Isopanishad Text 17
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vayur anilam amrtam
athedam bhasmantam sariram
om krato smara krtam smara
krato smara krtam smara

vayuh--air of life; anilam--total reservoir of air; amrtam--indestructible; atha--now; idam--this; bhasmantam--after being turned to ashes; sariram--body; om--O Lord; krato--the enjoyer of all sacrifices; smara--please remember; krtam--all that has been done by me; smara--please remember; krato--the supreme beneficiary; smara--please remember; krtam--all that I have done for You; smara--please remember.

TRANSLATION

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.

PURPORT

This temporary material body is certainly a foreign dress. In Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 2.13, 18.30) it is clearly said that after the destruction of the material body the living entity is not annihilated, nor does he lose his identity. The identity of the living entity is never impersonal or formless; on the contrary, it is the material dress that is formless and which takes a shape according to the form of the indestructible person. 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.

In the material world, material nature displays wonderful workmanship by creating different varieties of bodies for the living beings in accordance to their propensities for sense gratification. The living entity who wants to taste stool is given a material body which is quite suitable for eating stool--that of a hog. Similarly, one who wants to eat meat is given the body of a tiger by which he can live by enjoying the blood of other animals and eating their flesh. Because the shape of his teeth is different, the human being is not meant for eating stool or flesh, nor does he have any desire to taste stool, even in the most aboriginal state. Human teeth are so made that they can chew and cut fruit and vegetables, and two canine teeth are also given so that one can eat flesh.

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. When the world was full of water, the living entity took an aquatic form. Then he passed from vegetable life to worm life, from worm life to bird life, from bird life to animal life, and from animal life into the human form. 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 this material body, which will be turned to ashes, and allow the air of life to merge into the eternal reservoir of air. 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 to control the airs of the body. 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 desired planet. The process is to give up one material body and then enter into another, but the highest perfection of such changes is possible only when the living entity is able to give up the material body altogether, as suggested in this mantra. He may then enter into the spiritual atmosphere where he can develop a completely different type of body--a spiritual body which never has to meet death or change.

In the material world material nature forces one to change his body due to his different desires for sense gratification. These desires 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. The intelligent man sees oneness not in the variety of the bodies but in the spiritual identity. The spiritual spark which is the 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 living entity takes on different bodies according to his pious and vicious activities. The human body is highly developed and has full consciousness. According to the Vedic scriptures, the most perfect man surrenders unto the Lord after many, many lifetimes of culturing knowledge. The culture of knowledge reaches perfection only when the knower comes to the point of surrendering unto the Supreme Lord, Vasudeva. Yet even after attaining knowledge of one's spiritual identity, if one does not come to the point of knowing that the living entities are eternal parts and parcels of the whole and can never become the whole, one has to fall down again into the material atmosphere. Indeed, one must fall down even if he has become one with the brahmajyoti.

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. Sometimes these living entities want to become enjoyers of the senses, and therefore they are placed in the material world to become false lords under the dictation of the senses. 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. 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.

In this mantra the living entity prays to enter the spiritual kingdom of God after relinquishing his material body and material air. The devotee prays to the Lord to remember his activities and the sacrifices he has performed before his material body is turned into ashes. This prayer is made at the time of death with full consciousness of one's past deeds and of the ultimate goal. One who is completely under the rule of material nature remembers the heinous activities performed during the existence of his material body and consequently gets another material body after death. Bhagavad-gita confirms this truth:

yam yam vapi smaran bhavam
tyajaty ante kalevaram
tam tam evaiti kaunteya
sada tad-bhava-bhavitah

"Whatever state of being one remembers when he quits his body, that state he will attain without fail." (Bg. 8.6) Thus the mind carries the propensities of the dying animal into the next life.

Unlike the simple animals, who have no developed mind, the human being can remember the activities of his passing 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. However, the devotees develop a sense of love for Godhead by practicing devotional service to the Lord. Even if a devotee does not remember his godly service at the time of death, the Lord does not forget him. 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 devotional service of His pure devotee.

The Lord clearly describes His intimate relationship with His devotees in Bhagavad-gita: "Even if one commits the most abominable actions, if he is engaged in devotional service, he is to be considered saintly because he is properly situated. He quickly becomes righteous and attains lasting peace. 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 approach the supreme destination. How much greater then are the brahmanas, the righteous, the devotees and saintly kings who in this temporary miserable world engage in loving service unto Me. Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, offer obeisances and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me."(Bg. 9.30-34)

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura explains these verses in this way: "One should accept a devotee who is on the right path of the saints, even though such a devotee may seem to be of loose character. One should try to understand the real purport of the words `loose character.' A conditioned soul has to act for double functions--namely for the maintenance of the body and again for self-realization. Social status, mental development, cleanliness, austerity, nourishment and the struggle for existence are all for the maintenance of the body. The self-realization part of one's activities is executed in one's occupation as a devotee of the Lord, and one performs action in that connection also. These two different functions parallel one another because a conditioned soul cannot give up the maintenance of his body. The proportion of activities for maintenance of the body decreases, however, in proportion to the increase in devotional service. 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, but it should be noted that such worldliness cannot continue for any length of time 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. If one is on the right path, even an occasional occurrence of worldliness does not hamper one in the advancement of self-realization."

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 brahmajyoti because they do not believe in the personality of Godhead. Their business is mostly concerned with semantics, the jugglery of words and mental creations. Consequently the impersonalists pursue a fruitless labor, as confirmed in the Twelfth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita (Bg. 12.5).

All the facilities suggested in this mantra can be easily obtained by constant contact with the personal feature of the Absolute Truth. Devotional service to the Lord consists essentially of nine transcendental activities performed by the devotee: 

(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, 
(6) offering prayers to the Lord, 
(7) serving the Lord. 
(8) enjoying friendly association with the Lord, and 
(9) surrendering everything unto the Lord.

These nine principles of devotional service--taken altogether or one by one--can help a devotee to remain constantly in touch with God. In this way at the end of life it is easy for the devotee to remember the Lord. By adopting only one of these nine principles, it was possible for the following renowned devotees of the Lord to achieve the highest perfection:

(1) By hearing, Maharaja Pariksit, the hero of Srimad-Bhagavatam, attained the desired result. 
(2) Just by glorifying the Lord, Sukadeva Gosvami, the speaker of Srimad-Bhagavatam, attained his perfection. 
(3) By praying, Akrura attained the desired result. 
(4) By remembering, Prahlada Maharaja attained the desired result. 
(5) By worshiping, 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. 
(8) Through his friendship with the Lord, Arjuna attained the desired result. 
(9) By surrendering everything that he had, Maharaja Bali attained the desired result.

Actually the explanation of this mantra and of practically all the mantras of the Vedic hymns is summarized in the Vedanta-sutras and properly explained in Srimad-Bhagavatam. Srimad-Bhagavatam is the mature fruit of the Vedic tree of wisdom. In Srimad-Bhagavatam this particular mantra is explained in the questions and answers between Maharaja Pariksit and Sukadeva Gosvami at the very beginning of their meeting. Hearing and chanting of the science of God is the basic principle of devotional life. 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.

Maharaja Pariksit's main question was: "What is the duty of every man, specifically at the time of death?" Sukadeva Gosvami answered:

tasmad bharata sarvatma
bhagavan isvaro harih
srotavyah kirtitavyas ca
smartavyas cecchatabhayam

"Everyone who is desirous of being 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." (SB. 2.1.5)

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 the Personality of Godhead or to inquire about Him. They have dismissed God's existence in so many ways, primarily by declaring Him to be impersonal, that is, without sense perception. However, in Vedic literature--whether the Upanisads, Vedanta-sutras, 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. One should therefore not indulge in hearing and speaking of the activities of worldly politicians and so-called big men in society--activities which are all rubbish--but should mold his life in such a way that he can engage in godly activities without wasting a second. Sri Isopanisad directs us towards such godly activities.

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? 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.

(c) 1991 by Bhaktivedanta Book Trust

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

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