time the succession was broken, and therefore the science as it is appears to be lost
- This system of God realization is a great science. The materialistic sankhya-yogis can only analyze and meditate on the twenty-four factors of the material creation, for they have very little information of the purusa, the Lord
- Those (human beings) who do not offer their food to the Lord eat nothing but sin and subject themselves to various types of distress, which are the results of sin
- Those devotees who want to see Him by means of material vision are favored by the Lord, who appears in a so-called material form to accept His devotees' service
- Those living beings who reside on higher planets like the sun and the moon, as well as those on Martyaloka, this earth planet, and also those who live on lower planets - all are merged into the waters of devastation during the night of Brahma
- Those who are cognizant of these responsibilities (different from animal) and who work in that spirit are called suras (godly persons), and those who are neglectful of these responsibilities or who have no information of them are called asuras (demons)
- Those who are engaged in the worship of demigods enter into the darkest region of ignorance, and still more so do the worshipers of the impersonal Absolute
- Those who are faithless are described in the Bhagavad-gita (9.11) as mudhas-fools or asses
- Those who are not as perfect as the pure devotees-namely, those who have realized only the Brahman or Paramatma features of the Lord-cannot appreciate the activities of the perfect devotees
- Those who are veda-vada-rata pose themselves as very learned in the Vedic literature, but unfortunately they are completely diverted from the purpose of the Vedas
- Those who do not even make an attempt, who want to be covered by illusion, who are too materialistic and too attached to material enjoyment, must enter into the darkest regions of hell, as confirmed throughout the Vedic literature
- 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
- Those who have attained the second stage of realization are called madhyama-adhikaris
- Those who imitate an uttama-adhikari by flaunting a sense of oneness or fellowship but who behave on the bodily platform are actually false philanthropists
- Those who play the role of helping this sort of civilization in the name of educational advancement are actually doing more harm than those who are on the platform of gross sense gratification
- Through his friendship with the Lord, Arjuna attained the desired result. (9) By surrendering everything he had to the Lord, Maharaja Bali attained the desired result
- Through mental speculation, even the greatest philosopher cannot know the Supreme Lord, who is the Absolute Personality of Godhead
- Throughout the universe there are only these two types (suras and asuras) of human being. In the Rg Veda it is stated that the suras always aim at the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord Visnu and act accordingly
- To become happy in this life and attain a permanent blissful life after leaving this material body, one must study this sacred literature and obtain transcendental knowledge
- To confirm that the Lord is always pure and uncontaminated, Sri Isopanisad describes Him as suddham (antiseptic) and apapa-viddham (prophylactic)
- To follow the regulative principles, one must take shelter of a bona fide spiritual master. The transcendental message and regulative principles come down from the spiritual master to the disciple
- To mislead the people in general they (pseudo religionists) themselves become so-called acaryas, but they do not even follow the principles of the acaryas
- To serve human beings by medical aid, social help and educational facilities while at the same time cutting the throats of poor animals in slaughterhouses is no service at all to the soul, the living being
- To use another analogy, the quantity of salt present in a drop is never comparable to the quantity of salt present in the complete ocean, but the salt present in the drop is qualitatively equal in chemical composition to all the salt present in the ocean
- Transcendental personalities are full of transcendental bliss, knowledge & life eternal. That's the real position of spiritual existence & as soon as he's fully cognizant of this transcendental position, he at once surrenders unto the lotus feet of Krsna
- Two words the revealed scriptures often apply to the Lord - saguna ("with qualities") and nirguna ("without qualities") - are very important
U
- Ultimately He advises that one give up all other ways and modes of worship and fully surrender unto Him alone (18.66). Only those who are cleansed of all sinful reactions can have such unflinching faith in the Supreme Lord
- 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
- Unfortunately, foolish men have misinterpreted this prime teaching (Krsna says :"Give up all other processes and just surrender unto Me alone.") and misled the masses of people in diverse ways
- Unfortunately, living beings under the influence of material nature ask for many other things & they are described in the Bhagavad-gita (2.41) as having divided, or splayed, intelligence. Spiritual intelligence is one, but mundane intelligence is diverse
- Unfortunately, modern man is averse to receiving knowledge from the Vedas, Puranas and other scriptures
- University students today are not given instructions in the regulative principles of brahmacarya (celibate student life), nor do they have any faith in any scriptural injunctions
- Unless one has received knowledge from the bona fide spiritual master who is in the recognized line of disciplic succession, one cannot have the real thing as it is
- Unless one is accustomed to devotional practice, what will he remember at the time of death, when the body is dislocated, and how can he pray to the almighty Lord to remember his sacrifices?
- Unless religion, economic development and sense gratification aim toward the attainment of devotional service to the Lord, they are all simply different forms of nescience, as Sri Isopanisad indicates in the following mantras
- Unless this covering (hiranmaya-patra) is removed so one can perceive the real face of the Personality of Godhead, factual realization of the Absolute Truth can never be achieved
- Until one surpasses the glare of the brahmajyoti, one cannot receive information of the land of the Lord
- Uttama-adhikari knows that there is no essential difference between a vastly learned brahmana and a dog in the street, because both of them are part and parcel of the Lord
- Uttama-adhikari sees that the brahmana particle of the Supreme Lord has not misused his little independence given him by the Lord and that the dog particle has misused his independence and is therefore being punished by the laws of nature
V
- Veda-vada-rata people, however, have their own acaryas, who are not in the chain of transcendental succession. Thus they progress into the darkest region of ignorance by misinterpreting the Vedic literature
- Veda-vada-ratas search out meanings in every word of the Vedas to suit their own purposes. They do not know that the Vedic literature is a collection of extraordinary books that can be understood only through the chain of disciplic succession
- Vedic knowledge is infallible because it comes down through the perfect disciplic succession of spiritual masters, beginning with the Lord Himself
- Vedic knowledge is infallible because it comes down through the perfect disciplic succession of spiritual masters, beginning with the Lord Himself. Since He spoke the first word of Vedic knowledge, the source of this knowledge is transcendental
- Vedic knowledge is transcendental and cannot be understood by mundane educational procedures. One can understand the Vedic mantras only by the grace of the Lord and the spiritual master - yasya deve para bhaktir yatha deve tatha gurau - SU 6.23
- Vedic knowledge was originally imparted by the Lord into the heart of Brahma, the first created living being, and Brahma in his turn disseminated this knowledge to his sons and disciples, who have handed it down through history
- Vedic truths are coming in disciplic succession from the Lord to Brahma, from Brahma to Narada, from Narada to Vyasa, and from Vyasa to many of his disciples
- Vidyayam refers to the study of the Vedas because the Vedas are the origin of all knowledge (vidya), and ratah means "those engaged." Vidyayam ratah thus means "those engaged in the study of the Vedas"
- Vigraha means "form." Thus the Complete Whole is not formless
- Vikarma is enacted by the illusioned living entity simply for sense gratification, and thus such activities become hindrances on the path of self-realization
W
- We (members of the Bhagavata schools) should not take it for granted that because we cannot see God with our eyes the Lord has no personal existence
- We are all meant to join Him (God) and enjoy life with one transcendental interest and without any clash. That is the highest platform of spiritual interest, and as soon as one realizes this perfect form of oneness, there can be no question of illusion
- We are given this human form of life not to work hard like asses, swine and dogs but to attain the highest perfection of life
- 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
- We ourselves may forget what we have done in previous lives, but because the Lord witnesses our actions, the results of our actions are always there, and we have to undergo the reactions nonetheless
- We should be satisfied with those things He has kindly set aside for us, and we should always consider to whom those things we possess actually belong
- We should know that the Personality of Godhead is the proprietor of everything and that we must be satisfied with our allotted portions of the necessities of life. The purpose of all Vedic literature is to awaken this God consciousness
- We will understand that even if the Lord appears before us in the form of material energy, it is quite possible for Him to convert this energy into spiritual energy
- What need is there, Arjuna, for all this detailed knowledge? With a single fragment of Myself I pervade and support this entire universe
- 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
- When altruistic activities are executed in the spirit of Sri Isopanisad, they become a form of karma-yoga
- When he (Arjuna) became budha by hearing the Vedic knowledge of the Bhagavad-gita from the Supreme Person, he changed his decision and became a worshiper of Lord Sri Krsna, who had Himself arranged the Battle of Kuruksetra
- When Krsna was present on this earth the bhakti-yoga principles defined in the Bhagavad-gita had become distorted; therefore the Lord had to reestablish the disciplic system beginning with Arjuna who was the most confidential friend & devotee of the Lord
- When one attains brahminical qualifications, he becomes happy and enthusiastic to render devotional service to the Lord. Automatically the science of God is unveiled before him
- When one is in passion or ignorance, there is no chance for self-realization, however much one may play the part of a religionist
- When one knows these (Krsna and His transcendental name, form, qualities and pastimes), he surpasses death and the ephemeral cosmic manifestation with it, and in the eternal kingdom of God he enjoys his eternal life of bliss and knowledge
- When one realizes the material potencies of the Lord but has little or no information of the spiritual potencies, he attains Paramatma realization
- When one realizes the Supreme Person, he realizes these aspects of the Absolute Truth in their completeness
- When one realizes the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri Krsna, in full potency after the removal of the hiranmaya-patra, one realizes vasudevah sarvam iti: (7.19) Lord Sri Krsna, who is known as Vasudeva, is everything-Brahman, Paramatma and Bhagavan
- When Prahlada was in the presence of his atheist father, his father asked him, "Where is your God?" When he replied that God resides everywhere, the father angrily asked whether his God was within one of the pillars of the palace, and the child said yes
- When the living being comes to know his constitutional position, however, he asks to be accepted into the transcendental association of the Lord in order to render transcendental loving service unto Him
- When the Personality of Godhead comes before us, we neglect Him. Such foolish negligence is condemned by the Lord in the Bhagavad-gita
- When the world was full of water, the living entity took an aquatic form. Then he passed to vegetable life, from vegetable life to worm life, from worm life to bird life, from bird life to animal life, and from animal life to the human form
- When they (Jnanis & yogis) become still more qualified through devotional service they can enter into the spiritual nature either the illuminating cosmic atmosphere of the spiritual sky (Brahman) or the Vaikuntha planets, according to their qualification
- Whenever man raises the question of these miseries before a so-called scientist, the scientist very cleverly replies that material science is progressing and that ultimately it will be possible to render man deathless, ageless and diseaseless
- Whether he (living entity) takes the form of a man, demigod or animal, he ultimately has to endure an unmanifested condition during the two devastations - the devastation during the night of Brahma and the devastation at the end of Brahma's life
- Why is a highly placed government servant given better facilities than those of an ordinary clerk? The answer is that a highly placed officer has to discharge duties of a higher nature
- With our limited fund of knowledge we cannot accommodate such contradictions (God walks and does not walk), and therefore we conceive of the Lord in terms of our limited powers of understanding
- Within the sun itself resides the sun-god, and similarly within the supreme spiritual planet, Goloka Vrndavana, from which the brahmajyoti effulgence is emanating, the Lord enjoys His eternal pastimes, as verified in the Brahma-samhita