Isopanishad Text 4
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anejad ekam manaso javiyo
nainad deva apnuvan purvam arsat
tad dhavato 'nyan atyeti tisthat
tasminn apo matarisva dadhati

anejat--fixed; ekam--one; manasah--than the mind; javiyah--more swift; na--not; enat--this Supreme Lord; devah--the demigods like Indra, etc.; apnuvan--can approach; purvam--in front; arsat--moving quickly; tat--He; dhavatah--those who are running; anyan--others; atyeti--surpasses; tisthat--remaining in one place; tasmin--in Him; apah--rain; matarisva--the gods who control the wind and rain; dadhati--supply.

TRANSLATION

Although fixed in His abode, the Personality of Godhead is swifter than the mind and can overcome all others running. The powerful demigods cannot approach Him. Although in one place, He controls those who supply the air and rain. He surpasses all in excellence.

PURPORT

The Supreme Lord, who is the Absolute personality of Godhead, cannot be known by mental speculation even by the greatest philosopher. He can be known only by His devotees through His mercy. In Brahma-samhita it is stated that even if a nondevotee philosopher travels at the speed of mind for hundreds of years, he will still find the Absolute Truth far, far away from him. As described in the Isopanisad, the Absolute Personality of Godhead has His transcendental abode, known as Krsnaloka, where He remains and engages in His pastimes. Yet by His inconceivable potencies He can simultaneously reach every part of His creative energy. In the Visnu Purana, His potencies are compared with the heat and light which emanate from fire. Although situated in one place, a fire can distribute its light and heat all over; similarly, the Absolute personality of Godhead, although fixed in His transcendental abode, can diffuse His different energies everywhere.

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

Thus the different energies of the Lord are present everywhere through His different potencies. Although there is no difference between the Lord and His energies, one should not wrongly consider that the Supreme Lord is distributed everywhere impersonally or that He loses His personal existence. Men are accustomed to reach conclusions according to their capacity to understand, but the Supreme Lord is not subject to our limited capacity for understanding. It is for this reason that the Upanisads warn us that no one can approach the Lord by his own limited potency.

In Bhagavad-gita the Lord says (Bg. 10.2) that not even the great rsis and suras can know Him. And what to speak of the asuras, who are not even qualified to understand the ways of the Lord? This fourth mantra very clearly suggests that the Absolute Truth is ultimately the Absolute person; otherwise there would have been no need to mention so much variegatedness in support of His personal features.

Although they have all the symptoms of the Lord Himself, the individual parts and parcels of the Lord's potencies have limited spheres of activity and are therefore all limited. The parts and parcels are never equal to the whole; therefore they cannot appreciate the Lord's full potency. Under the influence of material nature, foolish and ignorant living beings who are but parts and parcels of the Lord try to conjecture about the Lord's transcendental position. Sri Isopanisad warns of the futility in trying to establish the identity of the Lord through mental speculation One should try to learn of transcendence from a superior source like the Vedas, which already contain knowledge of transcendence.

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

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

(c) 1991 by Bhaktivedanta Book Trust

HDG A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada 
---Jai Srila Prabhupada!---

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