Isopanishad Text 13
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anyad evahuh sambhavad
anyad ahur asambhavat
iti susruma dhiranam
ye nas tad vicacaksire

anyat--different; eva--certainly; ahuh--it is said; sambhavat--by worshiping the Supreme Lord, the cause of all causes; anyat--different; ahuh--it is said; asambhavat--by worshiping what is not the Supreme; iti--thus; susruma--I heard it; dhiranam--from the undisturbed authorities; ye--who; nah--unto us; tat--about that subject matter; vicacaksire--perfectly explained.

TRANSLATION

It is said that one result is obtained by worshiping the supreme cause of all causes and that another result is obtained by worshiping that which is not supreme. All this is heard from the undisturbed authorities who clearly explained it.

PURPORT

The system of hearing from undisturbed authorities is approved in this mantra. Unless one hears from a bona fide acharya, who is never disturbed about the changes of the material world, one cannot have the real key to transcendental knowledge. The bona fide spiritual master, who has also heard the sruti mantras, or Vedic knowledge, from his undisturbed acharya, never manufactures or presents anything which is not mentioned in the Vedic literatures. In Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 9.25) it is clearly said that those who worship the pitrs, or forefathers, attain the planets of the forefathers. Similarly, the gross materialists who make plans to remain here again attain this world, and the devotees of the Lord, who worship none but Lord Krishna, the supreme cause of all causes, reach Him in His abode in the spiritual sky.

Here also in Sri Isopanisad it is verified that different results are achieved by different modes of worship. If we worship the Supreme Lord, we will certainly reach Him in His eternal abode, and if we worship demigods like the sun-god and moon-god, we can reach their respective planets without a doubt. And if we wish to remain on this wretched planet with our planning commissions and our stop-gap political adjustments, we can certainly do that also.

Nowhere in authentic scriptures is it said that one will ultimately reach the same goal by doing anything or worshiping anyone. Such foolish theories are offered by self-made masters who have no connection with the parampara, the bona fide system of disciplic succession. 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. For a common man it is very easy to 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. However, temporary so-called masters say that any and all tickets can 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 Vedic instructions, however, do not uphold them. Unless one has received knowledge from the bona fide spiritual master who is in the recognized line of disciplic succession, he cannot have the real thing as it is. Krishna tells Arjuna in Bhagavad-gita:

evam parampara-praptam
imam rajarsayo viduh
sa kaleneha mahata
yogo nastah parantapa

"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." (Bg. 4.2)

When Lord Sri Krishna was present on this earth, the bhakti-yoga principles which had been defined in Bhagavad-gita had become distorted; therefore the Lord had to reestablish the disciplic system beginning with Arjuna, who was the most confidential friend and devotee of the Lord. The Lord clearly told Arjuna (Bg. 4.3) that it was because he was His devotee and friend that the principles of Bhagavad-gita were understandable to him. In other words, no one can understand the Gita who is not a devotee and friend of the Lord. This also means that only one who follows the path of Arjuna can understand Bhagavad-gita.

At the present moment there are many interpreters and translators of this sublime dialogue who really have no knowledge of Lord Krishna's instructions to Arjuna. Such interpreters explain the verses of Bhagavad-gita in their own way and postulate all sorts of rubbish in the name of scripture. Such interpreters believe neither in Sri Krishna nor in His eternal abode. How, then, can they explain Bhagavad-gita?

The Gita clearly says (Bg. 7.20) that only those who have lost their sense worship the demigods. Krishna ultimately advises (Bg. 18.66) that one give up all other ways and modes of worship and fully surrender unto Him only. Only those who are cleansed of all sinful reactions can have such unflinching faith in the Supreme Lord. Others 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.

In this mantra the word sambhavat, by worship of the supreme cause, is very significant. Lord Krishna is the original Personality of Godhead, and everything that exists has emanated from Him. In Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 10.8) the Lord explains that He is the creator of everyone, including Brahma, Visnu and Siva. Because these three principal deities of the material world are created by the Lord, the Lord is the creator of all that exists in the material and spiritual worlds. In the Atharva Veda it is similarly said that He who existed before the creation of Brahma and who enlightened Brahma with Vedic knowledge is Lord Sri Krishna. "The Supreme person desired to create living entities, and thus Narayana created all living beings. 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." Since Narayana is the plenary manifestation of Lord Krishna, Narayana and Krishna are one and the same. There are also later readings which state that the same Supreme Lord is the son of Devaki. Sri Krishna's childhood with Devaki and Vasudeva and His identity with Narayana have also been accepted and confirmed by Sripada Sankaracharya, even though Sankara does not belong to the Vaisnava or personalist cult. The Atharva Veda 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." It is stated 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." It is also stated in Varaha Purana: "Narayana is the Supreme personality of Godhead, and from Him the four-headed Brahma was manifested, as well as Rudra, who later became omniscient."

Thus all Vedic literature confirms that Narayana, or Krishna, is the cause of all causes. In Brahma-samhita also it is said that the Supreme Lord is Sri Krishna, Govinda, the delight of every living being and the primeval cause of all causes. The really learned person knows this from evidence given by the great sages and the Vedas. Thus the learned man decides to worship Lord Krishna as all in all.

Persons are called budha, or really learned, when they fasten themselves to the worship of Krishna only. This conviction is established when one hears the transcendental message from the undisturbed acharya with faith and love. One who has no faith in or love for Lord Krishna cannot be convinced of this simple truth. Those who are faithless are described in Bhagavad-gita as mudhas, fools or asses (Bg. 9.11). It is said that the mudhas deride the Personality of Godhead because they do not have complete knowledge from the undisturbed acharya. One who is disturbed by the whirlpool of material energy is not qualified to become an acharya.

Before hearing 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. However, when he became budha by hearing the Vedic knowledge of Bhagavad-gita from the Supreme person, he changed his decision and became a worshiper of Lord Sri Krishna, who had Himself designed the Battle of Kuruksetra. Arjuna worshiped the Lord by fighting with his so-called relatives. In this way he became a pure devotee of the Lord. Such accomplishments are possible only when one worships the real Krishna and not some fabricated "Krishna" invented by foolish men who are without knowledge of the intricacies of the science of Krishna described in Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam.

According to Vedanta-sutra, sambhuta is the source of birth and sustenance as well as the reservoir that remains after annihilation. The Srimad-Bhagavatam, the natural commentary upon 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 primeval Lord Sri Krishna also says in 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. Certainly those who are disturbed by the tides of material existence cannot know Him fully. Half-educated spiritual masters try to make some compromise by making the mass of humanity the object of worship, but they do not know that such worship is not possible nor that the masses are not perfect. Their attempt is something like pouring water on the leaves of a tree instead of the root. The natural process is to pour water on the root, but today's disturbed leaders are more attached to the leaves. Despite their perpetually watering the leaves, everything is drying up for want of nourishment.

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. The soul is the root that generates different types of bodies according to the law of karma, material reaction. 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 not really valid service to living beings.

The living being is perpetually suffering in different types of bodies from the material miseries of birth, old age, disease 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 Supreme Lord. The Lord comes personally to teach this philosophy of surrender unto the Supreme, the sambhuta. 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.

The simple way to worship the Supreme Lord in this age of disturbance is to hear and chant about His great activities. 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 substance to divert the attention of the innocent masses of people. Instead of hearing of the activities of Lord Krishna, they advertise themselves by inducing their followers to sing about pseudo-spiritual masters. 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.

The Upanisads indirectly draw our attention to the primeval Lord Sri Krishna, but Bhagavad-gita, which is the summary of all the Upanisads, directly points to Sri Krishna. By hearing about Krishna as He is in Bhagavad-gita or Srimad-Bhagavatam, one's mind is gradually cleansed of all contaminated things. Srimad-Bhagavatam says: "By hearing of the activities of the Lord, one draws the attention of the Lord towards His devotee. Thus the Lord, being situated in the heart of every living being, helps the devotee by giving him proper directions." Bhagavad-gita also confirms this (Bg. 10.10).

The Lord's inner direction cleanses the heart of the devotee of all contamination produced by the material modes of passion and ignorance. Nondevotees are under the sway of passion and ignorance. One who is in passion cannot become detached from material hankering, and one in ignorance cannot know what he is nor what the Lord is. Thus when one is in passion or ignorance, there is no chance for self-realization, however much one may play the part of a religionist. 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. Everyone and anyone can qualify as a brahmana provided he follows the path of devotional service under the guidance of a bona fide spiritual master. Srimad-Bhagavatam (2.4.18) also says:

kirata-hunandhra-pulinda-pulkasa
abhira-sumbha yavanah khasadayah
ye 'nye ca papa yad-apasrayasrayah
sudhyanti tasmai prabhavisnave namah

"Any lowborn living entity can be purified by the guidance of a pure devotee of the Lord, for the Lord is extraordinarily powerful."

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. 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. When one attains this stage, he can become a liberated soul and see the Lord in every step of life. This is the perfection of sambhavat, as described in this mantra.

(c) 1991 by Bhaktivedanta Book Trust

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

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